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 #17 – Review

by Brian Wood (writer), Vasilis Lolos (art), Dave McCaig (colors), Travis Lanham (letters)

The Story: Two vikings, champions for their respective lords, meet in a battle to the death on an icy plain.

The Good: Wow. Just wow… This issue is truly a work of art and a testament to what a writer can do with 22 pages. It is an experimental done-in-one that succeeds in everything it tries to accomplish.

If you’ve not read Northlanders before, this issue captures the spirit of Wood’s view on Vikings. It encapsulates the very paradox that Wood continually traverses in this book, that bizarre mixture of bleak nothingness and warrior heroism. The comic perfectly presents the life of the Northlander as being one that is both paradoxical and cyclical. Is the Northlander’s life glorious in its purity and simplicity, or is that very purity nothing more than a facade for meaninglessness? At the end of the issue, astute readers will realize that an answer to this question is never really given, nor should one be. The whole viking existence is defined by this ambiguity and ambivalence.

Wood achieves this message through a stunning balancing act in his writing. Containing more or less no dialogue, Wood makes extensive use of a narrator through various text-boxes. The narrator’s tone again showcases the strengths of Northlanders; the voice is at once very contemporary and understated, while somehow capable of channeling the spirit of a grizzled veteran raider. The information that this narrator relays is an incredibly diverse array of biographic information of the characters, the nature of viking life itself, technical (well-researched) details regarding viking weaponry and tactics, and finally, quotations from the sagas. What you ultimately get is a feeling that the very specific (these two warriors) comes to be representative of something much larger than Viking life itself. In turn, it comes to be an expression of fundamental aspects of human nature. It’s remarkably intelligent, stunning work.

All the more impressive is how this juggling actually lends itself to a chronological progression. The comments on viking life in general go from the young conscript, to the grizzled raider, to the retired farmer wishing for it all to end. Which in turn mirrors the details of one of the warrior’s (Egil) own life, a bold 16-yr-old raider turned broken down warrior.  It’s all remarkably cyclical; it’s a rise and decline in an uncaring world that maintains the same pace regardless.

The Not-so-Good: Despite the art fitting Wood’s writing incredibly well, Lolos’ art may prove divisive.  If you demand hardcore realism and detail in your comics, you won’t find it here. Lolos’ style definitely has a “sketchbook” feel, seeming to intentionally throw modern comic “polish” to the wind for a book that is neither modern nor polished. In the end, Lolos’ art manages to keep pace for the most part by really fitting the tone of the story:  it’s ugly, brutal, and, thanks in no small part to McCaig’s colors, very, very bleak.  It’s not complex or refined in the slightest, but then, neither is the viking.

Conclusion: An astonishingly good comic that shows what can be done with 22 pages.  This may very well go down as one of the best single issues of the year.

Grade: A

-Alex Evans

Viking #1 – Review

By Ivan Brandon (writing), Nic Klein (pencils, inks, colours)

The Story: A brand spanking new ongoing series from Image that’s been getting a good amount of hype, Viking looks to be a tale about the exploits, adventures, and sorrows of two brothers, Finn and Egil, who work as raiders/thieves in the ninth century.  In this issue, the major players are introduced along with the relationships they share with the comic closing out on a shocking and devastating event that is sure to shape the series for some time to come.

The Good: I can’t possibly say enough to praise the work of Nic Klein.  Where did this guy come from?  Between its colours, scrappy inks, and characterful designs, there simply is no other comic on the market that looks like this one.  The pencils often ride the line between realism and that “comic-y” look we all love, with hard-bitten frames occasionally being interrupted by one that borders on slapstick.

Dark and brooding, the colours are nonetheless of a very wide pallet, an achievement that sounds almost paradoxical in its implausibility.  The inks on the other hand lend a scrappy, gritty feel, but never once do so at the expense of detail or precision.  All told, the art does exactly what the story does, blending the crime and Viking genres.  Hard, noir, and dirty, yet also filled with blue water, red skies, and lush forest.

The writing by Ivan Brandon, while not initially standing out to the extent of Klein’s art, is more than competent.  As one would hope, the dialogue carries a properly antiquated tone, particularly in the sentence structure and word order, yet it also feels distinctly modern.  In other words, for a Viking/crime hybrid, Brandon is definitely doing his job.

At this point, it’s honestly a little hard to give a full assessment of Brandon’s chops in what is really just a foundational issue.  That said, one can already tell that his strength as a writer lies in emotional relationships.  The scene between King Bram and his daughter Annikki is perhaps the best of the issue.  The tense relationship between the brothers and their grandfather is well-done and the interactions between Finn and Egil and their little brother Ketil are particularly touching.  Brandon seems intent on problematizing the “brutal Viking” figure.  The “crazy” Egil becomes a troubled man with a deathwish, the equally murderous/brutal Finn is shown to be tender at some level; aware of his own brutality,  he’s merely trying to put his life together out of chaos.  King Bram, deserves special mention, appearing almost as two different characters in the two scenes we see him: the savage tyrant in the throneroom and the loving family man when with his daughter.  I almost feel as though Bram has the potential to be a Viking version of Tony Soprano.  Viking/crime hybrid indeed.

Finally, special mention must go to the absurd value of this comic.  Glossy cover, heavy paper stock, and larger, Golden Age dimensions, all for $2.99?  Yes, please.

The Not-so-Good: Despite what I’ve said, much about the characters’ background/psychology is only thus far suggested.  As it stands, Finn and Egil are merely the old “two young rogues trying to make it work.”  The connection with the reader isn’t fully formed quite yet.  That said, I can already see that Brandon is well on his way to fixing this.

Art-wise, a minor quibble: there is a simply hideous frame of a tearful Annikki that looks more like something out of an “adult” anime.  Klein may have issues drawing more than single tears.

I’m also not entirely sure about Brandon’s humour yet either.  It’s oddly quirky, which suits the Viking setting, but sometimes I wonder if I’m not on the same level as him.

Lastly, Brandon may have perhaps tried to do too much in this issue in showing the two sides of all of his characters.  Due to issue length, he’s forced into “one scene of brutality, and one of kindness” for both Bram and Finn; and it feels awkward.  As if it was merely flashing between “side A” and “side B.”  Furthermore, the opening scene of violence with Finn and Egal just ends up feeling a little bit sequestered from the remainder of the issue.

Conclusion:  Buy this issue.  The value, as mentioned, is absurd and this has a TON of potential.   While bad things may happen, if Brandon is going where I think he’s going, this could make his and Klein’s careers.  Plant this as one of Image’s biggest titles.  Certainly, after the gutpunch at the issue’s end, there is no way in hell I won’t be on board for issue 2.  In the words of guitar-aficionado Yngwie Malmsteen:  “I am a Viking.”

-Alex Evans

Grade: B+