Valhalla (comic) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Valhalla is a Danish

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

series. Originally commissioned for and published by Interpresse, it has been published by Carlsen Comics since 1987.

History

During 1976 and 1977, Henning Kure and Arne Stenby at Interpresse, a Danish publishing house, were planning to create a comic series based on the world of the Vikings. They offered the place of illustrating the comic to the young cartoonist

Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...

Peter Madsen

Peter Madsen (cartoonist)

Peter Madsen is an award-winning Danish cartoonist, illustrator, and author. Along with editor Henning Kure and fellow cartoonist Rune T...

, who accepted, and also enlisted Hans Rancke-Madsen, a writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

who had shown great skill at writing dialogue and characters. The team set out to draw the first album (similar format as Tintin and Asterix) in a series of the adventures of the Norse gods, based on the Elder Eddas. Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

would very much be the hero of this series, along with Odin

Odin

Odin is a major god in Norse mythology and the ruler of Asgard. Homologous with the Anglo-Saxon "Wōden" and the Old High German "Wotan", the name is descended from Proto-Germanic "*Wodanaz" or "*Wōđanaz"....

and Loki

Loki

In Norse mythology, Loki or Loke is a god or jötunn . Loki is the son of Fárbauti and Laufey, and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. By the jötunn Angrboða, Loki is the father of Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world serpent Jörmungandr. By his wife Sigyn, Loki is the father of Nari or Narfi...

, Odin's blood brother.

Valhalla started in 1978 as a strip running in the Danish newspaper "Politiken". The first album came out in 1979. It was very well received, with several subsequent albums.

The tone of the albums has focused on humor, but the characters, and much of the plot, are based on the stories and legends in the Elder Eddas, and many albums have often featured deeper human issues. The albums are of high quality, and each took one or several years to produce. The first album was released in 1979, the second in 1982, and the thirteenth in 2006. They are very much in the tradition of finely drawn and well plotted Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics

Franco-Belgian comics are comics that are created in Belgium and France. These countries have a long tradition in comics and comic books, where they are known as BDs, an abbreviation of bande dessinée in French and stripverhalen in Dutch...

like Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin
The Adventures of Tintin is a series of classic comic books created by Belgian artist , who wrote under the pen name of Hergé...

or Asterix
Asterix
Asterix or The Adventures of Asterix is a series of French comic books written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo . The series first appeared in French in the magazine Pilote on October 29, 1959...

, which also served as inspiration for the Valhalla comics.

On January 5 2007, Valhalla was published on the Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

for the first time as the Danish

Denmark

paper Jyllands-Posten

Jyllands-Posten

Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten , commonly shortened to Jyllands-Posten or JP, is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Viby, a suburb of Århus, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies, it is among the largest-selling newspaper in Denmark...

began publishing the 14th album, Muren ("The Wall"), in their online edition. One page is posted weekly in the form of an animated Flash

Adobe Flash

Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...

program, attempting to transfer the large album pages to a format suitable for the web.

Creative teams

Valhalla would become the major breakthrough for illustrator Peter Madsen

Peter Madsen (cartoonist)

Peter Madsen is an award-winning Danish cartoonist, illustrator, and author. Along with editor Henning Kure and fellow cartoonist Rune T...

, who has developed greatly during his work on the series. Apart from doing the art for all the albums, he has been a co-writer for most of them. By far the most high-profile member of the creative team, the series is often referred to as "Peter Madsen's Valhalla".

Hans Rancke-Madsen has been the major writer of the series, together with Peter and other co-writers Per Vadmand and Henning Kure. Rancke-Madsen has written for all albums but eleven and twelve, but will return for the thirteenth album.

The colouring has always been a great part of the art of Valhalla. The first eight albums were coloured by Søren Håkonsson. Peter Madsen did the colours himself for the ninth album, while albums ten to twelve were done by Jesper Ejsing. Håkonsson returned for the thirteenth album, where he did half the pages, the other half being done by Madsen.

Album titles and summaries

All the individual albums that were originally published by Interpresse are now published by Carlsen Comics.

1. Ulven er Løs ("Cry Wolf"), Interpresse (1979). Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

and Loki

Loki

visit Midgard

Midgard

Midgard is one of the Nine Worlds and is an old Germanic name for our world and is the home of Humans, with the literal meaning "middle enclosure".-Etymology:...

, the world of humans, and take on farmer's children Þjálfi and Röskva as their servants. At their return to Valhalla

Valhalla

In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...

, they find that the monstrous Fenris Wolf has escaped its bonds. A flashback tells the story of how Loki and Tyr brought the wolf to Valhalla. An educational edition of this comic received The Danish School Librarians' Association's Children's Book Prize in 1982.

2. Thors Brudefærd ("Thor's Wedding"), Interpresse (1980). Based on the Þrymskviða

Þrymskviða

Þrymskviða is one of the best known poems from the Poetic Edda...

. The giant Þrymr has stolen Thor's hammer Mjölnir, and will only return it in exchange for marrying the goddess Freyja. Thor and Loki have to dress up like Freyja and her maid to trick the giants.

3. Odins Væddemål ("Odin's Wager"), Interpresse (1982). Odin

Odin

is disappointed with the warriors the Valkyries bring for his army of Einherjar

Einherjar

In Norse mythology, the einherjar are those that have died in battle and are brought to Valhalla by valkyries. In Valhalla, the einherjar eat their fill of the nightly-resurrecting beast Sæhrímnir, and are brought their fill of mead by valkyries...

. He makes a wager with the Valkyries, that he can find better ones in Midgard by himself: three warriors that can best any and all of the Einherjar. The terms of the wager states that he is not allowed to use magic, and he therefore travels to Midgard personally. Odin remains gone for a long time, and rumor has it that he is dead, and his brothers Ve

VE, Ve or ve may refer to:* Vili and Vé, gods in Norse mythology* Vé , a shrine in Germanic paganism and modern place name element* Ve , a character from the Cyrillic alphabet* Ve , a character of the Arabic alphabet...

and Vili claim his throne. They change a lot of things in Asgard and become increasingly unpopular. They consolidate their power by stationing jötunn troops in Asgard. Meanwhile Odin scouts Midgard to find the three warriors he needs. There are a lot of warriors but they all have some flaw: They are either too stupid, anti-authoritarian, Christian or about to get married. He finally finds three warriors called Fander, Hogur and Voldsdag who are indeed fierce warriors. He takes them back to Asgard where they defeat the jötnar, and dethrone Ve and Vili. To Odin’s great surprise, the three warriors turn out to be Balder

Balder

Baldr is a god in Norse mythology.In the 12th century, Danish accounts by Saxo Grammaticus and other Danish Latin chroniclers recorded a euhemerized account of his story...

, Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

and Loki

Loki

in disguise. Odin argues that he has won the wager anyway because those three are the mightiest warriors in Asgard. The story is not based on any particular myth alone, it consists of bits and pieces from the Prose Edda

Prose Edda

The Prose Edda, also known as the Younger Edda, Snorri's Edda or simply Edda, is an Icelandic collection of four sections interspersed with excerpts from earlier skaldic and Eddic poetry containing tales from Nordic mythology...

, Heimskringla

Heimskringla

Heimskringla is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorri Sturluson ca. 1230...

and other sources. Fander, Hogur and Voldsdag are based on Fandral

Fandral

Fandral the Dashing is a Marvel Comics character and a charter member of the Warriors Three, a trio of Asgardian adventurers consisting of Fandral, Hogun the Grim, and Volstagg the Valiant...

, Hogun

Hogun

Hogun the Grim is a fictional character and a charter member of the Warriors Three, a trio of Asgardian adventurers and supporting cast of Thor in the .Writer Stan Lee envisioned him as sharing several traits with characters played by actor Charles Bronson....

and Volstagg

Volstagg

Volstagg is a fictional character, a charter member of the Warriors Three, a trio of Asgardian adventurers and supporting cast of Thor in the . He is not taken from mythology but an original creation, modeled on Shakespeare's Falstaff in character and name....

from Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

.

4. Historien om Quark ("The Story of Quark"), Interpresse (1987). Loki returns from a visit to Utgard

Útgarðar

In Norse mythology, Útgarðar surround a stronghold of the giants. They are associated with Útgarða-Loki, a great and devious giant featured in one of the myths concerning Thor and the other Loki who compete in rigged competitions held in the Outyards...

with a jötunn boy named Quark. The boy behaves horribly and becomes disliked by all the gods, Þjálfi and Röskva being the only ones he finally learns to like. (Quark isn't based on any original Norse myths, but is an original creation of Peter Madsen.) The story continues in the next album.

5. Rejsen Til Udgårdsloke ("The Journey to Útgarða-Loki"), Interpresse (1989). Thor, Loki, Þjálfi and Röskva travel to Utgard to have a competition with the jötnar led by Útgarða-Loki

Útgarða-Loki

In Norse mythology, Útgarða-Loki was the ruler of the castle Útgarðr in Jötunheimr. He was one of the Jötnar and his name means literally "Loki of the Outyards," to distinguish him from Loki, the companion of Thor.-Prose Edda:According to the Prose Edda book Gylfaginning, Thor, Þjálfi and Loki,...

. The losers of the competition will have to keep Quark.

6. De Gyldne Æbler ("The Golden Apples"), Interpresse (1990). Loki is forced to help the jötunn Thjazi kidnap Idun and her apples of eternal youth. As the gods grow old without the apples, Thor and Loki travel to bring back the apples from the jötunn and his beautiful daughter Skadi.

7. Ormen i Dybet ("The Serpent in the Abyss"), Carlsen Comics (1991). An argument between Thor and Tyr leads them to see if either of them can catch the Midgård serpent that embraces the world. They travel to Utgard and stay with the giant Hymir

Hymir

In Norse mythology, Hymir is a giant, husband of the giantess Hroðr and according to the Eddic poem Hymiskviða the father of the god Týr. He is the owner of a mile-wide cauldron which the Æsir wanted to brew beer in; Thor, accompanied by Týr, obtained it from him...

, where Tyr is forced to face a past he would rather have forgotten. The comic was elected best comic album of 1992 at the Comics Mecca Convention, Ballerup

Ballerup

Ballerup Kommune is a municipality in Region Hovedstaden on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Approx. 15 km. From central Copenhagen. The municipality covers an area of 34 km², and has a total population of 47,116 . It is also the name of the municipal seat,...

, Denmark.

8. Frejas Smykke ("Freya's Necklace"), Carlsen Comics (1992). Freyja, the goddess of love, is bringing springtime to the worlds of men and gods. Odin plots to finally seduce her while Heimdall

Heimdall

In Norse mythology, Heimdallr is a god who possesses the resounding horn Gjallarhorn, owns the golden-maned horse Gulltoppr, has gold teeth, and is the son of Nine Mothers...

falls in love for the first time, and Loki gets caught in the middle of the trouble he starts between them all. The jewellery in the title is Brisingamen

Brisingamen

In Norse mythology, Brísingamen is the necklace of the goddess Freyja.-Beowulf:...

, and the story is originally a part of the Húsdrápa

Húsdrápa

Húsdrápa is a skaldic poem partially preserved in the Prose Edda where disjoint stanzas of it are quoted. It is attributed to the skald Úlfr Uggason. The poem describes mythological scenes carved on kitchen panels...

. The comic was chosen as the best foreign comic album of 1992 in Norway.

9. Den Store Udfordring ("The Big Challenge"), Carlsen Comics (1993). A jötunn boy named Magni

Magni

Magni may refer to:* Magni Ásgeirsson, an Icelandic singer/musician and a contestant in the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova* Magnicharters, a short word for an airline company.* Móði and Magni, the sons of Thor and Sif in Norse mythology...

appears in Valhalla claiming to be Thor's son. Odin is travelling Utgard, and makes a bet with the giant Hrungnir

Hrungnir

Hrungnir was a jötunn in Norse mythology, slain by the god Thor with his hammer Mjölnir. The account is documented in the Skáldskaparmál, in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson....

about whether Odin's Sleipnir

Sleipnir

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson...

or the giant's Guldfaxe is the faster horse. They race to Valhalla where Rungner proceeds to terrorise the gods. Thor challenges him to a duel, bringing Tjalfe and Magni along while the giants plot to kill Thor.

10. Gudernes Gaver ("The Gifts for the Gods"), Carlsen Comics (1997). The story of how the young Thor and Sif

Sif

In Norse mythology, Sif is a goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of skalds...

met, and of how the young Loki was made to travel to the dwarven realm and brought back several fantastic gifts, most notably the hammer Mjølner.

11. Mysteriet om Digtermjøden ("The Magic Mead"), Carlsen Comics (1998). Odin attempts to steal the special poet's mead from the giants. We are told the story of how the tribes of aesir and vanir

Vanir

In Norse mythology, the Vanir are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods and are the namesake of the location Vanaheimr . After the Æsir–Vanir War, the Vanir became a subgroup of the Æsir...

made war back in the days, and of how they exchanged members to ensure the peace that was finally reached. The comic is a pastiche

Pastiche

A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...

of Film Noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

featuring Odin as the detective in what starts as a murder case. Peter Madsen won The SAS Prize for Best Nordic for this comic at the Raptus Festival in Bergen

Bergen

Bergen is the second largest city in Norway with a population of as of , . Bergen is the administrative centre of Hordaland county. Greater Bergen or Bergen Metropolitan Area as defined by Statistics Norway, has a population of as of , ....

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

12. Gennem Ild og Vand ("Through Fire and Water"), Carlsen Comics (2001). The story is an amalgamation of the Grímnismál

Grímnismál

Grímnismál is one of the mythological poems of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript and the AM 748 I 4to fragment. It is spoken through the voice of Grímnir, one of the many guises of the god Odin, who is tortured by King Geirröth...

and the Þórsdrápa

Þórsdrápa

Þórsdrápa is a skaldic poem by Eilífr Goðrúnarson, a poet in the service of Jarl Hákon Sigurðarson. The poem is noted for its creative use of kennings and other metaphorical devices, as well as its labyrinthine complexity....

. The human king Geirröd

Geirröd

In Norse mythology, Geirröd was a jötunn and the father of the giantesses Gjálp and Greip.The story of Geirröd is told in Þórsdrápa. Loki, while flying as a hawk, was captured by Geirröd. Because he hated Thor, Geirröd demanded that Loki bring his enemy to Geirröd's castle without his magic belt...

has allied with the jötnar and brought misery to his country. As Odin and Loki travel to his kingdom to see what is happening, Odin is captured, though Geirrød does not know who he has caught. Loki and Thor return in an attempt to free him.

13. Balladen om Balder ("The Ballad of Baldr"), Carlsen Comics (2006). A rather free adaptation about the slaying of Baldr, based both on the accounts of the Poetic

Poetic Edda

The Poetic Edda is a collection of Old Norse poems primarily preserved in the Icelandic mediaeval manuscript Codex Regius. Along with Snorri Sturluson's Prose Edda, the Poetic Edda is the most important extant source on Norse mythology and Germanic heroic legends, and from the early 19th century...

and Prose Edda

Prose Edda

, as well as Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus

Saxo Grammaticus also known as Saxo cognomine Longus was a Danish historian, thought to have been a secular clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, foremost advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. He is the author of the first full history of Denmark.- Life :The Jutland Chronicle gives...

' Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum

Gesta Danorum is a patriotic work of Danish history, by the 12th century author Saxo Grammaticus . It is the most ambitious literary undertaking of medieval Denmark and is an essential source for the nation's early history...

. Since Loki never had been really evil in any earlier books, he isn't a deliberate perpetrator, here.

14. Muren ("The Wall"), Carlsen Comics (2007). Mostly based on the myth of Skírnismál

Skírnismál

Skírnismál is one of the poems of the Poetic Edda. It is preserved in the 13th century manuscripts Codex Regius and AM 748 I 4to but may have been originally composed in heathen times...

. It also includes the myth on how Loki gave birth to Sleipnir

Sleipnir

, appearing in the Prose Edda

Prose Edda

. It was released one page at a time on the online edition of the Danish

Denmark

newspaper Jyllands-Posten

Jyllands-Posten

as of January 5, 2007.

15. Vølvens syner ("The Sibyl

Völva

A vǫlva or völva is a shamanic seeress in Norse paganism, and a recurring motif in Norse mythology....

's Visions"), Carlsen Comics (2009). The final album in the series will contain the story about how Vafþrúðnir

Vafþrúðnir

Vafþrúðnir is a wise jötunn in Norse mythology. In the Poetic Edda poem Vafþrúðnismál, Vafþrúðnir acts as both Odin's host and opponent in a deadly battle of wits, resulting in Vafþrúðnir's defeat....

sets off Ragnarok

Ragnarök

In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures , the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water...

. Planned for release in 2009.

The albums have also been collected in anthologies in some countries. All albums have been translated into Swedish

Swedish language

Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...

and Norwegian

Norwegian language

Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...

with the earlier albums also translated into Dutch

Dutch language

Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

, German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

, French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, Finnish

Finnish language

Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...

, Icelandic

Icelandic language

Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...

, Faroese

Faroese language

Faroese , is an Insular Nordic language spoken by 48,000 people in the Faroe Islands and about 25,000 Faroese people in Denmark and elsewhere...

and Indonesian

Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....

, so somebody who knows these languages or anyone a bit familiar with Norse Mythology

Norse mythology

Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...

can enjoy these renditions of the adventures of Thor

Thor

In Norse mythology, Thor is a hammer-wielding god associated with thunder, lightning, storms, oak trees, strength, the protection of mankind, and also hallowing, healing, and fertility...

and Loki

Loki

Animated film

Valhalla was made into an animated film in 1986. The story is based on albums one, four and five, focusing on Tjalfe, Røskva and their meeting with Thor, Loki and Quark.

Although the film was in some ways a milestone for Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

n animation, it received mixed criticism. The production was hampered by trouble such as changes in the creative team and economic difficulties, and was passed on between studios to end up with Swan Film Production. In the end it cost nearly 30 million Danish kroner (approximately 5 million $), which it had no chance of bringing back in. No follow up to the film was made, although six short spin-off films, featuring Quark, were made by Swan Film Production. Quark is also the protagonist of his own comic series, of which several books have been published. Several more shorts were planned, but the studio collapsed from the troubles the Valhalla film had brought.

Several animators from the project later went together to found the studio A. Film A/S

A. Film A/S

A. Film A/S is a Danish animation studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It produces traditional and CGI animation for feature films, television, advertising and games...

, one of the most successful animation studios in Scandinavia.

In 2003, the movie was released on DVD

DVD

A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

in Denmark.

Stamp and playing cards

In 2002 Post Danmark the Danish

Denmark

postal service

Mail

Mail, or post, is a system for transporting letters and other tangible objects: written documents, typically enclosed in envelopes, and also small packages are delivered to destinations around the world. Anything sent through the postal system is called mail or post.In principle, a postal service...

made four stamps

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...

featuring Danish comic book characters. Peter Madsen drew the artwork for the Valhalla stamp and he also made a deck of playing cards with his characters. The other three stamps featured Rasmus Klump

Rasmus Klump

Rasmus Klump is a comic strip series for small children created in 1951 by the Danish wife and husband team Carla and Vilhelm Hansen...

, Jungledyret Hugo

Jungledyret Hugo

Jungledyret Hugo is a Danish media franchise featuring the cartoon adventures of an anthropomorphic mammal named Hugo. Created by Danish author and filmmaker Flemming Quist Møller and produced at A...

and Cirkeline

Cirkeline

Cirkeline is a fictional comic book character created by Hanne Hastrup in 1957. Her name is sometimes translated to English as Circleen. She is depicted with wild black hair and a red dress with black polka dots.-Films:...

External links

Peter Madsen's Valhalla 11. The official site for the making of Valhalla 11. Shows the step-by-step process used for several pages and also features other album information and art by Peter Madsen.
Peter Madsen's official homepage. (In Danish and English)
Carlsen Comics. Current publishers of Valhalla (in Danish).
Jyllands-Posten. Publishing the 14th album online.
Vidunderlige danske tegnefilm - Valhalla. A site chronicling the story behind the making of the animated film (in Danish).

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.