In DC's new crossover story Endless Winter, the Justice League fights an ancient enemy, the Frost King, teaming up with a classic Golden Age character in the process: the Viking Prince.
During the 10th Century, the Frost King threatened the world with eternal winter until he was stopped by a Viking era Justice League whose members included the Norse hero. But just as the past repeats itself within the story, DC Comics is repeating a major problem with their Viking-Age champion.
Viking Prince was created by Joe Kubert and Robert Kanigher, debuting in the first issue of The Brave and the Bold (a series which featured the Justice League's first appearance years later). In his initial appearance, Norse fishermen rescue an amnesiac blonde man from the sea. After the man proves himself in battle, the villagers liken him to a fabled viking prince named Jon, whose name he adopted. On his various swashbuckling adventures, Jon fought dinosaurs, supernatural monsters, and other Vikings. However, the comic's historical inaccuracies were far more sensationalized than anything supernatural within its pages--and this continues to be a problem.
Good historical fantasy needs to balance the supernatural elements of speculative fiction with grounded historical authenticity. Joe Kubert was an amazing artist, but he was no historian. He drew horn-helmeted vikings clad in furs and fantasy armor--none of which was accurate. While he can be forgiven for perpetuating dated tropes that were popular at the time, these depictions continued to be repeated.
While no adaptation will ever be perfect, more recent Viking-Age stories like Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Vertigo's Northlanders have striven to be much more period-accurate. Vikings were real people rooted in a specific historical context, but they have often been treated like fantasy barbarians from a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. These cliched tropes are finally fading away, which is why it is disheartening to see such anachronisms perpetuated in Endless Winter.
Justice League: Endless Winter #1 by Andy Lanning, Ron Marz, Howard Porter, and Marco Santucci ends with Viking Prince and other heroes of his era standing in a dramatic hero pose. He wears a Greco-Roman muscle cuirass with a red dragon emblazoned across the front, a leather kilt, huge-buckled belt, bracers, and a helm (though this last item is fairly accurate for the time).
The outfit is a throwback to his appearances in The Brave and the Bold, but it specifically is based on his appearance in later stories, as he spent most of his original stories going bare-chested with only a leather loincloth for protection. The first time he wore armor was in issue #18, dressed in chainmail--the same armor Vikings actually used--albeit with an anachronistic blue tabard over his hauberk. In the next issue, the tabard was colored a dull orange-brown, which later became the color of his armor. Since then, Viking Prince frequently is depicted in this armor, but there are exceptions, such as in 2001's Birds of Prey #29.
Other parts of Endless Winter handle the history better. In that same issue, the Frost King accuses the Justice League of being "Dokkalfar," Old Norse for "Dark Elves." Mead, runes, and Valhalla all feature prominently in the narrative. However, the story dredges up tired Viking stereotypes and even gives the Frost King a pair of horns.
Contrast this with another historical fantasy comic, DC's Demon Knights, which blends King Arthur's original Celtic tales with the high-medieval Arthurian romances. The series embraces high fantasy elements, but works to make the fantasy fit within a historical framework, referencing British toponyms and Abbasid polymaths between fights with various supernatural foes. It fleshes out characters like Shining Knight, Vandal Savage, Etrigan the Demon, and Madame Xanadu, bringing them to life within their surroundings.
It is understandable why Viking Prince was returned to his old costume in Endless Winter, but this feels like a missed opportunity. This character was overdue for a comeback and it is good to see him return. But by failing to update him, it is hard to imagine he will stay around for long. In Endless Winter, he is little more than a ghost of the past, and just like his costume, he feels out of place in the present.