Believe it or not, I’m pretty sure this was Valkyrie’s first trip to Asgard–after years of being a “Norse” character.
Valkyrie gets a big arc, in which she gets divided from her Barbara Norriss personality (who becomes evil-not sure why), and they fight for the realm of Valhalla. Issue #66 is all Val, and then the Defenders get recruited to help her.
If you’re astute, you know that Valhalla is an afterlife realm for Asgardian heroes so, in order to get there, you have to die. So we get this bizarre scene of Nighthawk and Hellcat accidentally driving their vehicle off a cliff.
Hulk gets crushed by a mountain. I’m not sure how he got to Valhalla, actually.
Anyway, they “win” in the end and are restored to life, except for Babs who stays with Hela in Valhalla. It’s a lot of work just to separate Barbara Norris from Val.
Yeah, which was just STUPID, because the Valkyrie character was never more interesting than when she was integrated into Barbara Norriss. You know, the ol’ Marvel Element of Tragedy, don’tchewknew, which has been TOTALLY MISSING from the character EVER SINCE. Yeah, it sucks to be exiled out of your own body, ( her ‘element of tragedy’ ) but, in Brunhilda’s case, her “tragedy” was an UPGRADE. 5’2″, 114 lb. “Barbie-Valkyrie” is PREFERABLE to six-foot-six, 300 lb. King Kong Valkyrie ANY DAY of the WEEK! And, remember, even in Barbara’s body, Brunhilda still retains her full, ‘Valkyrie’-level strength!! So, if it ain’t broke- why “FIX” it-???? The Valkyrie, as a concept, and as a Marvel Superheroine, works MUCH better when she has conflict, and a handicap! Remember, when she was merged with Barbara Norriss, per the curse of the Enchantress, she could not raise her hand against women! ( or at least females ) What a handicap, when you are a fighter of evil! And what an INTERESTING handicap! The Sub-Mariner used to have to wear a rather stylish costume in order to leave the ocean for protracted periods of time, the Silver Surfer used to be marooned on Earth, Daimon Hellstrom is the Son of Satan, ( Mephisto? ) Nighthawk used to be a paraplegic during the daylight hours, the Hulk is retarded, and so forth and so on. When you LOSE these elements of tragedy, the characters just become standard, stock funnybook superheroes, with nothing to make them interesting! I would LOVE for Marvel to reverse the situation with the Valkyrie, placing her back into a cutie-poo, ‘Barbie-Doll’ type body, with feminist restrictions! Remember, the object of the funnybook game is to sell funnybooks-funnybooks are a 100% purely visual medium, and young, adolescent boys, age-range 10 to 25, are STILL the target audience!! Would I have spent half my life studying the X-Men without the sex appeal of Marvel Girl, the Phoenix, Psylocke, “Monet”, Polaris, and, above all others, Storm-??? Doubtful. Very doubtful. So, let’s restore the Valkyrie to her former cute, sexy, interesting state of being, and, at the same time, reintroduce a little of the ol’, patented, famous, tried-and-true Marvel Element of Tragedy back into this fascinating- and, formerly lovely character! Thank you for the honor of your time!