"Licked into being by primeval supercow"

October 19, 2015 1:07 AM

*Norse God Family Tree* *The Emu War* (previously) *Headless Folk of the French Revolution* *How Voltaire broke the lottery* *Mummy Brown and other Historical Colors* *Management Secrets of Genghis Khan* -- just some of the Veritable Hokum dredged from history and served up in comics form by Korwin Briggs.
posted by MartinWisse (28 comments total)

Boring only really applies to stuff you don’t know about, you know? Once you start reading about it, you learn all kinds of weird stuff, and soon you’re talking about it to everyone you know.

This is pretty much the story of my life. Ask anyone standing near me.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:59 AM on October 19, 2015 [8 favorites]

Ah, yet another one for the old RSS feed...
posted by jim in austin at 3:25 AM on October 19, 2015

History and Comics: one of my favorite intersections. Thanks, MartinWisse.
posted by bryon at 3:29 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

These are great! Thanks for sharing, MW!
posted by Philby at 3:31 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

I love that the Great Emu War is a real thing that happened.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 3:52 AM on October 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

Came to think of this treaty on Norse creation myth vs science in The Pain.
posted by Harald74 at 4:52 AM on October 19, 2015 [3 favorites]

*Norse God Family Tree*

The most comprehensive primary source, written by Snorri Sturluson, is the least reliable by far, because it’s partly true but badly cited, and partly made up

Note to author: it's all made up.
posted by sammyo at 5:01 AM on October 19, 2015

Different thing, but I quite liked this illustration of Benjamin Franklin's famous duel with Zeus over the power of lightning.
posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:10 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Note to author: it's all made up.

I think that may have been tongue-in-cheek. Snorri's "unreliable" because he was Christian and didn't believe the stories he was recording were actually true, and, to him, they weren't sacred. His retellings of them are often comic. And how do you "cite" oral literature anyway? ("I got this one from a guy I met in Norway, and then I improved it a bit to make it funnier"?)

From what I've read, Snorri thought the stories had probably started off as legends about famous people, but then more and more magic got added over time.

Korwin also has this comment about Odin:

Most of the stories about him have him wandering off alone and doing things like trading his eye for wisdom, or hanging himself as a sacrifice to himself, which sounds like some post-modern take on godhood, but then, a lot of Odin sounds like some post-modern take on godhood.

If your relying on Snorri Sturluson as the main source, that's basically what you've got – maybe not post-modern exactly, but post-pagan.
posted by nangar at 5:53 AM on October 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

What strange Emutions this stirs.
posted by MartinWisse at 6:46 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

That emu war one is hilarious but completely unsurprising. Emus are evil. Sort of cute-but-unnerving if you keep your distance, but pure evil.

Also I'm ashamed of how few Norse gods I recognised, that feels like the kind of thing my mental driftnet would pick up over the years.
posted by threecheesetrees at 6:51 AM on October 19, 2015

There’s one skaldic poem that is literally just pages of Loki barging into a feast and insulting everyone. I don’t know who cast Tom Hiddleston in the part, but knowing what I know now I might have gone with Danny Devito.

Want.
posted by codacorolla at 7:13 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Emus don't tweet. They make a very low-pitched booming sound.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:16 AM on October 19, 2015

Also, all those emus would have to produce a lot of meat, right? Was that an upside to the emu invasion? Or is emu meat not very good for eating?
posted by codacorolla at 7:35 AM on October 19, 2015

So Voltaire was like that pudding cup guy.
posted by Smedleyman at 7:40 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Love this in general. Nitpicking the first potatoe one:

1) More than 99 percent of all modern potato varieties planted today are the direct descendents of varieties that once grew in the lowlands of south-central Chile.

2) The background of the supposed peruvian cities show some very mexican looking pyramids.
posted by signal at 7:44 AM on October 19, 2015

So, wait, Heimdal literally had nine mothers? They birthed him simultaneously? Wow.
posted by oddman at 7:50 AM on October 19, 2015

If your relying on Snorri Sturluson as the main source, that's basically what you've got – maybe not post-modern exactly, but post-pagan.

There's the same issue with Irish mythology - the stories were first written down by monks in the middle ages, hundreds of years after they originated, and some of the stories were changed to add deathbed baptisms etc.

As for the Norse God Family Tree, I'm happy to see Iðunn in there, which is the origin of my grandmother's surname of Iddon. Having one of your family surnames named after a Norse god sounds pretty badass, but less so when it's the Norse goddess of youth and apples. But hey, who doesn't like apples? Or youth?
posted by kersplunk at 8:11 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Different thing, but I quite liked this illustration of Benjamin Franklin's famous duel with Zeus over the power of lightning.

That picture is a great piece of work, and would be "completely badass" in my book if not for one element that holds it back - the Wolverine claws. Oh, I don't mean they should not be there, but the artist failed to make the claws act like Jacob's Ladders. If he had done that, and sealed the deal by putting a Tesla Coil hammer in his hands (perhaps something like this), all badass elements of the scene pictured would have been in balance to create a masterpiece.
posted by chambers at 8:16 AM on October 19, 2015

Can anyone explain to me, when the Norse myths themselves date to pre-BCE, why the only available sources for them are all well into CE?
posted by splitpeasoup at 8:28 AM on October 19, 2015

splitpeasoup: I think it's because Bragi had runes on his tongue and not his fingers, and Bragi's wife was the only one who could grant immortality.
posted by idiopath at 9:10 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

grumpybear69: "Emus don't tweet. They make a very low-pitched booming sound."

Seriously came in with the same complaint. Oh, MetaFilter, you are indeed my people.

But very entertaining, and the Emu War is pretty much my favorite thing, so even if the emus are erroneously tweeting, I'm glad to have a comic about it.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 10:26 AM on October 19, 2015

Can anyone explain to me, when the Norse myths themselves date to pre-BCE, why the only available sources for them are all well into CE?

In order for myths to survive, you need someone who can write them down and then some institutional structure that can disseminate and protect those writings. We have Christian scribes to thank for many of the Greek and Celtic myths as well.

Snorri was writing in part for a very practical reason: Christian missionaries would have better success converting Icelandic pagans if they knew these stories. Given how often Norse myth appear in kennings, these stories could also be necessary to understand what the hell these Vikings were talking about with their "Freya's tears" and "Ottar's ransoms."
posted by bibliowench at 10:54 AM on October 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

Because the vikings, for all I love my ancestors, weren't terribly literate, and tended more towards carving runes very slowly into logs and rocks instead of using valuable cow hide to write on. One history professor explained that we have archaeological evidence of this: pre-Christian Norse burials with people dressed in clothing made from looted Church parchment documents, sewn together and showing enough wear that this wasn't some special burial arrangement. Searching isn't turning up any real supporting evidence, so I'm not sure this isn't something that he read somewhere once instead of a general practice, fwiw.
posted by Blackanvil at 11:02 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

One of the things I loved about "A Redtail's Dream" was that it was grounded in a version of Scandinavian mythology that had animal spirits rather than macho gods with horned helmets. (I can't see Puppy Fox ever joining the Marvel Universe, even with Ryan North writing).

But the Emu War was no surprise to me, having seen the antic of Rod Hull and his Emu, the most ingeniously simple puppet routine ever... no need to make a voice for the character, just put the emu puppet over one arm then attack/molest anyone who comes close enough - hilarity ensues. (that clip was a classic moment of British TV)
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:19 AM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Emus don't tweet.

Surely one of you twitter-savvy fellow mefites can rectify this?
posted by eviemath at 2:32 PM on October 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm tempted to make a 'Dispatches from the Great Emu War' automated twitter feed now, that tweets in real time.

Anyone aware on guidance on how to do this?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:01 PM on October 19, 2015

I see no technoviking.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:55 PM on October 20, 2015