Vei is a tale of Norse mythological adventure. The character of Vei herself is a human of the realm of the giants Jotunheim. The giants and the sworn enemies the Aesir also known as the gods of Asgard who hold sway over the mortals of Midgard (Earth).Vei has trained her whole life to be the best warrior possible so that she might battle for her giant gods the Jotun in a tournament against the Asgardian champions. The winners of this contest win dominion of the Earth for the gods for a period of time. And with this preface in place let’s discuss the book.
Vei is on its face a story of a chosen champion who must rise up to meet their destiny in a battle of good versus evil, with the Asgardians being portrayed as cruel, bloodthirsty and dishonorable. The authors subverts the initial idea of this premise by having the heroine cast aside by her Jotun god with no explanation. The relationships between gods and their worshipers is explored from many points of view of multiple characters within the story. From the brash and arrogant Viking prince Eidyr to his unflinchingly loyal warrior Dal tp Vei herself we see that each has the utmost faith in their religions but when confronted with certain realities find those that the worshiped are not always what they were thought to be. Its an interesting exploration of faith in the midst of a mythic adventure that in some sense makes me think of Frank Herbert’s Dune series.Like Dune this story involves, way and politics and power struggles aplenty as characters seek a way to succeed with these vast forces at play.
The characters are well realized by Elfgren from the mortals to the gods. Each character focused on has a well developed personality complete with strengths and flaws. Vei for instance proves herself to be a mighty warrior but she is also vulnerable and uncertain at times adding to her humanity and her relationships with characters like Dal and her personal Jotun god Veidar continue to evolve as the story progresses. This isn’t a simple hack and slash sword and sorcery adventure, this story has some real depth to it.
The artwork by Karl Johnsson looks familiar to me but I can’t recall seeing his work before but something about it tickles the memory. He has illustrated graphic novels and children’s books and I believe some of that aesthetic shows here. The colors are rich and vibrant, the illustrations have strong storytelling and are clean precise. His design work is quite good and I suspect his depictions of the giants might be much closer to the mythology that we normally see. Quiet moments and action are done with equal skill and nothing ever got dull or boring as I looked at the pages.
One thing that stuck out though is that everything is oddly feminine. Males and females alike for the most part tend to have rounded features with sensual lips and large, expressive eyes. I was reminded of the similar aesthetic found in Elfquest where all the characters, male and female, were always a bit pretty.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If you are in the mood for some mythology or fantasy that delivers on the action but also has the depth of stories like The Last Unicorn, Vei is well worth reading. I know I’m personally looking forward to volume 2.  5 out of 5
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
VEI Vol 1
Writer:Â Sara B. Elfgren
Art:Â Karl Johnsson
Publisher:Â Insight Comics
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