Ah, Northlanders. How glad I am that you exist.
I think it’s safe to say that Northlanders is, by this point, the longest-running Viking comic ever. Brian Wood has made it an exciting read every time I pick up the latest trade. There isn’t an ongoing narrative in this comic; the focus shifts with each storyline. The longest story in this collection, Metal, involves a very strong blacksmith wreaking havoc on the Christians who have taken over. The Christians aren’t stupid though. They hire a big strong native of their own to oppose him. This is a story about new religion versus old religion and greed versus preservation. Riccardo Burchielli has a versatile style in his artwork. He draws gory battle scenes, mushroom-induced hallucinations, and even some really nice quiet scenes in these five comics.
Backing up, “The Sea Road” is the story that leads off this collection. It’s the tale of a particularly perilous journey of a few men at sea. Men who are greedy and will do virtually anything if it means a little more loot in their pockets. The boat winds up touching shore somewhere in America. Only one viking remains alive after he kills the last of his companions, and when he sees the natives, he has a rather important sounding speech:
“You should kill me. I deserve it, bringing this butchery to your fine beach, here. But if I could leave you lads with one bit of advice? More of a friendly warning, really. I couldn’t tell you when, but I can say for a certainty there’ll be more men just like me who’ll find their way here. Like I said, too beautiful a place.”
The natives quickly slay the invader, but everyone reading knows that it’s only a matter of time before the fortunes are reversed.
“The Girl In The Ice” closes the collection. It’s a story illustrated by Brian Wood’s frequent collaborator, Becky Cloonan. An old man is ice fishing when he notices something very strange: a young woman’s body has risen to the top of the ice. The old man wants to solve the mystery of who this girl is, but risks the authorities finding out that he is holding a corpse in his home. He could be accused of any number of crimes for something like that, but he truly only wants to get to the bottom of the problem. Things don’t end well for him, but the mother of the girl at least gets to know the truth of what was going on.
So that’s a little taste of what Northlanders is all about. It’s a series that I love picking up because the story is always going to be something different. Brian Wood has done an awesome job. I remember listening to a podcast interview with him some years ago, probably when Northlanders was in its first year. He was saying that he was concerned mainly with telling good stories about these people. Maybe some things in the timeline aren’t all too accurate. He also made a stylistic choice that is sure to irk some people: the characters in Northlanders speak in a modern dialect rather than anything archaic and Norse-like. I personally view it as a positive. If you want to read Thor-speak, well, thank god we have Thor as a book to read too.
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