I Read Comic Books discussion

December's Book of the Month is Long Walk to Valhalla by Adam Smith! This one has been on my TBR for awhile, I'm excited to finally get to it!

What did you think of this pick?

As a reminder, this thread is FULL SPOILERS for the book!

Be sure to get your comments in before the recording date of 12/19 and put OK TO AIR if your comments can be part of the show!

The episode will be available 12/22 wherever you get your podcasts!

Wow, I didn't really expect to be so excited for one of my nominations to be voted in. (I had already put Thirsty Mermaids and Friends With Boys on hold at my library just in case.) 😃

Really looking forward to see what people think.

This has been on my to-read list (and on my shelf at home) for YEARS. So glad to finally be pushed into reading it! haha

Long Walk to Valhalla is one of those books that has been on my to-be-read pile for a number of years, this group read providing me with a good excuse to do so.

Given the uniformly excellent reviews I had seen for this graphic novel, I came away a bit disappointed by the reading experience. The story, by first-timer Adam Smith, is a sort of Bildungsroman centering around Rory, who, as the novel opens, is a twenty-something about to leave behind the small Arkansas town where he grew up. In a series of flashbacks we are introduced to his abusive father, his girlfriend, Katie, and his older brother, Joe, who has a rather nebulously-described mental illness that may or may not involve visual halluciantions and elements of autism. Over the course of these flashbacks we see Rory struggle to navigate his way towards adulthood.

I thought the story was at its best when it hewed close to this more “ordinary” plot that I’ve outlined. There’s a scene, for example, in which Rory encounters his father and his father’s girlfriend at an outdoor religious gathering, which amusingly illustrates that even as people change, they remain essentially the same.

The author chose, however, to entwine elements of the fantastic into his tale and this was where I had most of my problems. Very early on Rory encounters one of Odin’s Valkyries, Slyvia, who for reasons unclear shows up in the form of an adolescent girl wearing what looks like cardboard armor. I liked Sylvia the character, but increasingly felt that her primary purpose was to clumsily help introduce the novel’s themes — simplistically, how one tries to live a moral life in the face of adversity. Or as Slyvia would put it, how to act like a “warrior”. Was Sylvia’s involvement in the story really necessry to convey these ideas or merely a distracting contrivance? In one of the novel’s more arbitrary developments, Slyvia is the means by which Rory avoids dying; his reunification with Katie, along with his coming to terms with Joe’s culpabilty in the death of Pearl, presumably lead Sylvia to determine that Rory has not “given up” and hence for the time being won’t be traveling on to Valhalla. This twist (especially the too-convenient substitution of Joe for Rory) struck me as a somewhat clichéd turn of events that allowed for a more conventionally happy ending.

The other surreal element of Valhalla that I struggled with was Joe’s visions. My initial thoughts were that Joe’s “pretty things” were internal manifestions of his mental illness. Later events, however, made me question that hypothesis. Sylvia allows Rory to see Joe’s “pretty things”, describing them as gifts of Frigg (Odin’s wife), which seems to imply that they are based in some external reality. If so, what does that say about Joe’s supposed mental illness or about mental illness in general? These are interesting questions and, given the centrality of Joe’s illness to the story, seemingly important ones. But, unfortunately, the author seems to leave them completely unanswered.

For the most part I liked the straightforward artwork (Matthew Fox), although the coloring (all shades of blue) gets a bit monotonous.

I’ll close by saying that, in spite of my criticisms, I do recommend this graphic novel. There’s more to like than dislike about Valhalla, and I may find myself picking up other novels by Adam Smith. The Down River People (with Matthew Fox again doing the artwork) looks promising.

✭✭✭

(Okay to air.)

Canavan wrote: "The Down River People (with Matthew Fox again doing the artwork) looks promising."


Down River People is not good. The end is a complete mess. I couldn't even explain to you what happened after reading it. It's incoherent.

Chad wrote: Down River People is not good. The end is a complete mess. I couldn't even explain to you what happened after reading it. It's incoherent.

Thanks for the warning, Chad.

I love this book. The first time I read it, the magical realism put my guard up: Was I expected to know more Norse mythology? What were the individual “pretty things” symbolic of? When would the reveal come of who Sylvia *really* was? Each subsequent read, I’ve been able to let go of more of my need to interpret literally, and just soak in the setting and characters.

The art style is sketchy and a bit loose, which I feel excellently evokes a hot and dry rural Arkansas. On characters, the style feels as if it were more important to quickly capture them moment to moment than provide detail to pore over. In contrast, the pretty things stand out as smooth-lined and detailed, a hyper reality superimposed on this mundane one. The hand lettering also somewhat captures the rustic setting, although I would prefer something more uniform, and the way the (infrequent) sound effects are integrated ("shhhk" while raking the stream, a toilet "flush", "sss" when extinguishing a cigarette) remind me of Nate Powell’s work.

Rory seems on first read to be the small-town boy who grits his teeth through a difficult upbringing, then “nobly” decides to self-sacrifice his future for his “idiot” brother. Subsequent reads are of a young man who initially believes escaping to Memphis is his reward, but then crucially realizes what he saw as noble self-blame around Pearl’s death was actually having the effect of preventing Joe and Katie from moving on with their lives. His decision to return/stay and share in that grief—choosing to fight a “battle” thought to be won—is a powerful and unexpected change in his arc.

While Rory is the putative protagonist, Sylvia is the heart of this book for me. Her cardboard breastplate with hand-drawn smiling winged hammer and headband with tucked crow feathers is just what a kid who’s read too much Norse mythology—or a Valkyrie with no budget because she’s assigned to a forgotten backwater—would do. I find her unpredictable enough to be entertaining without being cutesy, while balancing the big believability question.

Despite all the accusations and slurs, there is no real evidence of Joe having a mental disability. Sure, he’s sensitive enough to see the pretty things: As a youth, he seems overwhelmed by them, but he seems to learn that keeping his mouth shut is the best way to avoid the explosive natures around him which would antagonize them. The final cemetery scene feels like an unexpected torrent of words from him, even though it’s not the first time he speaks. His ending is not entirely satisfactory; it feels like he’s being used as an angelic guide for Rory, while there was still so much more to him that there wasn’t room for in this book.

While the characters are all fairly (but not *fully*) well-fleshed for me, the real star of this book in my mind is the storytelling and the pacing. I am captured from the first big page-turn reveal of the pretty things, and entranced by small touches throughout like Rory scooping up a protesting Sylvia onto his back where she calms down like a small child. The multiple pages of Rory’s reaction to the pretty things, and the building terror of the pretty thing during Rory’s fight with Dwayne are powerful storytelling via visual pacing and remain two of the cornerstone memories of the book between readings.

The hardcover edition uses only spot gloss for the pretty things in the background, which I find to be a brilliant subtle touch. I didn't even notice it on the library copy the first time I read the book, it was so muted by the protective laminate. The Hoopla edition has them darkened so they're hard to miss, and the Comixology edition has a completely reworked cover that captures none of that subtlety.


Okay to air.

Thanks for your really insightful reviews, Canavan and Paul! Reading your thoughts really helped me get more out of this story.

My biggest take-away from this is very similar to my take-aways for I Kill Giants and Heart in a Box. The mythical elements in the story are never determined to be real or imagined, but I ultimately decided that the answer doesn't matter. They serve as storytelling elements that contribute to the growth of the characters, and also provide a whimsical juxtaposition to an otherwise depressing story.

The end also bothered me quite a bit. While the end of both Rory and Joe's stories are moving, I felt like the message was that because Rory had more to battle he got to stay. In terms of the Norse mythology element, it's my understanding that many warriors who went to Valhalla died in battle, not after it. Also, most people don't get to wait until they're ready to die.

Joe speaking to Rory towards the end really stuck out to me. We see Joe speak for the first time when Pearl has died, but only Rory is there to hear him. Then we see Joe speak out loud in front of Rory and Sylvia at the end. Previously in the book, we saw Rory describe his understanding of Joe as "Joe said." I like the idea that Joe speaking at the end is simply Rory's interpretation of Joe's meaning, but the idea that Rory is only comfortable speaking around Rory (and a valkyrie) is also nice.

I feel like I need to read this again to get everything out of it I could, because I read half then took a week off, but I low-key hate the trope of "those who have fought an emotional battle go to Valhalla" - in Norse mythology in Valhalla all you do, all day, every day, until the end of time, is fight, die, and then come back the next day to do it again. I can't imagine brooding Rory or Joe being happy in a literal daily bloodbath.

I found it an enjoyable read overall though, and Sylvia is so cute! I loved her.

I’m fresh to this group (and to good reads for that matter) so I don’t overly know where the main hub for the discussions are or if it’s a series of threads like this, but I just finished Long Walk to Valhalla and I love the concept of this story, it has all the right ideas.

I didn’t feel the dialogue or pacing was executed well and felt there was a lot of missed opportunities to use the Pretty Things to drive the emotions/symbology more, making it a bit more engaging. The tone just felt quiet and impersonal, which lead me to not feeling emotionally invested when truth bombs were dropped.

The art is absolutely stunning. Mathew Fox’s use of perspective to move my eyes forward to the next panel and his sequential story boarding was flawless.
The use of monochromatic colouring as well gave this graphic novel a beautiful memorably tone as well.

It was a great introduction to this reading club though! Due to the monotone pace and wanting just a bit more world development, I feel it will get lost in the aether of my terrible memory sadly.

I'm still digesting this book and I want to thank everyone for their comments. Combining Norse mythology with the Deep South is a really interesting choice - Sylvia's opening lines were among the most compelling, and funniest, of the book. But like others have mentioned, while Fox's art was melancholy and beautiful, I had issues with the dialogue and pacing, and wanted to feel more invested in Rory. As Canavan described, I was a bit unnerved by the symbology between the 'pretty things' and Joe's mental illness (if he had one), when Sylvia showed Rory that they're real. The 'pretty things' themselves didn't seem connected to Norse mythology at all (as far as I know), which also threw me a bit.

I know some folks may not agree with me here, but it seemed to me that all the women in the story (especially those who die) only serve to further the narrative of the male protagonists, especially Pearl and Katie, and even Rory and Joe's mother, but also Sylvia to some extent. It's telling that the book ends with Rory, and not with Sylvia resuming her Valkyrie duties - we don't see her story continue beyond Rory and Joe, nor does she really have an arc. I'm of course not saying that male protagonists are "bad," but it also frustrates me when women characters are used this way.

While this wasn't a favorite it's still a strong debut from Smith and Fox. It would be cool if this became the first volume of an anthology series, focusing on Sylvia's role as Valkyrie in the Deep South. It would give us a chance to focus more on Sylvia and flesh out how mythology works in this world a bit more.

Ok to air!

Lenny wrote: "but also Sylvia to some extent. It's telling that the book ends with Rory, and not with Sylvia resuming her Valkyrie duties - we don't see her story continue beyond Rory and Joe, nor does she really have an arc. "

I think that was left ambiguous on purpose to leave the reader with their own interpretations on if Sylvia was a real valkyrie or just a little kid who knows way too much about Norse mythology.

I thought this was a nice little addition to a long Southern Gothic tradition of storytelling. Adam Smith's storytelling wasn't so much about answers but the journey itself. I do have some problems with the ending, that Rory would let Joe go with Sylvia. He's protected his older brother all his life. What would that change now? No matter what he's done in the past.

Matthew Fox is certainly channelling some Paul Pope in his art. But he does make it his own. I liked the monochrome color palette as well.

My Review -> https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

OK to air.

Chad wrote: "I think that was left ambiguous on purpose to leave the reader with their own interpretations on if Sylvia was a real valkyrie or just a little kid who knows way too much about Norse mythology."

Ah, okay. I guess for me that was less ambiguous when she made Rory see the pretty things, and knew things about his and Joe's childhood, as well as Pearl, that she couldn't have known otherwise. I assume if she lived in the same small town as Rory, he would have known her. But of course it's still pretty vague. Thanks!

As I stated previously, I “discover” new things each time I read it. None of the explanations I have come up with ever cover everything completely, which has led me to believe the story is a splice of scene revisions. From a craftsmanship POV that is annoying, but it works for me anyway because it feels like a heartfelt journey.

My current leading hypothesis is that Sylvia is in Rory's imagination. “Dying and going to Valhalla” for him is leaving his life behind to start anew in Memphis, but he subconsciously feels he still has loose ends and imagines her in an attempt to convince himself to leave.

It doesn’t explain everything: One could stretch his pretty things barn vision to be a breakthrough of finally admitting them to himself, but it certainly doesn’t explain the ending of Joe walking off with Sylvia. But it does explain why she doesn’t strictly hew to Norse mythology, since he doesn’t really know much of it.

Lenny wrote: "It would be cool if this became the first volume of an anthology series, focusing on Sylvia's role as Valkyrie in the Deep South."

This interview at https://www.pastemagazine.com/comics/... indicates they did have thoughts of a trilogy, but doesn’t sound like Sylvia was part of the plan. Possibly an argument for Sylvia only being in Rory's mind, or maybe not. I would absolutely welcome more books with her in it, though.

Paul wrote (in part): This interview at https://www.pastemagazine.com/comics/... indicates they did have thoughts of a trilogy, but doesn’t sound like Sylvia was part of the plan.

Thanks for posting that link to an interesting interview. It does, as you note, make one wonder just what the author’s intentions were as regards the Sylvia character.

Chad wrote: "Canavan wrote: "The Down River People (with Matthew Fox again doing the artwork) looks promising."


Down River People is not good. The end is a complete mess. I couldn't even explain to you what h..."

I agree about Down River People- it started promisingly and then fell apart at the end. I wanted to give Long Walk to Valhalla a try, but life got busy in December.

Nancy wrote: "... I wanted to give Long Walk to Valhalla a try, but life got busy in December. ..."

There's always February!

I finally got around to reading this. I both enjoyed it and was confused by it in ways that have already been well addressed above. I'm not bothered by liking something I don't understand. I may re-read this someday.