More Savage Stories of Brenda Steelhammer

Just when we thought we’ve read and reviewed all of Matt C. Ryan’s Brenda books, we’ve discovered two more that we forgot we had. We’ve previously reviewed Matt’s Brenda books here, here, and here. So, as I went through some old pile of books, I discovered two Brenda books that I apparently never reviewed. These books, Brenda Pool of the Big One and Savage Stories of Brenda Steelhammer. Needless to say, I plan on fixing that now, with this column.

To bring everyone up to speed, in her first issue we met the barbarian warrior princess, Brenda Steelhammer, her father, Lord Grayton Steelhammer, as well as several other characters in her world. As with all of her other issues, the story is a fun, entertaining romp that swirls around Brenda, a young Viking girl who sees herself as a full-blown warrior. Meanwhile, her father, a Viking chief, named Lord Grayton Steelhammer (whose wife has passed away prior to the start of the series), still sees her as his little girl who he needs to protect. Needless to say (and much to our own delight), Brenda has an entirely different view of her place in the Steelhammer clan and often goes off on savage quests, where she kicks butt and takes names.

Savage Stories of Brenda Steelhammer starts off with Brenda teaming up with a monstrous Turtle-like Kaiju dressed like a Japanese Samurai fighting of a collection of aggressively ferocious rats. Then, as the Steelhammer Hoard continued to march southward in search of a new home. As they continue their journey, a torrential rain begins, they rescue some villagers and are attacked by very large rat-men. As if that isn’t enough, they need to pass a grumpy dragon in order to cross a bridge to get to their destination.

Then, in Brenda Pool of the Big One the Sledgehammer clan transform an abandoned village into their new home. Unfortunately for the clan an inter-dimensional creature shows up to obliterate the village and everyone who gets in its way, forcing Brenda and her father to defend the clan by going up against the creature. The issue starts out depicting a rousing game of Tumbling Rock, a game that is played on a large field with a huge rock in the center, and a smaller rock perched on top of the larger rock. The point of the game is to capture the smaller stone and return it to one team’s side.

As can be expected, since this is Brenda’s book, soon after the start of the match, she is picked to enter the fray, which she does with her usual berserker gusto. And of course she does with her usual flair and hyperkineticly, frenetic madcap way of approaching everything—which is why we totally love her.

This illustrated tale is followed by a prose piece by Kris Fazekas entitled The Hammer of Ancients. The story is about how Brenda—who was taken by a magnificent, large, green feather she found at a at hunter’s shop. So taken by the feather, from a gigantic bird named a Hammerhead. Needless to say, she sets off to find a Hammerhead and acquire a feather from the exotic and nearly extinct bird.

This tale if followed by the main event of the comic, Pool of the Big One, a full-color tale that fills up the rest of the book. The story starts with a mysterious wizard and a pair of massive bodyguards, hovering over a dark and brooding pool. From there, the story shifts to the dark pool to the Steelhammers enjoying a family meal, which is suddenly interrupted by Steeltown (their new home) being invaded by an enormous creature who bashes his way through Steel Town’s outer wall. While the citizens and Lord Steelhammer attack the best, the two very large men who were by the pool are also invading the town, only to be furiously met by Brenda herself. Interestingly enough, the way Brenda ultimately resolves this matter is innovative, creative, and totally hilarious.

All of which brings us to why we are so enamored by all of Brenda. The stories are wildly entertaining, Matt’s art is iconically eclectic, his stories are filled with equal parts humor, warmth, and all-out action, and Brenda herself is nothing short of a pint-sized Conan the Barbarian. (Unavoidable aside, I happen to know that Matt is a huge Conan fan, and it so obviously shows in these Brenda stories.) Still, to add to my own personal joy in reading these stories, in the dire circumstances of the current world, and how very often comics themselves reflect these dower times, having a comic that is genuinely fun to read is its own reward.