Review by Ian Keogh

 Spoilers in review

Since relinquishing the role of Thor, Jane Foster has been inducted as an Asgardian Valkyrie, tasked with guiding the souls of the dead to their final resting place. In means a duality to her life, part of which is still spent as a doctor on Earth.

It seems at first that as with many of the graphic novels labelled as tying in with King in Black, the actual connection is tenuous, but it becomes stronger as Return of the Valkyries continues. Early in the core story the bonefides of symbiote god Knull were established via the ease with which he murdered one of Earth’s strongest heroes, the Sentry. Now Robert Reynolds, still costumed, awaits in space, and so does the headless corpse of a Celestial swarming with symbiotes. Its sinister purpose is to energise Knull’s sword.

It’s Valkries plural in the title, so not only Jane featured. Over the years it’s been relatively few Valkyries who’ve been named and supplied with a character, and they all feature in Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk’s recounting. It packs a lot into four chapters, considering moments from the past shaping the cast, how best to defeat a dragon, and what it’s like returning to life after centuries of being trapped. This is all sandwiched between what seems to be an impossible mission.

Nina Vakueva’s art isn’t the smoothness generally associated with superheroes, but jagged, scratchy and unsettling. It serves to distance the Valkyries from worldly concerns, reinforcing their inhabiting a netherland. Yet there’s also power and grandeur.

Such is the monumental task, there’s uncertainty among the Valkyries as to whether they’ll survive their mission. The prophecy certainly seems to indicate Jane at least won’t. Yet they go ahead anyway. The nature of an afterlife is considered along with what heroism is, and it’s all very satisfying, a cut above most King in Black tie-ins. There’s a sequel in The Mighty Valkyries, and this is combined with the other tie-ins in the King in Black Omnibus.