'Asgard volume 1: Ironfoot' by Xavier Dorison with art by Ralph Meyer is a graphic novel about a village besieged by a monster and the outsider who may be their only hope.

Fjördland has a Krökken problem. The sea creature is destroying fishing boats. The Skraeling known as Ironfoot offers to help, but the village is reluctant to pay. A ragtag group of people scrape the money together and join him on the dangerous hunt.

I liked this atmospheric story. The art helps set the tone for the story and it was a pretty exciting read.

I got this graphic novel from NetGalley.
I’ve never reviewed a graphic novel so I was a little out my depth with this but..

The story of Asgard the skraeling is an epic tale! It takes on the classic mythology lore and mixes it with amazing visuals.

I greatly enjoyed this beginning to end. I even had my husband read it and he liked it a lot too.

In this graphic novel a Viking settlement terrorized by a sea serpent hires a monster hunter to take care of the problem. It's a decent story and the art is good, but I kept thinking that it's really just an excuse to write Captain Ahab as a Viking.

Received via NetGalley.

This was a well-written interesting story that kept me guessing and wanting to read more. Asgard is an action-packed read that keeps you reading just a little further each time because you have to know what happens next.

4 stars.

The artwork was okay, the story was interesting, but too much completely unnecessary nudity for my tastes unfortunately.

Asgard, or Ironfoot as he's known throughout the land, was supposed to put down at birth because he was born missing the bottom half of his leg. His father decided to raise him naming him Asgard as an insult to the Gods who supposedly wanted him dead. Flash forward 40 years later, Asgard is now known as a monster hunter. He takes on a small crew to hunt a giant eel that has been destroying ships. To be concluded in book 2. The art and coloring are realistic and moody. I quite enjoyed this.

I received a free copy of Asgard from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

A solid, short-ish graphic novel that is worth a read for fans of Norse inspired stories. The story is strong (an embittered monster hunter hunts a monster and gets his cold heart thawed), but the art is where it really shines. It's gorgeous throughout. There are some relevant secondary characters, but the titular Asgard is the main driving force. We get hints through the book that there's something else happening in the background, but this remains unresolved by the end. This is a two-part graphic novel, but given how short it is it would have been good to read it in one go.

Recommended.

*I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

I must admit I was reluctant to read a comic book on a screen; especially if it was about vikings, given that I love checking proper art in my hands. I am glad I did!

As I have read many comic books that don't portray viking features and cultural customs loyally, I was even more grateful to see this one did.

I absolutely loved the art and how Asgard, our main character, makes so many mistakes blinded by the same ego he is so bothered about in others (Does this story ring a bell?). How many times do we realise we have been doing precisely that we despise?

Short and interesting comic book with an ending that leaves you craving fo the second part.

Thank you to Europe Comics for a digital edition via NetGalley of ‘Asgard 1. Ironfoot’ with script by Xavier Dorison and art by Ralph Meyer. It was translated from the French by Montana Kane and published in April 2019.

This two part graphic novel draws on Norse mythology and tells the story of an outcast, Asgard Ironfoot, who is a famous hunter of Krökken.

A monstrous sea serpent is wrecking havoc throughout the Fjördland by destroying fishing boats, eating their crews, and preventing the Vikings from embarking upon their expeditions. The king of the region tasks the heroic Gozlin to hire Asgard Ironfoot to find and kill it. Asgard sets off with a small crew, including Gozlin and the young girl, Sieglind, who has stowed away. Asgard’s initial response is to throw her overboard. What a charmer!

The story was very dark and Meyer matched this with the use of a dark palette in his artwork. Overall, I felt it was a strong story that honoured its inspirational source of the Poetic Eddas and was well suited to its graphic novel format. It will be interesting to see how the tale concludes.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

As far as graphic novels go this is a BRILLIANT one! Asgard is an epic saga that is set in Fjordland amongst the misty mountains and Nordic fjords which open up onto vast black seas.

Here a set of Viking villagers are terrorised by the Krokken – a collossal sea serpent of leviathan size – which is sinking long-ships and eating all who are on board. Having all their pillaging come to a stand still is starting to t ake its toll on the village, until a mysterious and dark stranger arrives with the promise to rid the people of the creature for a small fee…

Backed by the best of thr villagers, the stranger sets out on a monstrous hunt where not everyone will return. Will the gods aid this stranger?

What I loved…
The characters in this graphic novel are troubled and as the reader you can really feel their torn emotions when they are making decisions. The cold and arrid landscape is really show through their emotions and their judgements and resolutions to problems are linked to Nordic Folklore.

The Story is half of teh enjoyment when reading a graphic novel, the art work is gritty and dark which really lends to the story telling givong it a Norse Saga feel and adds to the depth of the story. I especially like the limited colours and shadows in the art!

What I’d like more of….
Asgard is not a very long read and so I would probably say that more copies are needed of spin off stories… I would love to see some of the other characters develop in their own saga.

3/5 – A short but entertaining read.

This one ends in a cliffhanger so if you are really invested in story and characters then it would be a bit annoying... I enjoyed it while it lasted but I'm not actively looking forward to vol.2 release.

The first half of a comic that could easily fit in one set of covers, not two, sees us in Viking times. The last big raid of the season before the world ices up has been put on hold because a huge kraken is doing his usual big bad monster thing, killing all the fishermen. Luckily there is a monster-hunter on hand, albeit one outcast not only from society in general, due to him having been born with half a leg missing, but the elite warriors of the time, too. If the book can't look at the action and procedural of how to kill your sea-monster, it might get round to showing us why he's an ex-member of that elite, or even what will occur when a young female survivor of a monster attack becomes part of his crew. So there's a fair bit going on, but it's not wonderful – the cover art isn't matched at all inside, and while the religion of the time adds colour and even more drama to the proceedings, I don't think the colour allows for all that much excitement on the page. I certainly wouldn't object to seeing the second half, but as other reviewers have said, it's low on one's list of priorities.

Part 1 of 2, sets up a story about a decadent Viking empire with little mercy for those who are different and a dying sense of purpose and religion. the story stays mostly with the angry titular outsider, who hunts the beats and monsters who threaten the settlements and fjords. the character and story beats were pretty action movie standard, so cliched but fun. A bit of a Moby Dick crossed with Vikings crossed with the Punisher crossed with Sergio Leone westerns. Fun, but I won't be reading more.

Disclaimer: ARC via Netgalley

I have always preferred the Norse myths to the Greek, my love for the Trojan War not withstanding. I’m not entirely sure why. Rangorak is a bit of a downer. Maybe it is because there were active goddesses who were more than jealous wives and virgins. Maybe because there was less rape. Maybe it was the girls who got to fly on winged horses. Maybe because the endings felt more set. I don’t know. But I love how this series from Europe comics uses the Norse legends.

Asgard, or Ironfoot, was supposed to be killed as a a baby but his father could not bring himself to do it. As such, Asgard apparently did not grow up as one of the most popular Vikings. He is, however, extremely skilled at killing monsters, a skill that comes in handy when you need money for food, I suppose. He gets hired to go after a Kraken who is hunting fishing boats. Like many a movie and story before, Ironfoot is the prickly on the outside just wants to be a daddy on the inside type of a guy, who becomes the de facto father/hero figure for one of the fisherman, surprisingly a girl.

Despite the use of naked women around a king (honesty, European comics have as much female nudity as the average Hollywood film), the book does have two strong female characters who actually talk to each other. While much of the backstory reminds unrevealed in this installment, there is enough given for the story to work as well as too keep the reader interested. Asgard’s monster hunting does have another purpose that is hinted at and there are other forces at work than simply the kraken. It does make for a good and riveting adventure story.

A really interesting take on Norse mythology. I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel, and the art style was especially enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

The art is good, the story is good but unfortunately, unreadable. Like so many other Europe Comics, the problem could have been solved in the planning phase by reading the book using an iPad or smaller e-reader. The font is too poor to read properly (thin and wobbly) that I had to zoom in all the time to understand the words. Too frustrating to put up with. Disappointing.

This was a good graphic novel with some really great artwork. I liked the story and especially the Norse Mythology and Viking aspects of it. It was interesting to see a bit about the Gods and the peoples beliefs.

It was basically an adventure about killing a sea monster thats terrorising the people. I liked that the art was graphic and a bit gruesome. I liked that the main character had a disability and he has worked to prove he can still be a warrior.

Overall not a bad story and I'd continue with book 2.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This had a slow start, but what can you expect from the first volume of a graphic novel? By the end, the action picked up and you could feel the battle between the Vikings and the Krokken in the artwork. I also loved the artwork in the few transitional pages of nature. The most challenging part of this graphic novel was the font style. On a digital device, it was difficult to quickly and easily read. This was a great introduction into this Norse mythology world. I’m interested to see what the Krokken has in store for them in the next volume!

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.
I thought that this graphic novel was decent. It was interesting, but it did not keep my attention. I did appreciate the Norse mythology, and the vikings were fun to read about. I did like the artwork. But in the end, it was not for me.

I gravitate towards anything relating to Norse myth, and this was a good find: disabled heroes, strong women, gorgeous artwork and giant monsters make for a fun and compelling read. The character design is varying and detailed, sharp and concise so that it's easy to follow along. Though the font is a bit difficult to read for me, I still found myself absorbed in the plot, and rarely struggled to read character / place names, which is always a big plus. What typically keeps me from reading comics is that I find it difficult to understand and relate to characters with the chunks of narrative text afforded to novels, but that's never a problem here: through the drawings and dialogue I feel like I could understand clearly the motivations and mindsets of each character. Even with such a fast-paced plot it rarely feels like the character personalities are being neglected in favor of the action - of which there's plenty, and the illustrations for these sequences are gorgeous. A strong start and introduction that really doesn't require too much knowledge of Viking history or Norse myth; you could dive in without having to look anything up beforehand, because everything is integrated into the narrative in a natural way. I could easily imagine this as a movie or a series. Definitely going to look for more from this author, and I'm gonna pick up the second part asap.