Wagner's Epic Ring Cycle Gets the Comic Book Treatment by Master Fantasy Artists P Craig Russell. This Series has Won Multiple Eisner Awards in its Publication as a Periodical. In this Volume, the Magial Gold of the Rhine Maidens is Stolen and Turned into a Ring Which Perverts the will of all it Comes into Contact with. The Original Story of the Magical Ring, in a Glorious New Medium.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Opera Manifests In New Form,
By
This review is from: Ring of the Nibelung Volume 1: The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (Paperback)
The story of one of Wagner's timeless operas, adapted here into comic form. I do not know the original, but this version makes me wish to find out more. It is comprised of 4 parts collected into two books, corresponding to the original 4 operas, which were independant but held together in a loose confederation to make on complete whole.The first quadrant, The Rhinegold, begins with the founding of the gods and the tree of life, before advancing to when the story begins, in the middle ages. A dwarf, Alberich, is spurned by a trio of mermaids and steals their precious Rhinegold in order to make a ring of power from it, with which he can rule the world. The scene changes to Voton, leader of the gods, admiring his newly built Valhalla. The price for this was his wife's sister, who gives life to the gods, and when the giants come for their payment, Voton attempts vainly to talk them out of it. Finally, an agreement is made; if the god can get Alberich's ring, they will exchange that for the girl. And so Voton and Loge the Trickster climb down into the depths of the earth, where the dwarves are held under cruel sway. They trick the new leader and steal his ring, along with a tiara of shapeshifting and all of his gold, but not before the ring is cursed to bring death upon whomever else wears it. Voton is mesmerised by the power, but finally convinced to give it up by the eldest spirit; immediately the ring brings death, when one giant kills his brother coveting it. The Valkyrie begins with a hotblooded young man finding shelter from pursuers in a lonely house, telling of deeds done in misguided honor; his host gives him shelter in waiting for a duel on the morn. That night Siegmund and Sieglinde fall in love, the former taking the ancient sword and with it his host's wife. Fricka, goddess of marriage, demands that Voton avenge this, even though they are his children; finally his will is overcome and he demands that a Valkyrie give Siegmund defeat in battle. She defies him, but Voton steps in and lets him die. As her punishment Brunehilde is taken from godhood and locked on a cliff, to be wed by any hero to find her. The mini-series is continued in Vol. 2. Even such a long summation can barely do this dense and powerful opera justice. Rather than the standard practice of rewriting or removing speech in parts, nearly everything is kept, translated directly from the original words of Wagner. The translation itself is very nice, keeping an archaic and formal syntax, while remaining accessible to modern readers. It is similar to Shakespeare or any contemporary, high without pretnetion. While the music cannot be included, the songs remain, to be fleshed out instead by lush art. The parallel goes deeper, in fact; as mentioned in the introduction, where Wagner's music has its lietmotifs, quickly recognizable strains that pull the whole together, so does the art include its own repeated motifs. The story is classic, and told as well as befits a master. The politics between the gods is as fierce or more than that between men, and between them battles and intrigue rage. No major point is left unexplored, nothing forgotten and left to the wayside. Each character introduced comes back to play at least once, most exiting only through death. So much goes on that it is dizzying to keep up, but the intention is never to leave the reader behind, so it isn't overly difficult to follow. Even the reintroductions that catch the reader up on the events of each previous part are handled deftly. The art is vivid and colorful, very detailed and realistically shaded and textured. At times it seems more like acrylic paint than simple color press. The scenery is well detailed, matched by the people, whose actions and expressions are each striking and individual. While characters are seen from many angles and perspectives, anatomy of each is still proper. The story is very visual and cinematic; some places are very dense and wordy, while sometimes pages go by with no words needed. The fights in particular flow this way, becoming very abstract, yet the action clearly laid out. Russel is very comfortable with his ability to tell a tale however it needs to be told, certainly.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Admirable Work!,
By Chris (Berkeley, CA United States) - See all my reviews
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Ring of the Nibelung Volume 1: The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (Paperback)
P. Craig Russell has created a masterpiece of comic book out of a materpiece of Opera. A absolute delight in every opera fan's colelctions! (BTW, I love P. Craig Russell's other opera adaptions, but Ring of the Nibelung is the best by a mile)
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous translation to comic medium,
By wiredweird "wiredweird" (Earth, or somewhere nearby) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Ring of the Nibelung Volume 1: The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (Paperback)
Russell has done it again, breathing new life into Wagner's story by translating it into a contemporary visual medium. His visual style always works well in fantasies, so it makes the ideal vehicle for a story like this. Staging it to the fullest would be nearly impossible, with its varied surrounds of mountains, meadows, rainstorms, caves and more. Imagery on paper supports these scenes in ways that would be nearly impossible for stagecraft.
The story comes through strongly, too. And what a story - the operatic style in music is an acquired taste, and many younger readers won't have taken the time to acquire it. As a result, they might not have heard of the swindling gods, taunting Rhinemaidens, lovestruck valkyrie, incestuous relations, and other seedy goings-on. More than just the adventure of the story, there's a whole soap opera (if you'll pardon the term) in play. And, who knows? The gorgeous art and thrilling story might even tempt someone to give a listen to some of Wagner's incredible music. -- wiredweird
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