Origin

The Axe of Yggdrasil is said to be used to cut Odin down from the worldtree, Yggdrasil. Odin had hanged himself for nine days to gain wisdom. It was the only axe that could cut Odin down as its handle was forged from Yggdrasil itself. When it bit into the wood, it too on an enchanted property to "give life, not death." Any fatal wounds caused by the axe blade would not cause death.

It is part of the Norse Tetrad along with the Belt of Jörmungandr, the Sword of Huginn and Muninn, and the Dagger of Fenrir. They glow red in proximity to each other. Together, they would be capable of fighting off Ragnarök, the Norse end of the world.

Creation

The Axe of Yggdrasil first appeared in Basketful of Heads #1 by Joe Hill and Leomacs

Major Story Arcs

September 1983

The axe was previously bought by Roberta "Bobby" Clausen for her husband, Wade Clausen, police chief of Brody Island. Bobby was heavily involved with the illegal smuggling of Norse artifacts, which got the attention of the FBI. Through their political connections, the Clausens learned that someone was informing on them to the FBI. They believed it was summer auxiliary police hire, Liam Ellsworth. Not knowing which information Liam might be passing to the feds, the Clausens conspired with other corrupt locals to stage an attack on Liam as escaped prisoners. His girlfriend, June Branch, happened to be with him at the Clausens' estate. She armed herself with the Axe of Yggdrasil and began to fight back. Ultimately, she beheaded:

• Sal Puzo, corrupt cop and closeted gay man who made a pass on Liam.
• Ned Clausen, a councilman who was dealing drugs from his apple orchard.
• Henry Clausen, the chief's son who mistreated Emily Dunn, one of the family maids, into committing suicide
• Chief Clausen, who was partners with Ned and torturing Liam

Each beheading left the body inert but the head capable of thought and speech. While saving Liam, he confessed to June that he had stolen hush money from Emily Dunn's body so he could afford an engagement ring for June. He also confessed that Emily, who jumped from a bridge, was not killed by her fall. Liam was forced to finish her off to keep the money secret. This was the secret Liam was hiding from the police force. He was not the FBI informant. Disgusted, June beheaded him as well. She then set fire to the boat that the Chief and Liam were on and dumped the axe along with the heads of Sal, Ned, and Henry off the same bridge Emily jumped from, sinking them to the bottom of the bay. She hitchhiked out of town with the senior family maid of the Clausen's who admitted to being the informant.

July 1984

Two different factions come to Brody Island looking for the axe. One is a motorcycle gang called the Berserkers led by Erika Furie. They were hired to find the axe and the related Norse Tetrad by Wade Clausen, who surprisingly survived the incident last summer. The other is a pair of agents with the Department of Defense, who were investigating the previous thefts. Agents Arlene Fields and Cal Beringer rented a space and pretended to be tourists. After they got caught snooping around the Berserkers, Cal was chased into the water where he accidentally found the axe. He and Arlene returned at night to grab it. They ended up beheading a Great White Shark that attacked them as well as a number of Berserkers who kept attacking them for the axe. They kept the heads, including the new police chief, in the 1950s style refrigerator in the boathouse of their rental.

Unfortunately during one of those attacks, Cal was killed. Fed up, Arlene interrogated the heads by throwing them one by one into the jaws of the shark head they kept until they finally spoke up. They told her Wade had survived and hired their gang to steal the Norse artifacts. They also confessed to kidnapping June Branch from last summer's incident so that Wade could torture in revenge. Arlene called in DOD backup but couldn't wait for them. She drove over to save June with the axe from Wade, who had turned into a giant snake man thanks to the Belt of Jörmungandr.

Passing the axe back and forth, they diced Wade up and fed him to the shark head. The axe was then taken into DOD custody.