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27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Visceral Epic..., November 3, 2008
This review is from: Northlanders Vol. 1: Sven The Returned (Paperback)
The blurb in the back of this book states that Northlanders is "Vikings finally done right!!. I am usually very wary of hype and take most of these "praises" with a grain of salt but after finding myself unable to put this book down I have to agree with that succint reviewer: Northlanders does what many books and graphic novels attempt but never achieve...it brings the past alive and recreates Viking civilization in a way I have never seen depicted in comics before.
The story is about Sven, a kinda of amoral cat who fights for the Byzantine Emperor as part of his elite Varangian Guards. The Varangian Guards were Norsemen specifically recruited by the Greeks due to their legendary ferocity in battle. Sven loves Constantinople...it's a city of wonders, where all shades of skins and religion and culture mingle in the streets. He has turned his back on his cold, snowy homelands and couldn't be happier for it. That is until the day, messengers arrive with the news that his father, a king in the Orkneys, has died and that his uncle has usurped his throne, kingdom, wenches and riches.
Sven could care less about ruling a northern wasteland...he just wants to take his inheritance and come right back to sunny, golden Greece...where the story takes us after that is what really makes his book a rarity: a mature look at war and culture and how enemies deal with each other.
About the art. I'm a picky fan when it comes to art. I want to see beautiful, eye popping things and any other day I would dismiss the art of Northlanders as simplistic. But at closer inspection you see that the art is subtle and efficient. It's filled with details you'll miss until the second reading, the characters all have their own "look" unlike the pin-ups of so many popular artists who draw all their characters with bulging muscles, rage lines and huge breasts. I wouldn't want the art any other way.
I highly recommend "Northlanders". A true graphic novel epic and a blockbuster film just waiting for Hollywood to notice it.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Solid Story That Rushes Past Some Of The Best Parts, November 6, 2008
This review is from: Northlanders Vol. 1: Sven The Returned (Paperback)
Brian Wood's Viking epic NORTHLANDERS tells the story of Sven, an expatriate Viking serving as a Royal Guard in Constantinople, as he returns home to claim his inheritance and birthright, stolen from him by his murderous Uncle Gorm. The massive scope of the book unfolds over eight issues, as Sven comes to grips with the changes his people and their ancestral land have undergone since he fled as a child, and prepares to gather an army to challenge his Uncle. There are places where the pace of the book is maddeningly slow, and others, such as the climactic battle, where we're rushed along, missing potentially important plot points, almost as though Wood realized he was running out of room and had better pick up the pace. (The transition from "Let's get an army together!" to the actual battle is, literally, one page.....We go from one lone man to an army of followers with little buildup or sense of time passing, and it was very jarring....) The art, by Davide Gianfelice, is appropriately gory and grimy, and serves the story quite well. My only major complaint is Wood's use of language that you probably wouldn't have heard a Viking use, such as when Sven doesn't hear Hakkar talking to him, because he "Tuned him out for a moment".....Isn't that a term that plays off of radio and television....? Instances like that, and when Sven says he should "Call this guy on his B-S", took me right out of the story and hurt the overall mood of the book. Small quibbles aside, NORTHLANDERS BOOK ONE: SVEN THE RETURNED is one hell of a beefy book (200 pages!) for under ten bucks, and it was good enough to have me wondering just where Wood could possibly take the series next. I'll be back for Volume Two......
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful!, January 18, 2009
This review is from: Northlanders Vol. 1: Sven The Returned (Paperback)
Fantastic art and engaging story that increasingly drew me in to the characters, the times, the land, the peoples. I loved the contrasts between the gorgeous scenery and the bloody battles, between a magnificent land and a hard life, between the serving of oneself and the growth towards serving one's people. This is great storytelling, and I'm looking forward to more Northlanders.
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