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Posted in: Comics | Tagged: kickstarter, Völsunga Saga
Turning The Völsunga Saga into the Graphic Novel, "Siegfried: Dragon Slayer"
Mark Allard-Will writes,
My name's Mark Allard-Will and I have a confession to make: I am a huge geek. Not just a comic book geek, but I have geeked out for most of my life over the mythologies of ancient pagan cultures and Fantasy literature. And, by all accounts, so did J.R.R. Tolkien, his love affair with both Norse and Germanic mythologies lead him to write both The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings series.
My love of The Völsunga Saga has taken me to a place of adapting this magnificent piece of Norse mythology into a graphic novel, Siegfried: Dragon Slayer; a graphic novel which is currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter, right here.
But what is it I love so much about this one-thousand year-old piece of mythology? Well, The Völsunga Saga (sometimes known as The Saga of the Völsungs) is purported to have go on to inspire Tolkien to write his aforementioned The Hobbit. When you dive in to the pages of the translation of The Völsunga Saga, you can see exactly where The Hobbit came from; in Fafnir – a Dragon guarding a cursed-yet-fatally alluring ring – you can see Smaug, in Odin's many sudden appearances you can see Gandalf's deus ex machinas and this all before you read about dwarves and long-endured survivals in dangerous woodlands.
What many people don't realise is, The Hobbit may never have happened, if it wasn't for a 12th century Icelandic politician named Snorri Sturluson; if this man had never taken upon himself to transcribe the oral traditions of Viking pagan storytelling in to the written word, then The Völsunga Saga would never have reached the iconic Tolkien.
It's in this spirit that I am bringing Siegfried: Dragon Slayer to modern audiences. As a graphic novel, it is able to help the Saga stay alive with younger audiences; the visual aspect of the medium makes an easier read for children, an entertaining read for comics fans of all ages and an engaging experience for the average reader at large. But, perhaps the most thoughtful way to keep it alive is this: In Siegfried: Dragon Slayer, I have re-imagined the story from a linear mythology structure into a modern three-act storytelling structure with modern English as dialogue.
We're asking for $2,750CAD to fund the finalisation of the book and you can support our efforts right here.
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