Unbeatable, Volume 2 – Review

By: Matthias Wolf (writer), Carlos E. Gomez (artist), Teodoro Gonzalez, Bob Pedroza, Shipeng Lee, Simon Bork (colorists)

The Story: So basically Hell is a fire-stormed, wretched pit of beast-ridden filth and death—that doesn’t mean it can’t have some perks.

The Review: The last volume of Unbeatable set up a storyline that was young and exuberant, but lacked much in the way of content.  In fact, it didn’t even seem as if Wolf had a very firm grasp on what kind of story he wanted, as it essentially went from a psycho-thriller to a dark fantasy on the turn of a dime.  Such changes aren’t necessarily deal-breakers—stories are meant to evolve—but they depend on the writer’s adaptability and execution to succeed.

Wolf certainly has no problems in the flexibility department; having gone for this Norse myth spin, he has pretty much stayed true to leading Dale on this more spiritual-cosmic path.  But it becomes painfully clear reading through the volume that committed as Wolf is to this premise, he’s not sure what he wants to do with it.

Now that Dale’s an immortal guard (whose very nature makes him “unbeatable”) it takes quite an effort to pose a challenge for him.  Loki shooting him, thereby sending him to Hell, seems like a ploy to put Dale someplace where he can actually struggle, but you don’t get the sense there’s any real reason he’s there.  In an entire volume of material, not once do you get a hint of what Loki’s up to—nor do you see him again, actually—so the whole deal just seems random.

In fact, almost everything feels like Wolf throwing ideas into the soup to see if he’ll wind up with something substantial.  You have Dale’s nine buxom, clearly non-elderly, assassin grandmothers, who show up in Hell just to tell him to seek out the shape-shifting Lizard King (a figure whose allure and vagueness rivals Alias’ Mueller device) for help escaping, only he and Thor decide to booze it up at a demonic bar/fight club for months instead.

Unbeatable Volume 1 – Review

By: Matthias Wolf (writer), Carlos Gomez (artist), Simon Bork & Teodoro Gonzalez (colorists)

The Story: He’s met Joan of Arc, Achilles, William Tell…and they all want to kill him.  He may not be a people person.

The Review: The graphic novel presents a very different reading format than your typical episodic comic book.  It invites a longer investment of time and attention, so you come in expecting more substantial and fully-realized storylines.  Unlike monthlies, which can get away with just immersing you in the moment by gripping drama one issue and wild action the next, graphic novels have to balance all these things throughout.

Unbeatable succeeds on this point—somewhat.  The entire first volume works essentially as a prelude, a very long setup to protagonist Heimen Dale’s true, mythic role.  This probably wouldn’t have worked very well read on an issue by issue basis: the early parts of the story move fairly slowly and even when the pace jacks into high-gear, you still end up with a very limited sense of how this world works, which, at an estimated 150 pages, feels too little.

At least when run together, pacing becomes less of an issue.  The straightforward narration allows for quick reading through the chatty, innocent period of Dale’s life.  But once you get to the real juicy parts of the story, you start to realize how unchallenging the plot really is.  There’s a certain repetitiveness to Wolf’s storytelling and to the way the novel’s different sequences work, so it’s a cinch to predict the next twist and what the aftermath will be.

It doesn’t help that nothing seen so far strikes you as outstandingly new.  The series’ primo concept—living through one’s many deaths to overcome pain and become a weapon of war—comes across interesting, but not mind-blowing.  There is also a lot of material, which feel poached from other works: the weakling turned invincible, the pure, teenage romance, the lost father, the fine line between the supernatural and insanity.

Northlanders: Sven the Returned – Review

by Brian Wood (writer), Davide Gianfelice (art), Dave McCaig (colors), and Travis Lanham (letters)

For those that don’t know, Brian Wood’s Viking-themed Northlanders works in completely isolated story-arcs.  As a result, this trade actually functions more like an original graphic novel.  Wood has actually pushed for Northlanders trades to be without numbering for this very reason.

Sven the Returned is the first of these tales and in some ways, it shows.  Much as I felt regarding the first trade of Wood’s other Vertigo series, DMZ, much of this book reads like a bit of a feeling out process on Wood’s part, as he gets used to his own series.  While that’s not to say that the writing is sloppy, it does mean that everything feels a bit simpler and more straightforward than what Wood normally produces.  In fact, this book feels much more basic even than later Northlanders issues.  While that’s not necessarily a bad thing, the fact remains that most of this book feels like little more than a gloriously violent, historical actioner following a fairly standard revenge plot.  While it definitely does succeed on this level, I don’t think we would have been wrong to hope for more.

Worse still, for most of the book, none of the characters are particularly nuanced.  Sven himself is essentially the unstoppable badass warrior who also wins through having a sounder tactical mind than his opponent.  Meanwhile, although his battle expertise does lead to some engaging captions, Enna is not anything particularly unique.  The same goes for the tyrannical Gorm, his murderous henchman, and Sven’s old flame…who is pretty much as stereotypical an “old flame” character as you can get – a seductress who now belongs to Sven’s enemy.  Meanwhile, you have Enna, who spends the majority of the book as the typical silent femme fatale.

That said, despite this simplicity, there are nuances.  Sven’s use of Gorm’s superstition and religious beliefs to terrorize his nemesis is well-done, leading to one of the coolest, and goriest, scenes of the book.  The clash of the old with Sven’s modernity is a nice touch.

Now, at this point, this trade may sound like a mediocre book worthy of being passed over.  That may very well be the case for the first five issues of this eight-issue collection.  However, in issue six, the book takes a sudden, massive upswing in quality in a manner so ingenious, that it reminds us of what Wood is capable of.  Wood essentially has Sven call out his own graphic novel.

Sven, around issue six or seven, comes to the realization of how pointless the entire book has become thus far, in its typical Viking characters and standard revenge/money centred drive.  Wood thus turns the graphic novel on its head by essentially having Sven call the entire tale into question.  When he does, the intelligence and depth of the book skyrockets.  Sven becomes much more of an individual and far more unique as a character, while the somewhat bland plot of earlier is completely abandoned.  The simple revenge plot is dumped by Sven as being meaningless and small and the book suddenly takes on a completely different plot, one that is far more grandiose and ambitious, treating issues of nationhood, solidarity, and culture.  Gorm becomes an afterthought, and old enemies now become friends, as their stereotypical rivalry of earlier is done away with when their roles and relationships come to be redefined by a new plot.

It’s unfortunate, however, that Wood uses a little bit of deus ex machina to create such a shift in the book.  It takes the arrival of a greater enemy in an event that is just far too perfectly and conveniently timed.  But given how much the book improves subsequently, I can’t gripe too much about this.

While the story’s quality may be divided down the middle, I can however say that Davide Gianfelice’s art is consistently amazing.  I’ve always loved his work and this book bears his trademarks.  Oddly blending an indisputably cartoony look with harsh, realistic environments and a good amount of piss and vinegar, it’s a very strange mix that leads to a wonderful contrast and a perfect balance.  That such a cartoony style is able to carry such maturity and grittiness frankly baffles me.  Gianfelice’s sprawling splashes of Orkney landscapes are also an absolute marvel, evoking a sublime effect combining awesome barrenness and sweeping beauty.  Dave McCaig’s colouring is also perfect for Gianfelice, adding a sort of grainy texture to the entire trade.

Ultimately, this is a rather strange book.  It carves out a very simple action story with simple characters and a simple plot and bumps along as such for the first 60% of the book.  Then, in the last three chapters, Sven, and hence Wood, essentially dump this all in the trash, openly criticizing it for its simplicity, meaninglessness, and pointlessness before switching to a plot/conflict that is far more grand.  This doesn’t change the fact that the first 60% of the book are nonetheless nothing special, but I do have to admire Wood for his gall and what appears to be metafictional self-criticism, as a character takes apart his own story and builds a better one.

Grade: B

*This trade collects #1-8 w/ covers.  I also recommend hunting down #20, which is a one-shot revisiting Sven and Enna several years after the events of this book.

-Alex Evans

Northlanders #19 – Review

by Brian Wood (writer), Danijel Zezelj (art), Dave McCaig (colors), and Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: Three women fight for their lives, making a final stand at an abandoned keep.

What’s Good: I loved this issue just as I’ve loved this arc overall, so it’s hard not to repeat what I said in my review of #18.   It’s a gripping tale of feminine solidarity in an age of raping and pillaging; a one of a kind story that hits the brain and the heart. Viking tales are almost always exclusively male in focus, an unfortunate continuance of that masculine-centric time that seems to have been furthered in hindsight rather than questioned.

Indeed, the fact that these three women are at the centre of a Viking tale is perhaps why they are under threat. They take centre stage, while the typical barbarians are left as faceless adversaries. Wood has given us a tale that focuses on female characters fighting for their place and their independence and that those arrayed against them are a horde of indistinguishable males that are out to take what is theirs.

Wood also assails Christianity  this month. I always like it when writers or commentators quote obscure, and socially horrific, passages of the Bible. It’s so utterly jarring to hear a book so central to our culture be so retrogressive and opposed to that very culture.

However, Wood’s greatest achievement this month, more than last, is his effective blend of myth and reality. No, this isn’t a Gaiman-esque tale of Odin showing up in disguise to save the day. Rather, Wood shows how reality, or “real life,” reflects myth and that the two sustain and mirror one another. The last page is genius for this reason, as is the depiction of one of our characters’ escape from the fortress. In that escape, Wood flirts with magical realism, blending myth and super-naturalism with reality so closely, that until the end of the comic, even I wasn’t sure if the character in question wasn’t more than human.

Also, Danijel Zezelj’s art is nothing short of fantastic.  Dark, shadowy, and horrendously bleak, it suits the mood of the book to a tee.  Indeed, Zezelj’s style strikes one as a vision rather than the movie or cartoon look that a lot of comics go for.  I also found it much easier to tell the characters apart, which was a bit of an issue last month.  McCaig does simply awesome work on colors as well, adding even greater emotion to Zezelj’s art by working heavily in monochromatics. The main color of every scene perfectly reflects the action, and more importantly the state of mind, being represented.  The battle scene in particular is set in a glorious array of reds and oranges.

What’s Not So Good: There are a couple lines where the religious commentary feels a little ham-fisted, as though Wood feels he has to spell out his points for the dullards who need to be fed, and it ends up losing some of the subtlety.  Also, what the heck is with the continual use of “pigfucker?”  Why that one profanity?

Conclusion: Very minor quibbles aside, this book is simply awesome.

Grade: A-

-Alex Evans

Viking #2 – Review

by Ivan Brandon (writer), Nic Klein (art, letters, design), and Kristyn Ferretti (letters & design)

The Story: Finn and Egil face the consequences of their actions.

What’s Good: From its basic design to the artwork itself, this book is one of the most gorgeous comics on store shelves today.  The fact that this book is $2.99 is unbelievable.

The art is a perfect blend of painting, modern indie comic, and cartoonish; stylized and beautiful, it’s a sight to behold.  I love Klein’s mastery of lighting in the book; it’s clear that he’s painting a world without electricity, as when it’s night, one gets a real sense of the firelight that is relied upon as everything takes on a dark orange hue.  I also reallyenjoyed Klein’s use of color to depict mood, with everything going a light red in moments of tension or violence. With creative panel layouts and large, impressive splashes, this book does the painted form proud.

There is however a story at work here, as Brandon continues to establish the voices of his characters.  This month, we really get a sense of the “crime fiction” element of the tale.  King Bram sounds like a mob boss and Brandon’s depiction of the Viking lifestyle sounds increasingly like that of the gangster lifestyle taken up by immigrants in the early twentieth century.  The wild and naive ambitions of the young, the difficulty of leaving the life behind, and the Grandfather’s wish that his grandsons do not enter the life of crime carved out by their father all make this comic sound a hell of a lot like a gangster movie.  Brandon is clearly making his generic standing clear this month, and the comic is all the more intriguing for it.  Meanwhile, for the second month in a row, Brandon ends his book with a final scene that packs an emotional wallop.

What’s Not-So-Good: This is a quick read.  Gorgeous painted artwork and single page splashes unfortunately mean several pages with little dialogue.  This also unfortunately means that at the end of issue 2, we still don’t have a real idea of what the plot of the series is.  I just didn’t quite feel that enough happened in the span of these 22 pages.  At times I even felt like the comic became more of an artbook than a comic, which isn’t necessarily a good thing.  It felt as though the comic needed a few more pages to get more done or to flesh more out.  I like what we got but I feel that we needed more of it.  This comic just doesn’t seem to have established a direction for itself yet.

This normally wouldn’t be so annoying really, but the fact that Viking is a bi-monthly title makes it somewhat crippling.  Having waited two months to get an issue that still doesn’t see a major thrust is somewhat frustrating. So little happened this issue and we still will have to wait until the end of August for #3.

Conclusion: A solid book that nonetheless feels a little light.

Grade: C+

-Alex Evans

Northlanders #18 – Review

by Brian Wood (writer), Danijel Zezelj (art), Dave McCaig (colors), and Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: With their village destroyed and their husbands butchered, three women, treasure in tow, run for their lives.

What’s Good: Brian Wood continues to show what can be done with a Viking comic.  Make no mistake, this is a clearly feminist text and yet, perhaps thanks to its gory Viking historical base, Wood makes it one that is accessible to the everyman rather than off-putting. While it’s emotionally heavy stuff, it’s more action-packed and inviting than it is didactic.  That said, the feminist base makes this issue feel more intellectually substantial, more engaging, and more complex than a comic filled with guys getting stabbed in the gut with pointy sticks.

What Wood gives us here is a story concerning three women fighting for independence in a world where such a thing is not only non-existent, but unthinkable.  It’s essentially three women learning that masculinity is entirely a social construct, as they wage war not merely with a group of murderous vikings, but in so doing, with the nastiest of all patriarchies.  Our three characters appropriate the masculine in a fight for freedom that is definitely stirring stuff.

It’s all the more hard-hitting due to Wood once again flexing his muscle when it comes to writing narrators.  Here, he establishes a unique, highly personal and memorable character voice for the comic through the use of narrating textboxes.  The textboxes expertly pull the reader in, causing you to really connect with the plight of our three protagonists.

Of course, it’s not just about those three characters.  As is often the case with Northlanders, Wood always makes these personal trials seem like a reflection of something more, a battle that concerns an entire culture.  Certainly, the bookending quotations help establish this feel.

As for the art, Zezelj’s work is attractive, stylized stuff.  Dark as hell, abstract, and filled with fluid and creative layouts. It really helps move the plot along and  convey the fact that this is NOT a good place for the women.  In fact, Zezelj’s art makes the comic’s world feel not only threatening, but downright hostile.  Full of shadows, malevolently leering faces, and nondescript, bordering on inhuman looking Vikings, it’s a place out of nightmare for our maidens.

What’s Not-So-Good: Unfortunately, Zezelj’s stylized work is also something of a double-edged sword in this otherwise fantastic comic.  Due to how heavy the inks are and how bloody dark the colours are, it’s occasionally difficult to tell our three protagonists apart.  Zezelj seems aware of this, giving each of them different hairstyles as something of a cheap aid, but it still is confusing at times.  At one point, even Wood’s narration joins in on the confusion, leading me to momentarily struggle to remind myself who WAS narrating.

Conclusion: “Consider us Odin’s wolves, here to send you to your nailed God.”  That’s just a sample of the cerebral badassery on offer here.

Grade: B+

-Alex Evans