Download The Life Eaters Depicted By David Brin Released As Text
doubt that my rating is a bias one, I've loved Norse mythology since childhood and seeing a great many of those figures portrayed as the villains didn't sit well with me.
This comic book is both an extension and a sequel, of David Brin's novella 'Thor Meets Captain America'.
The story is set in an alternative postWWII scenario, with a fantastical twist that makes it very different than works such as 'The Man in the High Castle'.
Also, while the novella was a short and quick read, compelling and worth the time I spend reading it, the comic book is even better, thanks to the amazing art by Scott Hampton, with fine lettering by Todd Klein.
This is an adaptation and expansion of David Brins excellent short story “Thor Meets Captain America” from hiscollection sitelinkThe River of Time.
Although the title of that story would lead one to conclude that its about the Marvel characters, it is not.
This Thor is the brutal mythological one, working in concert with the Nazis, However, the story does align with Marvels underlying theme that ordinary people can be heroes and that greatness is an ideal we should all aspire to.
The first part of this book is a straight adaptation of the story with minimal adjustments.
The original tale ends on a note that is simultaneously downbeat and hopeful, a neat trick that blew myyearold mind back in.
The expanded story here manages a similar effect,
Most potent, though, are the themes, This is about cooperation beating despotism, that being considerate of others is better than selfishness, science trumping mysticism, the idea of “were all in this together” being superior to “every man for himself”, democracy over dictatorship.
Its a belief Brin comes back to again and again in his stories, and its a good one, in my opinion.
Scott Hamptons art is both gorgeous and good storytelling,
"Fatherland" meets "Norse Mythology" in a thrilling uchronic graphic novel, but the ending of this adaption of the novella sitelinkThor Meets Captain America by scifi author David Brin was just too much abrubt and unsatisfactory for me.
Really have to look for the book sooner or later,
During the final years of the Second world war, the Axis forces have all but been defeated.
The allies have amassed the largest Armada ever known to man, and are getting ready to deal with the final death blow to the Reich.
That is when everything went to shit,
It started with the defeat of the Russians on the Eastern front, who were pushed back to their lands due to interference of some new force.
The allied offensive pushed forwards, and were shattered, their massive fleets sundered and sent to the bottom of the ocean due to a
vengeful sea and the monsters that it spewed.
That is when they encountered the beings that came to be known as Aesirs, Reanimated gods from the Norse Pantheon, Odin, Thor, Baldr all who had appeared on the battlefields in Europe, and were fighting for the Nazis.
Each of these one man armies fell with the lethality of a comet upon unsuspecting allied forces amp laid waste to them.
Europe was lost, along with Great Britain, the fleets protecting her lost to the sea, There was peace for a while, as the wide expanse of the Atlantic separated the Americas from the full wrath of the socalled Gods.
Scientists in the US, believed these to be members of some alien race, who had coopted the persona of Gods to easily subjugate the occult obsessed Reich.
Formidable in battle, but not unkillable, Though the men, artillery and military resources needed to be expended to bring down even one was astronomical.
They had to turn Berlin into a hellscape with ballistic missiles, just to kill one of them.
In time, the reformed Heer, Luftwaffe amp Kriegsmarine, Spearheaded by the Aesir, launched the invasion of the United States and Rest of the world.
The African subcontinent was subjugated in no time, most of N, America amp Asia soon followed, By, large swatches of the world map was dyed in Nazi colors,
Around this time, the secret of the Gods were revealed, When faced with the prospect of defeat, the occult forces of the Nazi high command, invoked a little understood magic ritual, sacrificing countless life to perform Necromancy, and raise from death amp legend, entities who believed themselves to be the Gods of old.
Or they knew of said method of necromancy, and the whole war as well as the inhumane concentration camps were just them collecting human cattle for sacrifice.
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But soon the Gods got tired of them and took over power for themselves, and engaged in perpetual warfare.
Not oil, not nuclear power, but the divine power generated from the death and suffering of mortals, which fueled the Aesir and were the new fuel for the world.
In time an arms race developed with the sacrificed souls as the commodity, Vestiges of the free world amp the resistance, centered around the middle amp southern hemisphere, where the warmer climates weakened the Norse Gods.
In desperation, they performed rituals of their own, and created through sacrifice Gods amp demigods of their own, from their own respective Pantheons.
Soon Gods from the African, Egyptian, Asian, Shinto pantheons were facing off against the Aesir to stake claim to the land.
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In the middle, were caught the remnants of free humanity the one who were not slaves, sacrifices or had bent their knees to the Gods.
They are engaged in a final ditch effort to reclaim the land that was theirs, while the socalled Gods continue their machinations and continue to use humans as pawns in some grand unfathomable game.
Now, with the very existence of the planet in peril, which side would come out on top.
Or are all marching to Ragnarok the twilight of the Gods,
The Life Eaters, a graphical adaptation of the novella by Davin Brin, holds the same alternate history world building sensibilities which were made popular by the writings of Philip.
K. Dick. Written by the author as part of an anthology challenge titled Hitler Victorious, Even if its a terrible notion, as a reader I have to say stories where the Nazis come out on top make for some engaging storylines.
Be it sitelinkThe Man in the High Castle, sitelinkFatherland, or the recent highly entertaining Wolfenstein: New Order.
Yet unlike those other retellings, in Life Eaters, the Nazis dont find some superweapon which allow them to take over the whole world.
Well, they do steamroll over two thirds of the allies and make great headway into a pan Atlantic invasion, but even the divine intervention on their side can only bolster their limited forces so much.
The allies amp Rest of the world have a fighting chance as the war drags over two decades with either side losing and gaining land, and newfronts being opened up keeping the game board ever dynamic.
There is also this poetic, bardlike narrative of the story, which is more reminiscent of some mythological tale, with ever shifting alliances and choke full of symbolism.
All of which makes the world feel organic and the storytelling engaging,
Also, in the case of the graphic adaptation, the artwork is top notch, taking cues from the likes of sitelinkKingdom Come.
It has a painting aesthetic, which works well with the subject matter in question, The red of blood, and the grays of the nights, as well as the dark sooth of dust and smoke all really pop out from the pages.
It also blurs the faces of many of the characters, which in the case of the Aesir make them all the more menacing and mysterious.
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One complaint I have, and this is more fitting for the extended story of the Graphic novel, is how the second half of the story is meandering.
It introduces several interesting elements such as the rival gods of Asia amp Egypt, as well as the nonviolent tribes of the middle east.
But far too little time was given for us to explore their inner workings, Even that of the Aesir or the Nazi Occult regime, Which makes the abrupt conclusion somewhat jarring,
But nonetheless, it did get my neurons firing so, for a short but engaging alternate history tale, Ill give it out of.