… will be posted a little later today. Someone (and I’m not mentioning any names here) thought he posted the script last week and didn’t notice he hadn’t until late Monday night. He (remember, no names here) apologizes for the delay and will be a bit more paranoid about such things in the future.
To pass the time, let’s have a giveaway for a free Brat-halla t-shirt. Just answer the following question in the comments to this post to be eligible for the giveaway (be sure to use a valid email address in your comment because that’s how I’ll contact the winner about where to send the shirt).
What is your favorite piece of artwork in Brat-halla (whether it be a single panel, single page or a series of pages) and what makes it stand out?
Deadline is next Tuesday (September 2nd) at noon (US Central time).
Since art is always subjective and opinions vary widely, there will be no judging of the answers to determine a winner… if you provide an answer in the comment section of this post, I’ll place your name in a hat and randomly select a winner next week to be announced with next Wednesday’s comic.
Picking just one is hard–you know that, right? But my very favorite has to be the panel at the end of #200 where Thor is standing there with Mjollnir and, in the background, there are all those enormous gods he has to face in the Pantheon Games looming over him. I love it because they are all so much bigger and more menacing than he is, but he’s got no fear. Either he’s supremely confident or has no idea that he’s about to be smushed…which is why I love it.
I have to say it’s the Goatmobile…being pulled by more goats. Somehow, that doesn’t stop being fun, despite the amount of times I have read it.
My favorite artwork is strip #259–the whole strip. It has the nostalgic feel of a Calvin and Hobbes adventure but with the Norse Pantheon instead of a boy and his tiger.
http://brat-halla.com/comic/36-odineye-saga-welcome-to-svartlheim/ catches the entire dark angst poser elf thing …
I love #198 (parade of gods) because of all the different pantheons……………….and the comments about each of them are priceless. XD
I really had to think about it.
First, the one that always comes up- where Thor has just slain the serpent, and he’s coming up the beach and he falls. I got teary eyed when I read that one. It was the first one that made me really want to go out and get a book on Norse Mythology. That as much as I love this parallel universe, that maybe I needed to investigate my universe’s stories a little closer. (I started reading this comic with almost no knowledge of Norse Mythology. That has changed. So thank you guys for giving me a whole new universe to learn about and ponder.)
And the beginning and end of the Norse Force storyline. I love seeing what our boys and girls will look like all grown up. I love the sci-fi twist on a mythology setting. I just wish there’d been more of those. Hod is Blind, you idiot.
I love Sif makes her move. Every woman has been there. It’s adorable, it’s wonderfully drawn, and it’s universal.
But my favorite?
#98 Skuul: The Other Tossers
I didn’t get why this was a brilliant comic the first time I read it, because as I said, I had no knowledge of Norse Mythology. If I’d not gone back and read through a second time, I never would have caught it.
Is it beautiful? Maybe not- but it’s freaking clever, and I love it. Art should always challenge, shouldn’t it?
I’m still a big fan of #100, the All-Father’s family portrait. It’s fun parsing through it and seeing which characters are there, plus the expressions on everyone’s faces. Especially Loki. Priceless.
Oh my, that would be #221 I think… Just indescribable.
Frigg and Odin wondering why there’s so much food left, because Thor’s been left in ‘Dark Elf Boot Camp’ without the rest of the pantheon noticing… XD
it has to be #253 because…well…PUPPIES!…love that Sif…
I would have to say #313 – Twilight of The Hod: Science Boy! that was just amazing, so much emotion was in it. The choice of lighting for when sif is holding the hammer is just perfectly amazing!
#175 – Thor’s facial expressions during the whole strip were classic and the hopeful skepticism as he looks up and talks to his mom in panel two…priceless!
I think the artwork was the first thing that really pulled me right into this comic (It was the consistently clever writing that’s always kept me coming back for more). And so I found it a little tough for a few minutes to think of what my favorite picture here might have been. Was it something funny? One of Loki’s strangely satisfying one-overs on the other gods?
While it was the art that pulled me in, and the writing that kept me here, it was the concept that made me take a look. I’ve always loved Norse mythology above all other ancient mythos. It speaks to me, and captures a certain something that I always felt other pantheon stories were lacking somehow. This comic plays with all of my favorite stories, concepts and references in a way that’s a knowing wink to those who know the legends, but still accessible and enjoyable for those who aren’t yet so savvy. And my favorite of the gods has always been, undoubtedly, Odin Allfather.
The Wayfarer’s appearance in this webcomic initially made me think, “wow, what happened to HIM?” But as I read, I loved seeing your image of the God who simply wasn’t taken seriously by the people who see the most sides of him; his kids. Children take one of two stances about the stories of their fathers. They either believe them unquestioningly, or they refuse to believe that their silly parents ever did anything so impressive. We readers tend to look at the impressive deeds and the epic songs and stories. His own children? They refuse to believe a word.
So before this goes any longer, my point. Comic #232, Inspired Entrance, has my favorite image in this comic. Up to this point, we’ve seen the Norse gods as a laughing stock in their own community, not seen as the mighty titans they truly were by the more popular and pompous gods. But it is at this precise moment that that notion of the Norse gods is really dealt a blow. Up to this point, the kids have fought, and won, and taken everyone by surprise, and now as the Allfather Gods step into the ring, Odin steps in with his famous Gungnir raised and his great warhorse Sleipnir, and he reminds even Zeus that there is more than one great father God in the arena.
tl;dr
It’s #232 because of the cool spear and the big pony. Odin is a cool dude.
tadhq makes a good point, the writing really keeps me coming back. There is a lot of art on the internet, but not enough good writing.
http://brat-halla.com/comic/235-pantheon-games-twirlie/ is pretty darn good too.
Why is it that the seemingly simple tasks can turn out to be so difficult?
Rather than just ‘me, too’ on 2 of the ones I would have chosen (100 and 200), I’ll go for #61 (and following) for the Valkyries in all their detailed glory. As this contest is specifically about the artwork, I’ll offer #343 and today’s more minimalist approach by way of contrast. That’s not a criticism, just an observation. I’m a lot more sanguine about these things as an adult. (As a kid, I stopped reading Spider-Man, because after John Romita,Sr., no Spidey that came after ever looked ‘right’.)
But that’s the creative process. Almost all comic/cartoon creations look very different in their later, often iconic, forms as opposed to their original creations. Just compare the current standarized, corporate incarnations of the Simpsons and Mickey Mouse with their Year One counterparts!
Anyway, it’s not just the art that’s special here. I couldn’t agree more with Tadhg that it is the blend of subject matter, writing and artwork that makes this all so enjoyable and something somehow greater than the sum of its parts.
Nice to see that a couple people read through my essay. XD
Only later did I pay attention to the fact that the length and quality of my own prose would have nothing to do with my chances of winning a t-shirt. Oh well. At least I got to spill some love for the comic!
Love Potion Nº 9? You’re old my fellow!
http://brat-halla.com/comic/219-pantheon-games-finally-wise/
Drunk-wisdom, it just makes so much sense. classic.
All I can say is I’m hoping for a repeat of the twirl wedgie of doom
My favorite work of art is when Odin is at the well whose name i can’t spell and how his eye socket is dark. It conveys the loss of the eye without being distractingly gruesome. that being said, I am glad it didn’t hide the loss completely, so as to prevent people like me from wondering what happened, or worse yet having to read the prose edda for an answer.
OK, i give up and this seems to be the best place to ask…. what exactly is going on with those two… smiley faces? … that Sif seems to have instead of a left arm in panel 1?
nevermind just found where to comment on individual comics >_>
Im gonna step out of character for the last two choices, so you have been warned.
If anyone has any doubt as to what my first pic would be, then you must be new here. (In that case, Hi! Im Grimmy, or as Jeffrey Dahmer would call me : Dinner for Two)
(im not fluent in comic-number-speak, so ill just describe the moments for you and someone else will reply with the numbers.)
the last panel with Frigg dressed in leather and the whip just shows how these artists realyl DO listen to their fans and are not shy about showing them some love.
One of the stand alone funniers images I have seen from this comic that sticks in my mind is the time that Odin and Frigg had the house to themselves. The image of Odin stripping as he runs up the stairs with a HUGE grin on his face STILL cracks me up to this day.
As for the sentimental part, I will actually quote a line from our favorite nemesis, Odineye.
“Im the eye that never strayed”
I cant explain why (cause I work in a place filled with guys and they would berate me endlessly for being too mushy), but that one line really got me. I truely felt for the character when I read that one.
Two honorable mentions go here.
Loki replacing Hod to get revenge was one of those goosebump-inspiring moments that if you saw it in the movie, you would be screaming and cheering for our hero.
and the part during the pantheon games when Baldur snuck out and the female sex goddesses were left with a wooden dummy cracked me up very much.
Now im inspired to spend the day re-reading the back stories again.
Talk to you all soon
Grimmy