Baldur has a solution to the naked walls of his mead hall. Not skulls, not weapons… ART!
Baldur and Loki leave for Midgard in the morning. They plan to browse the galleries for aesthetically fascinating pieces then wander the countryside to seek out the arts and crafts of the hillbillies and other riff raff.
To be continued…
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Odin and Friends turned 150 a month ago and I forgot to roll out the mead barrels to celebrate. That’s 150 episodes of floating head madness. It’s been a crazy few months so I’m pleased — almost surprised — that I manged to maintain my schedule while moving, traveling, building two websites, writing a novel, and preparing to move again (overseas, no less). Thanks to everyone who has been getting their Viking fix by following the modern day adventures of the Norse gods, including you chubby chasers and Amazon aficionados who only come here for the sexy giantess jokes.
Some highlights from the last 50 episodes:
- Technoviking becomes the Norse God of Dance thanks to apotheosis by YouTube.
- Thor and Mjolnir make sure the clouds of Migard stay in in good and working order. Important lesson in meteorology: don’t hook up clouds on a single circuit.
I’ve never put much stock in numerology, but I couldn’t help but notice on the calendar that today is the ninth day of the ninth month of the year two thousand and nine.
That’s a lot of nines in a row. The number nine was considered quite significant in Norse mythology, so I’m thinking this day must be auspicious for one thing or another. If you’ve been considering climbing a dangerous mountain, sacking a village off coastal Britain, or sailing for new lands amongst the icebergs, today might be the day to give it a whirl.
NINE SIGNIFICANT EXAMPLES OF THE NUMBER NINE IN NORSE MYTHOLOGY
Nine Worlds
The Norse universe contains nine worlds supported by the tree of life:
Ásgarðr (Asgard, home of Odin and the other Aesir gods)
Álfheimr (Alfheim, home of the Elves)
Múspellsheimr (Muspellsheim, southern realm of fire, chock full o’ demons)
Vanaheimr (Vanaheim, original home of Freyja and the Vanir gods)
Niflheimr (Niflheim, northern realm of fog and mist)
Nidavellir (home of the dwarves)*
Svartálfaheimr (Svartalfaheim, land of the dark elves)*
* Might be the same place, which leaves one realm missing. California?
Nine Days
When Odin sacrificed himself on Yggdrasil, he hung for nine days and nights. In return, he secured from the Well of Wyrd eighteen (twice nine) magical runes with powers straight out of Dungeons & Dragons.
Nine Nights
Freyr must wait nine nights to consummate his union with Gerd. Apparently worth the wait to sleep with the sexiest giant woman to walk the earth.
Nine Steps
During Ragnarök, Thor kills Jörmungandr but staggers back nine steps before falling dead himself.
Nine Rings
Odin’s ring Draupnir releases eight additional rings every ninth night, forming a total of nine rings of equal worth. How’s that for passive income?
Nine Daughters
Ægir has nine of them. Sounds like a lot of work.
Nine Mothers
Heimdall has nine of them. And I thought having three was tough.
Nine Saddle Sores
The god Hermod rode Sleipnir for nine nights on his quest to free Baldr from the underworld. Too bad Loki sabotaged his efforts.
Nine Survivors
There are nine surviving deities of Ragnarök, including Baldur, Hödr, Magni, Modi, Vidar, Váli, Hoenir, Sól’s daughter, and a ninth unnamed god who will rule over everything.
That’s right, this comic has reached the century mark. Started on April 1, 2009, Odin and Friends now has 100 glorious, floating-head Viking comics for you to enjoy. Visit the archive page to see the big list.
Hear ye, Friends of Odin and Friends, an important announcement:
Starting this week, Odin and Friends will begin updating three times weekly instead of the previous five day schedule. New comics will appear Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 5 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. For those of you who subscribe by email, comics will continue to arrive in your email box whenever the automated email server decides to send them (you may have noticed the Feedburner email service is quite whimsical about its delivery schedule… blast).
For the curious, here are a few reasons for the reduced schedule:
- It’s summer. The ice has melted. The sea beckons. The mountains call. Time to make war, not draw cartoons.
- Less is more? We shall see…
- I do more than make cartoons, friends. I make movies! I’m proud to say a script I cowrote is currently filming (Hail Odin). Although the writing phase is over (Hail Odin), I’m still doing work for the project. Lots of work.
- Toons and movies may be glorious, but the landlord doesn’t accept glory as payment. Hence, I must work for the kings and merchants of the world, helping them to secure treasure and territory.
So please continue to enjoy Odin and Friends three days a week, and if for some reason you feel like you need more, let me know and when the ice returns and I’m once again confined to my lair, I’ll work to resume a more rigorous schedule.
That’s right… Odin and Friends is 50 comics old today.
I’m also proud to say that in the two months since it’s inception, Odin and Friends has risen from complete obscurity to become the web’s premiere destination for comics featuring floating Viking god heads.
I spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday working on a couple of new “god heads” to help round out the pantheon, and I’m pretty excited by the results. Here’s a sneak peak at Sif, who will make her debut in the comic sometime in the next few weeks.
For those not up on their Norse mythology, Sif is Thor’s wife, and she’s known for her beauty and fantastic mane of golden hair. Working from mythological sources is great, because virtually every god or goddess is known for some well-defined attribute that can be cartoonized to the fullest.
I’m still working out how she is going to figure into the universe of Odin and Friends, but her hair is going to play an important role. Not a whole lot is known about her from the old myths, other than she has awesome hair and giants lust after her the same way they do Freyja. The proto-comics I’ve constructed so far involve Sif dealing with Thor and his strange attraction to giant women.
The glorious light of technology has shone through to the Dark Ages.
If you’re looking for an easy way to stay updated with Odin and Friends, you can now get comics by email. Check out the email widget on the left side of this page to sign up and get updates.
And don’t forget to be a true hero and click through once in a while to post a comment on the site!
What began as a simple “Odin head” floating in the clouds and making decidedly medieval comments on human affairs has grown into a pantheon of floating heads expressing their unique views. Baldur and Loki join Odin this week and Thor is not far behind. Tell your friends to check out Odin and Friends and see the adventure unfold. As the Viking gods let their lightning bolts rip on the modern world, there will surely be something to entertain and offend just about everyone.
Here it is, April 1, and I’ve finally launched Odin and Friends.
I’m launching one comic a day, five days a week, Moon Day through Freyr’s Day, until I run out of material or smash my computer with a battle axe and head off to the icy North to live for good. So come back tomorrow to see what the gods have in store for you.