An interesting pulp-style comicbook series stars Athena Voltaire, a 1930s aviatrix who also must contend with fighting the occult and thwarting Nazis. Created by Steve Bryant (with early assistance from co-writer Paul Daly), she has appeared in several comic book mini-series and is collected in four volumes, plus a prose volume, with more coming.
The collections are:
- The Athena Voltaire Compendium (2015)
- Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess (2017)
- Athena Voltaire and the Sorcerer Pope (2018)
- Athena Voltaire and the Golden Dawn (2018)
- The Terror on the Orient Express (upcoming 2020?)
The Compendium collects all the earliest works in a “remastered” form. It came out in hardback from Dark Horse Comics under their “Sequential Pulp” imprint.
Here we meet Athena, who we learn is the daughter of a stage magician, and learned various skills helping him in his act, as well as in the circus they travelled with. Then she joined an air circus, learned to fly, and now operates in Los Angeles as a pilot-for-hire.
There are only a few recurring characters, though they aren’t in every story. There is mysterious British SIS agent, Desmond Forsyth, though it’s hinted that Forsyth may not be his real name. Lieutenant, later Major, Klimt is a reoccuring foe on the Nazi side. So there isn’t a standing team of associates that tag along for each story, though there is the mysterious Brotherhood of Shambalha that helps out in the background as times as well as having support of a millionaire tied to them.
In the Compendium, we get “Athena Voltaire and the Brotherhood of Shambalha,” where Desmond recruits her to help stop an occult group working with the Nazis from obtaining a set of scrolls from Tibet that ties to the Vril-ya and Agharta that has them go from Hong Kong to Burma and then Tibet to stop the Nazis.
Next up in “Athena Voltaire and the Feathered Serpent,” she is in the jungles of South America protecting a scientist when things go awry when Nazis show up and try to sacrifice her to summon Quetzalcoatl.
A slight change is “Athena Voltaire and the Isle of the Dead,” there are no Nazis around when Athena is engaged to help find a sunken treasurer and must contend with zombies! Another story without Nazis is “Athena Voltaire and the Vampire Queen” where she returns to the southwest United States to help some old friends deal with a Mexican vampire, and also deal with werewolves.
Finally, in “Athena Voltaire and the Immortal Power,” we get the return of Nazis and the occult as Athena is recruited by a rich man (with backing of the Brotherhood) to rescue a scientist from the Nazis in the Middle East, with help from Desmond.
The subsequent volumes I am getting. I believe with many of them, others did the artwork. Athena Voltaire and the Volcano Goddess has her going to Hawaii to fight Nazis and the titular volcano goddess. We even get to met her dad, tho he doesn’t come along, tho a movie star does help out. In Athena Voltaire and the Sorcerer Pope, she has to stop Nazis from getting an artifact that belonged to Pope Sylvester II, whom some claim was a sorcerer (he’s a real pope and he was so accused!). And in Athena Voltaire and the Golden Dawn, she is off looking for a previously unknown work by Leonardo da Vinci, contending with Nazis (again) and, now, mobsters.
From the Athena Voltaire website, I see that further stories are being worked on. It’s not clear when they will appear this year and in what form.
Also, as noted, there is a prose volume, Athena Voltaire Pulp Tales, Vol. 1 (2017), which collect short stories by other authors.
This is an interesting character having some fun and enjoyable adventures, and look forward to more with her.
