This is now the 22nd day of this year’s Jack Kirby Tribute Month (created by Howard Simpson), and we’re working our way through Asgard Week. Today’s prompt is Hela, goddess of Death! Hela presents a striking visual!
Like some other characters in the book, it seemed to take a little bit before she developed a real “fixed” form. It seems she only appeared four times during Jack’s run. I don’t have a copy of her initial appearance in Journey into Mystery #102 (I think in a “Tales of Asgard” backup), but when I looked up her second appearance in Thor #133, I was surprised. Not only is the drawing a bit different, the color scheme doesn’t even include any green in it! It wasn’t until #150 that we got what most people have come to think of as her classic design.
I’d never tried to draw Hela before, and it was an interesting challenge to wrap my head around her design, figure out a way to understand it so I could draw it. One liberty I took was the green lips. They didn’t do that in her appearance in #150, but it felt right to me. It’s like it gives her an even more “otherwordly” feel.
I had fun with this one, so I hope you like it too. Come back tomorrow to see who visits us next from Asgard!
I feel a little like a vinyl record with a scratch, but this is a great drawing!
The cover of Thor 150 is in my top five Kirby covers, absolutely one of my favorites and the story is even better.
There is a scary element to this panel, but is dialed back enough that it’s not excessive. I think I am going to be sad when this week is over because I love all these Thor-related drawings.
Very glad you’re liking these. It’s been a lot of fun doing the Asgardians. Hela’s design was especially complex, and I was quite happy with how this one ultimately came out.
Yes sir, you have made Hela look better with your overall color choices. I revisited the cover of Thor 150 and had not noticed that there seems to be a pattern to the greens on Hela’s costume from the head down. It could be Jack’s art playing tricks on my eyes. The green lips complete your image wonderfully. Thanks Mark.
Glad you liked what I did here. It’s interesting: inside Thor #150, she has not only two green tones, but there’s also yellow! I looked at a number of other interpretations of Jack’s design to figure out how best to approach both the drawing and the coloring aspects of it, to keep it all in the green family. I came to the conclusion that keeping the bulk of her outfit dark with shadows and colored green, I would then able to get away with using only a lighter green for all the accents.