The Religious Affiliation of
The Mad Viking
Josefsen

Religion: Norse/Teutonic paganism

Name: The Mad Viking

Alter Ego: Josefsen

Other Names: The Viking

Classification: villain

Publisher(s):

First Appearance: The Man-Thing (vol. 1) #16 (Apr. 1975): "Decay Meets the Mad Viking!"

Creators: Steve Gerber, John Buscema, Tom Palmer

Number of Appearances: 5

Enemy of: Man-Thing, Paul Edwards

Gender: male

Note: contemporary man; went mad when forced to retire

The Mad Viking teamed up with Olivia Selby to raid a local high school and burn textbooks they deemed offensive. Selby wanted to burn books that taught ideas she regarded as dangerous and inappropriate for school children: Communism, atheism, and sex. The Mad Viking agreed and helped her. It's not clear that the Mad Viking actually subscribed to Norse/Teutonic paganism. If he did, he and Selby would certainly seem to be strange partners, as she is no doubt a fundamentalist Christian opposed to paganism as well. The Mad Viking simply strongly identified with his Viking ancestors, admiring their manliness and work ethic. Whether he was genuinely a Norse pagan or simply a self-identified Viking may be unanswerable.

This character is in the following 3 stories which have been indexed by this website:

The Man-Thing

The Religious Affiliation of The Mad Viking Josefsen

The Religious Affiliation of
The Mad Viking
Josefsen