Brunnhilde leads the Valkyries out
of Asgard to a battlefield in the aftermath of a great victory over the
Nornheim Serpent. The Valkyries choose the heroic dead to spend their
afterlives in Valhalla. Suddenly, the wings of her steed Aragorn fly off,
sending horse and rider plummeting to the ground. She is thrown off and lands
in a mud puddle where she is surrounded by the angry souls of warriors who were
not chosen for Valhalla. She reaches for her sword Dragonfang but it is gone so
she defends herself as best she can until she is overwhelmed by her foes…
…and then Barbara Norris [sic]
wakes up from her recurring nightmare. Brooding on it she goes out and spies a
homeless woman asleep in a snowy alley; a blue glow indicates the woman is
close to death but Barbara chooses to ignore it and goes to her friend Paulie’s
restaurant for breakfast. Paulie recognizes that something is weighing on her
mind. When his shift is over, Barb and Paulie go out and see that woman in the
alley and Barb knows she is dead. She touches the woman to release her from her
pain and send her soul on to a peaceful afterlife. Barbara chats with Paulie
who is aware she is troubled but she only remembers Barbara’s life for about a
month. She accompanies him to a rehearsal of his garage band, the Junk Food
Junkies. Barb tries to persuade the band’s drug-addicted singer Alice to give
up her habit but Alice feels too good. Barb/Val sees the blue glow of death around
Paulie and Alice, panics, and runs out and down the street, trying to escape
her life. She utters a desperate prayer to God to remove the curse from her.
She is overheard by a dark figure (it’s the demon D’Spayre in disguise) who
offers to help but she is afraid of him and runs off….
The next morning, Barbara awakens
after the same nightmare. As she stands on her balcony brooding, Aragorn,
Valkyrie’s horse flies to her. She leaps astride him and they take off through
the skies. After a while he bucks her off and she stops herself from falling by
grabbing the ledge of a building, exhibiting superhuman strength she did not
know she had….
Later, she goes to work at the bar
called the Gates of Hell where Paulie’s band the Junkyard Junkies is playing.
An obnoxious customer Bruno insults her and she threatens him, he leaps at her
and she throws him around the place like a rag doll. She takes Alice outside
once again to persuade her to give up drugs, telling her heaven exists apart
from drugs. The dark stranger drops a newspaper and Barb picks it up to see
that Barbara Norris committed suicide a month ago, around the time she starting
having Brunnhilde’s memories. Then she learns that Alice has OD’d in the
restroom. The Dark Stranger appears again, revealing he is D’Spayre, a demon
who feeds on human misery, desiring souls. He absorbs Alice’s soul into a handy
sphere and torments Val with Barbara’s memories until she realizes she isn’t
really Barb. But if she isn’t Barb, who is she? And D’Spayre begins wiping out
her identity, feasting on her anguish. But the plan backfires when she regains
her true identity: Brunnhilde the Valkyrie. The villain dislikes the show of
violence and decides to leave, handing over Alice’s soul, which Val replaces in
her body. Alice revives and Val opens a portal through the restroom wall to
carry her to the hospital, summoning Aragorn while Paulie freaks out. He joins
her on the ride and Alice gets help in the nick of time. On the roof, Val
explains who she is and detects that Paulie has AIDS. She is shocked but he has
made his peace—as D’Spayre appears in her mind to reiterate that suffering
never ends. She assures him that he has nothing to fear and when his time comes
he will soar and then she takes him on a cosmic joyride via winged horse….