Wait, that sounds familiar...

So I read the 1988 reprint Sgt. Rock Special #1, reprinting the classic meeting between Sgt. Rock and Easy Company and the Viking Prince. ("The Prince and the Sergeant!" Written and edited by Robert Kanigher, art by Joe Kubert.) For daring to love a Valkyrie, the Viking Prince is cursed by Odin to be invulnerable to metal, wood, fire and water; which means he would have a hard time dying in battle and getting back to Valhalla. Rock stumbles across the Prince frozen in ice Captain America-style, and accidentally frees him to fight the German "Huns."

I could've sworn I heard that before--not the frozen part, but the whole Valkyrie girlfriend/Hun fighting thing. Duh, the Viking Commando! We took a look at him years back when I claimed irrationally pointed out he'd make a great DCUC figure!

Actually, both the Viking Prince and the Viking Commando were created by Robert Kanigher, so a little overlap isn't a big deal. It is a little strange that the Viking Prince looks like a young Dolph Lundgren, while the Commando looks like Hagar the Horrible, but so it goes. It does amuse me a bit that DC had not one, but two bona-fide suicidal heroes in their war books. And that in the DC universe, Vikings are really cheerful about their deaths, because a smoking-hot Valkyrie will take them to Valhalla, but it's look-but-don't-touch, since Odin's a stickler for that one.

"When you get to Valhalla, tell 'em the Viking Prince sent you!"

"Sorry, what was that name again? My ears are filling with blood, I might have a concussion..."