{"id":34829,"date":"2026-01-31T09:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T09:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34829"},"modified":"2026-01-29T18:13:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T18:13:24","slug":"richard-wagners-the-ring-of-the-nibelung-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/01\/31\/richard-wagners-the-ring-of-the-nibelung-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Wagner\u2019s THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nAdapted by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane & Jim Woodring <\/strong>(DC Comics\/ExPress Publishing)
\nISBN: 978-1-56389-006-2 (DC TPB) 978-0-93295-620-0 (TPB ExPress Publishing)<\/p>\n

Richard Wagner\u2019s four epic operas Das Rheingold<\/em><\/strong>, Die Walk\u00fcre<\/em><\/strong>, Siegfreid<\/em><\/strong> and G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung <\/em><\/strong>(or The Rhinegold<\/strong>, The Valkyrie<\/strong>, Siegfried<\/strong> and Twilight of the Gods<\/strong> if you\u2019re less pompous than me) is a classic reinterpretation of Germano-Norse myth and classic poems collected as the Icelandic Eddas. Over 26 years the master of German music distilled them into a cycle of staggering power, which people either love or hate. Great tunes, too.<\/p>\n

Everybody loves the brilliant animated tribute-come-distillation starring Bugs Bunny<\/strong> entitled \u201cWhat\u2019s Opera, Doc?\u201d –<\/em> although they probably refer to it as \u201cKill the Wabbit!\u201d<\/em>…<\/p>\n

All joking aside, the Ring Cycle is a true masterpiece of Western Culture and an immortal inspiration to purveyors of drama and historic fiction. In 1989 and 1990 long-time fans and comics superstars Roy Thomas (who had already integrated the plot into the canon of Marvel\u2019s Mighty Thor<\/strong>) and the legendary and nearly mythical Gil Kane produced a four part, prestige-format miniseries that adapted the events into comic strip form. Latterly P. Craig Russell also adapted the saga in his own inimitable style.
\n\"\"
\nAlberich the Nibelung<\/em> is a dwarf shunned by all, but a cunning operator who still manages to charm the three Rhine Maidens. Commanded by the King of the Gods to guard an accursed treasure horde that even they could not tame or master, the river nymphs reveal the secret to the glib intruder. Whoever recasts \u2018The Rhinegold\u2019<\/em> into a ring will have all the wealth and power of the world, but must forever forswear love and joy. Never having known either, greedy Alberich easily forsakes such unsampled pleasures and seizes the treasure even All-Father Wotan<\/em> dared not touch.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile in Heaven, wily Loge <\/em>has convinced Wotan to promise giants Fasolt<\/em> and Fafner<\/em> anything they wish if they will build the great castle Valhalla to house the world\u2019s heroes. Assured that the trickster god can free him from his promise to the giants, Wotan accepts their price, but on completion the giants claim as recompense Freia<\/em>: Goddess guardian of the Apples of Immortality.<\/p>\n

Bound by their Lord\u2019s sworn oath, the gods must surrender her, but malicious Loge suggests that Alberich\u2019s stolen gold – now cast as that dreadfully anticipated ring – can be used by any other possessor without abandoning love. Thus the brothers demand the world-conquering trinket as a replacement fee…<\/p>\n

In \u2018The Valkyrie\u2019<\/em>, an unarmed warrior who calls himself Woeful<\/em> is the sole survivor of a blood-feud. Fleeing, he claims Right of Hospitality from a beautiful woman in a remote cottage, but when her husband returns they all discover that he is a member of the clan Woeful just battled. Secure for the night in the holy bond of Hospitality, Woeful realises he must fight for his life in the morning when the sacred truce expires. Without weapons, he thinks little of his chances… until the woman reveals to him a magic sword embedded in the giant Ash tree that supports the house…<\/p>\n

\u2018Siegfried\u2019<\/em> is the child of an illicit union, raised by malicious, cunning Mime<\/em>, a blacksmith who knows the secrets of the Nibelung. No loving parent, the smith wants the indomitable wild boy to kill the dragon Fafner – who used to be a giant – and steal the magical golden horde the wyrm guards so jealously. However, the young hero has his own heroic dreams and wishes to wake the maiden who slumbers eternally behind a wall of fire…
\n\"\"
\n\u2018Twilight of the Gods\u2019 <\/em>reveals how all the machinations, faithlessness and oath-breaking of the Lords of Creation leads to ultimate destruction. Siegfried has won beauteous Br\u00fcnnhilde<\/em> from the flames, but their happiness is not to be. False friends drug him to steal his beloved, and wed him all-unknowing to a woman he does not love. A final betrayal by a comrade whose father was the Nibelung Alberich leads to the tormented hero\u2019s death and inevitable consequences…<\/p>\n

If you know the operas you know how much more remains to enjoy in this quartet of tales, and the sheer bravura passion of Kane\u2019s art, augmented by the stirring painted palette of Jim Woodring, magnificently captures the grandeur and ferocity of it all. This primal epic is visual poetry and no fan should be without it.<\/p>\n

Released by DC in 1991, as a 4 part prestige miniseries before collecting in one titanic tome, the book was re-issued by ExPress Publishing in 2002 and remains not only a high point in the careers of Thomas and Kane (who was particularly passionate about the source material and the debt modern heroic fiction owed to it) but also a landmark in graphic narrative. If you don\u2019t have it already you must make it your life\u2019s quest to get it.
\n\u00a9 1991 DC Comics. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 2000, Gil Kane<\/strong> went to his own heavenly reward. On the other hand, in 1799 Swiss teacher and creator of the modern comics medium Rodolphe T\u00f6pffer<\/strong> was born. In 1960 Grant Morrison<\/strong> showed up for the first time, and today is especially momentous as it saw the first appearance of Marsupilami<\/em><\/strong> as delivered by Andr\u00e9 Franquin<\/strong> in Le Journal de Spirou<\/em><\/strong> #721.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Adapted by Roy Thomas, Gil Kane & Jim Woodring (DC Comics\/ExPress Publishing) ISBN: 978-1-56389-006-2 (DC TPB) 978-0-93295-620-0 (TPB ExPress Publishing) Richard Wagner\u2019s four epic operas Das Rheingold, Die Walk\u00fcre, Siegfreid and G\u00f6tterd\u00e4mmerung (or The Rhinegold, The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods if you\u2019re less pompous than me) is a classic reinterpretation of Germano-Norse … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Richard Wagner\u2019s THE RING OF THE NIBELUNG”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,102,332,122,328,256],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-fantasy","category-gil-kane","category-historical","category-music","category-sword-sorcery"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-93L","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34829"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34850,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34829\/revisions\/34850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}