The current story arc, what there was of it, was basically this:  The world is doomed to be destoryed in 2012 following the end of the Aztec calendar.  The method of it’s destruction was varied - from nuclear war to biological attacks to alien invasion to the sun exploding - no matter which route the Norns (the Norse Goddesses of Fate) tracked, the world ended by 2012, sometimes much earlier.  So… using the last of her Norn-ly powers, Verdandi denounced her godhood and went to Earth to become an actual player, hoping to learn what was causing the planet to fail time and again and possibly to pull different elements together to stop it from happening.

That much you probably know if you read the comic.

Here’s what you might not know…  Odin had other plans, one of which had been running for several years, to try and stop the oncoming disaster.  One of these plans was to assume the form of a mortal, an “ancient Viking master”, if you will, to train fighters for the coming Ragnarok, since there were very few versed in in the traditional Norse ways, and fewer still who fell in battle and could be counted amongst the fallen of Valhalla. 

In the course of his training (and subsequent death-by-ordeals) of most of his students, he discovered two that were nearly impossible to kill.  The first was Vilhelm Von Helmut, who eventually left the Ancient Viking Master’s school to work for BADGER (or was it WOMBAT?)… and the second was Jim, an otherwise unassuming lad of questionable heritage who actually technically was only half-viking (the other half was Scottish, but from a clan that were decended from Vikings, which more-or-less made up for it).

Taking him on as his personal protige, The Ancient Viking Master (who was also Odin, remember?) discovered that Jim’s bloodline was descended directly from Heimdall, the Norse gatekeeper god.  The irony being that, later on, Jim would obtain his own giant robot, which he would name Mecha-Jotan (Jotan = Norse Giant) Heimdall.

After he had taught him everything he was technically allowed to teach him, Odin moved things around (as he always did) to re-awaken one of Jim’s true-blooded Viking ancestors… Eric… to teach him further.  Unfortunately, Eric (also being a son of Heimdall) was less-than-spectacular, and mostly managed to complicate Jim’s life. 

The downshot of the whole quest to wake up Eric is that, in the events leading up to it (the entire first half of the “Control” arc), Jim was infected with the spirit of the Ancient Vampire Master (not a Norse god, per se, but still a powerful entity), temporarily turning him ghost-white and wiping his memory, allowing him to fall into the clutches of Helmut.  Even though Jim’s own good nature (and his Viking spirit) eventually resurfaced, he was not free of the infection, a fact that would factor in later.

The up-shot  was Jim’s encounter with the Afrosaraus, a creature which fed off of Vikingjitsu (more specifically, the energy given off by Norse Gods), unleashing new and horribly improbable levels of power.

Next week:   The Rockman Horror Picture Show, and the END OF THE WORLD!