If you've never had of P. Craig Russell, you're not alone. Despite working as a writer and illustrator in comics for over 30 years, Russell has flown pretty far under the radar. He's done work at both DC and Marvel, as well as independent comics like Hellboy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Fables, Lucifer, and Sandman.

He is, however, best well known for his many adaptations, including Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone, the fairy tales of Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book stories, Ray Bradbury's The Golden Apples of the Sun, and operas by Debussy, Strauss, Dukas, Mozart, and Wagner. It is the last of these that we'll be examining this week: Richard Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung.

For those unfamiliar with the original opera, you might know the song Ride of the Valkyries, famously played during the helicopter attack at the beginning of Apocalypse Now? Okay, that. The story of the Ring Cycle is a bit too long and convoluted to expound upon in this humble column. The four Operas that make up The Ring of the Nibelung have a combined running time of over 15 hours, and are typically performed over the course of a week. So the short, short version is as follows:

A Nibelung (think somewhere between a dwarf and a dark elf) named Alberich forswears love in order to steal the Rhinegold, from which he can forge a magic ring that will make him master of the world. Alberich forges the ring; however, it soon passes out of his hands and into those of Votan (perhaps better known as Odin, king of the Norse Gods), who steals it from the dwarf with the help of Loki. Furious at his loss, Alberich lays down a curse, swearing that all will be consumed by desire for the ring, but any who wears it will die, until Alberich possesses it again. If you notice a similarity to Lord of the Rings there, it's not a coincidence. Votan is warned to abandon the ring by Erda, mother of the world, before it brings on Ragnarök, the twilight of the gods. He trades the ring to two giants named Fastolt and Fafnir. Fafnir kills Fastolt for it, and slinks away to guard his new treasure.



From here the story changes focus to the mortal world, focusing on a hero named Sigmund, and his son Sigfried. Adventures are had, monsters slain and treasures won as Votan moves like a chess master, quietly moving pieces into place in an attempt to survive the Ragnarock. Meanwhile, the Ring and its curse silently wait to cause trouble, leaving a trail of corpses as it tries to find a way back to its master. And that's the short version.

The story is both epic and poetic; riddled with iconic elements. The cursed ring, the sword of the true king, the sleeping maiden. Giants, dragons, magic items, heroes, dwarves, gods, prophesies, and curses... this comic is like a freaking D&D wet dream. Because Russell was so true to the source material, the origins of the story as an opera do occasionally shine however, and there is a lot of talking. Nevertheless it is an amazing comic book.

The artwork is beautifully rendered, with a soft color palette and a clean and easy style. The character design in particular is very well done. Russell manages to create original designs for characters like Odin and Loki, who have been rendered many times in the comics medium before, while preserving recognizable elements.



The Ring of the Nibelung is a classic story, and has been adapted many times in many different formats, and this is one of the very best. Published by Dark Horse from 2000-2002, it is now available as two graphic novels.

Questions? Hate-filled Diatribes? Suggestions for Future Reviews? Send them all to tpanshin@nerdlives.com, or post to the Nerdlives forums.

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Tobiah Panshin was born in the backwoods of Pennsylvania, taught all he knows by the animal companions that raised him. As many fine naturalists will however note, Badgers and Woodchucks are notoriously bad at algebra. His math and science skills doomed from an early age, young Tobiah followed the only path available to him: the Humanities. Today, Liberal Arts degree in hand, he pursues with the dogged determination of a short-tailed shrew the pathetic, poverty bestrewn life of a writer. Armed with the strongest weapons he possesses--the umlaut, the gerund phrase, and the mighty schwa--he battles the English Language in a never-ending struggle for domination.