Ring of the Nibelung Volume 1: The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie (Paperback)

by P. Craig Russell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
The Rhinegold and The Valkyrie comprises Volume One of Russell’s adaptation of the Ring cycle by German composer Richard Wagner. Woton has exhausted himself and his godly resources to have a mighty fortress built with the labor of the giants, Fasolt and Fafnir. But in his bargaining with them, he has promised the fair Freia, keeper of the golden apple tree whose fruit gives power and immortality to the gods. The giants come to collect their pay, and only Logé, the trickster god, can find something to offer the giants in exchange: the Rhinegold. The only problem is, Woton doesn’t have the Rhinegoldyet!

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse (May 8, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569716668
• ISBN-13: 978-1569716663
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #164,251 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Opera Manifests In New Form, May 11, 2003

By	Liz Fox "foxyshadis" (Modesto, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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 Fresh adaptation of a cool opera, May 22, 2005

By	Gagewyn (United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Ring of the Nibelung is the first of two books that make up a very literal adaptation of Wagner's opera to comic book form. It may seem strange to adapt an opera (all sound in most forms of distribution) to an all visual medium, but in many cases the sets and the visual element were a huge part of opera. This is a very visual opera and the comic does it right.

The plot: Mermaids who guard a small piece of gold in the Rhine river pass the time by making fun of a Nibelung (a little dwarf type thing) who thinks they are hot. The gold they are guarding is very beautiful but also powerful if it can be forged into a ring. This ring would give who ever wear's it the power to command the entire race of Nibelung. The catch is the ring must be made by someone who has given up love forever. Love isn't doing the Nibelung much good, since he is not at all good to look at and so he ends up making the ring. From then on everyone wants the ring. It passes hands again and again and always in bad circumstances.

Despite questionable material (all of it comes from Wagner) this is an excellent comic for school libraries. It is a well done adaptation that could spark interest in the subject and is definitely very readable. There is also a short introductory section about techniques that were used in making the comic, that was interesting for me and would appeal to teens who are interested in drawing their own comics.

I highly recommend this adaptation. It keeps the detail from the opera, and the visual nature of a comic book says more than just words could. I finished this and I was like - where is book two? I want it now.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Admirable Work!, September 21, 2004

By	Chris "chris2050" (Falls Church, VA United States) - See all my reviews

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)