Does Wonder Woman have to tell people she's not a victim? Of course not. Yet Valkyrie has to, even though she's about to deliver a pretty savage beating. Huh. But that's not the only thing redundant about Valkyrie #1, "Tragic Opera" Written by Bryan J.L. Glass, art by Phil Winslade.
I think I still have the last Valkyrie #1, from 1997, around here someplace. I may have to take a look for it, or for the 2001 Kurt Busiek/Erik Larsen Defenders issues that bring back Valkyrie, since all these comics do the same thing: devote a ton of pages to her increasingly messed-up back story, in the hopes of reaching a point where they can say, OK, here's Valkyrie, let's move forward. (It is tough, because I doubt Val's ever going to have a concise, straight-forward origin; since it currently involves the Enchantress, two or three mortal shells, Siegmund or Siegfried and the Ring of the Nibelung, Thor, and who knows what else.)
This time around, just prior to Secret Invasion, Brunnhilde the Valkyrie returns, in the body of a murdered woman. After a visit with the Wasp, and kicking the snot out of the murderer--longtime super-villain and punching bag Piledriver--Valkyrie is ready to move on with her new life. It's not a terrible issue, keeping in mind I paid fifty cents for it: the Winslade art is good, so there's that. But you don't really need it, and I hope Valkyrie is moving forward for a change.
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