Valkyrie: Jane Foster #1

History

The series was announced at C2E2 2019 and was conceived as a direct continuation of Aaron's decade-long run on Thor-adjacent titles, channeling the aftermath of the War of the Realms event — specifically the massacre of the Valkyrior by Malekith's forces in War of the Realms #2 — into a new status quo for Jane. Aaron co-wrote the first seven issues with Al Ewing, whose concurrent work on Immortal Hulk brought a complementary interest in mortality and identity; the two writers reportedly divided responsibilities with Aaron handling the Midgard storylines and Ewing the more mythological threads. Artist CAFU, praised by both writers for his grounded character acting, drew the opening arc before handing interior duties temporarily to Pere Perez, then returning as a Marvel exclusive artist from issue #8 onward alongside incoming co-writer Torunn Grønbekk.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First full solo series starring Jane Foster as Valkyrie, launching July 24, 2019 (cover-dated September 2019), written by Jason Aaron and Al Ewing with interior art by CAFU and covers by Mahmud Asrar.
• First appearance of Dr. Regina Hagen and Dr. Rudy Gillespie, Jane's supporting cast at the hospital morgue, both introduced in this issue.
• Debut of Undrjarn the All-Weapon in its new role as Jane's signature weapon: forged from the shards of the Earth-1610 Ultimate Mjolnir, it can reshape itself into any weapon or tool its wielder requires.
• The story grows directly out of War of the Realms, in which Brunnhilde and the entire Valkyrior were slaughtered by Malekith's army, leaving Jane as the sole functioning Valkyrie and the only conduit for the fallen to reach Valhalla.
• Issue #1 introduces Dragonfang — Brunnhilde's sword — as the central MacGuffin of the opening arc; the villain group the Fast Five (Blue Streak, Green Light, Silver Ghost, Redline, Gold Rush) steals the blade during the opening action sequence, and Gold Rush is killed by Bullseye, who appears on the final page wielding Dragonfang on a winged steed.
• Heimdall appears in a supporting role still recovering his sight after the events of War of the Realms, and is killed (in-issue) by Bullseye's ambush — a death that drives the stakes of the first arc.
• The issue is structured in three distinct acts — establishing Valkyrie's superhero identity, establishing Jane Foster's dual life as a hospital doctor in remission from cancer, and establishing her connection to Valhalla through consultation with the ghost of Brunnhilde — making it one of the more methodically new-reader-friendly first issues of Marvel's 2019 publishing slate.
• The first arc ('The Sacred and the Profane,' issues #1–5) was collected in a 2020 trade paperback alongside material from War of the Realms Omega #1; the entire ten-issue run was later reprinted in the 2022 omnibus-style collection Jane Foster: The Saga of Valkyrie.

Cast · 18 characters

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