'Valkyrie: Jane Foster, Vol. 1: The Sacred And The Profane'...
Is the first Marvel comic to be rewarded five stars by me.Wait.
Is it?
[checks]
Wow. Yes. Yes it is.
Well, Valkyries in myth and in the media are one of my favourite things ever, and the comic itself is great. It shows Jane Foster's growth and development as a human being, a cancer survivor, and a vulnerable and complex shapeshifter - from a civilian/superhero's girlfriend, to a superhero herself, and back again. And again. And again.
It shows that in every aspect of her life, no matter what she is going through, no matter how much she suffers, in the face of many devastations, crushing blows and backlashes, she will not go down. She will not die. She will keep moving forward, and changing. Changing for the betterment of herself - and how she sees herself - and of others.
Jane cares so much about her work, and she cares deeply for her friends. Her new identity as Valkyrie/the Valkyrior - the last Valkyrie - she regards as just a name and a job to her. But it's a job that needs to be done, and it's a mantle she wants to carry out to the best of her mortal abilities. For a mortal is what Jane is, who's been put under a lot of pressure, and been shouldered with multiple burdens worthy of actual gods, but she persists. She has stared death in the face - numerous times in fact - and she is not about to back down from a challenge now.
She needs to do it. She can do it. And as a doctor, helping people, saving lives and ending suffering is her dedication in life.
She is an admirable heroine. Brave and true. Godlike gifts or not. At the heart of it all she is an ordinary woman put in extraordinary circumstances beyond human comprehension.
Marvel was right not to give up on Jane Foster and kill her off. She was Thor, but that was temporary, and cancer would not be the end of her. She is a strong, human, relatable and aspirational heroine for girls and women to look up to.
As a sidenote: as strange as it sounds, it is freaking innovative to see a brunette superheroine. Think about how rare those are. In that way (that is not so superficial), I can see myself in this Valkyrie. What a beauty.
The comic also features and deals with a lot of themes concerning life and death. As a civilian, Jane is a doctor for the living, and a mortician for the dead. As the new Valkyrie - the last Valkyrie after an extinction of them during a recent cosmic war between realms (poor Brunnhilde) - as well as fight crime, she sees when other people are about to die (grim, especially for someone who's had a near-death experience herself), and then she delivers the souls of the dead into a designated afterlife, sometimes of the departed's own choosing. It is all epic and fantastic and thought provoking. It is written well and it looks gorgeous. It is content on a quite literal godly level; on another plane of existence; a journey into the space between spaces, into the great beyond beyond the great beyond. It is a journey into mystery. It's more of an existential wonder than a existential bleak nightmare.
It's about hope. And growth; reflected also in Jane.
'Valkyrie: Jane Foster' contains LBGTQ rep in Jane's friend and constant companion Lisa Halloran, and Brunnhilde (who's in Valhalla now and is still an important character and influence in Jane's life). America Chavez also appears in one panel in a flashback.
If the diversity wasn't excellent enough, the comic is very anti-patriarchy, subtly and understatedly. Nearly all the villains are men - narcissistic, angry, overcompensating, self-aggrandising and self-professed powerful men. Female solidarity and support is yet another theme. Jane/Valkyrie, with the help of her fellow "ordinary" mortal female friends, outsmarts the devil himself in the end. During an arc in the middle, an important male Asgardian character dies and it is up to Jane to ferry his soul towards the great unknown - not any other afterlife, but the very end of the end (she really does face death a lot, and comes back stronger than she knows). There is no romance. Thor/Odinson walks in at the beginning in a five page cameo, where he is a sorrowful wreck and doesn't actually do anything. Hel, Doctor Strange appears...only to be the damsel in distress. The Sorcerer Supreme is a damsel in distress, and it is women who save him.
Never underestimate any woman, is one of the cornucopia of messages in this comic.
(Like people's lives being more important than any "sacred", ancient and powerful weapon.)
And last but abso-freaking-lutely not least, I've got to comment on the artwork. Gorgeous doesn't begin to describe it. It is some of the best and most beautiful craftsmanship I have ever seen in Marvel comics. They got the top tier artists for this. Hevenly job, everyone.
By the mighty weapons of Asgardians and Valkyries, I highly recommend 'Valkyrie: Jane Foster, Vol. 1: The Sacred And The Profane'. One big negative I will note is that it is very dialogue heavy, and its obvert deliverance of its themes can crowd its story and art intermittently. But after finishing this epic journey that puts heroic and three-dimensional women in the center, I find that I don't care, and I love it enough to give it the highest rating I've ever given a Marvel comic.
Seriously, Jane Foster FTW. An everchanging, ever varied woman with layers, and not just of identities. She's the same smart, brave, modest, passionate, headstrong and bighearted person underneath everything.
She may not see herself as a superhero, but she is a hero. A hero of the universe. A hero to us.
Final Score: 4.5/5
P.S: Valkyrie ends up with a flying horse who is like Swift Wind from 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'. He's her omnipotent noble steed, and supplies the comic relief role, and currently resides in Jane's apartment.
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