FAREWELL, MY ODIN VOL. 1 / Created by CHIHIRO YOSHIOKA / Published by TITAN MANGA

England, 1002 AD. A tiny Christian village has endured numerous raids by Danish Vikings. Under the guidance of the priest Crowley, they have rebuilt with difficulty. It is unto this village that a wild child and two wolf pups came, scared out of hiding by the Vikings’ burning of the forests.

Under Crowley’s care and guidance, the boy is named Luke and taught what it was to be human. For a year, Luke uses his hunting skills to provide food for his new home. Alas, one day he returns to find the village sacked and Father Crowley dead, his head taken as a trophy by a white-haired Viking, who also claims Luke’s right eye.

Ten years later, Luke has a new name. The Danes have dubbed him Odin Hidolfr, due to his one-eye and his hunting with a pair of great wolves. He is a figure of fear, with some believing he is the All-Father of their gods, venting his displeasure upon them. Thus begins a saga for the ages, as Luke fights every Viking band he can find, seeking the white-haired warrior who wronged him.

I enjoy Viking sagas and a good revenge story, so I went into Farewell, My Odin Vol. 1 with high expectations. I was not disappointed. Historically, the novel is well-researched, for those, like me, who care about such things.

For those who don’t there are intense and oft-times brutally illustrated action scenes. Nothing quite to the level of Berserk, but enough to make the savage nature of the time period clear. When the Viking king is introduced roughly taking a seer from behind and then killing her when he does not like her prophecy, you know this is not going to be a sanitized story.

Suffice it to say, series creator Chihiro Yoshioka is as good an artist as they are a writer, and both the story and the art are full of vivid details. Indeed, no less an authority than Mokoto Yukimura of  Vinland Saga fame praised Farewell, My Odin as a worthy manga. What more can I say to that?!