Comic Books
NORTHLANDERS #39
“The Siege Of Paris” concludes not with a bang or a whimper, but with a political settlement. What of the warriors who bled and died on the battlements for all those long months? Mads and Abbo try to make sense of it from Mads’ rather bleak new perspective. War was a bitch back then just as much as it is now.
Written by BRIAN WOODArt by SIMON GANE
Cover by MASSIMO CARNEVALE
Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 1.6%
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This series has really been spinning its wheels for the past year. Since the plague story this book has been pretty flat.
Hey that’s great, they put the ending in the solicitation so now there’s no point in reading this.
I actually read the wikipedia page on the seige of paris a couple weeks ago and ruined it for myself then…
It’s a known historical event – how is that a spoiler? Here’s another one: the Nazis lost WW2. The thing with historical fiction is how its told, the perspective and the details.
I didn’t like metal, but the sea road, and the lady in the ice were great. This is also v good.
I’ve actually been enjoying this arc a lot more than the previous two.
@north72 Well put. This series has been nonstop awesome in every arc.
@north72: Are you actually saying that ‘The Seige of Paris’ is as well known an evernt as ‘World War II?” Are you really saying that? Because that is just stupid. Yes this is a historical event but one I doubt most people know about. What was the name of King Tut’s father? I’m sure since that was a historical fact you know the answer without having to look it up.
No one said anything about memorization. But when fiction is set during a historical event, no one expects to be given a timeline in place of a story. Do you think this Siege story is just a wiki entry, or is it the story of Mads et al? If you think knowing an aspect of how this history unfolded is going to render this issue redundant, well, I think you’re wrong. Using a WW2 analogy (again), knowing the allies won doesn’t spoil the ending of Band Of Brothers, does it?
At the very least, reserve judgement until you’ve actually read it.
@USPUNX I thought The Girl in the Ice was fantastic! It was short but it was one of the better stories I’ve read in a while. Very compelling and the art was gorgeous.
@mega: I did enjoy that one to an extent. There was good tension building to the end but the eventual conclusion was inevitable, at least I thought. It seemed to me the old man was going to take the blame. Art was great.
@north72: Again, what are you talking about. First I never said anything about judging this issue. If you bother to look, it’s on my pull list. All I said was this book hasn’t been as good in recent arcs as it was at the beginning. Never mentioned this issue or my judgement on it.
Second, this whole little thing started because I agreed with Malecena that the solict somewhat ruined the ending. Knowing how the Seige ends doesnt ruin Mads story but it does spoil the larger back drop of the seige. Hence the name SPOILER. Regardless of if something is historical based or purely fiction, if something gives away the ending of that thing, it is a spoiler. And again using one of the most widely studied world wide events if the past 100 years as an analogy for The Seige of Paris really makes no sense.
But is it really a spoiler? What is the ending of this issue? I don’t know, since I haven’t read it yet.
@north72: Okay nevermind. You clearly don’t understand what I’m trying to say.
@USPUNX – I thinK I do, but I think you are reading too much into solicitation copy without having any idea what actually happens in the issue, but preemptively calling it spoiled and ruined nontheless. I have my fingers crossed that you are proven wrong.
Also, I made no “analogy” between WW2 and this Siege, beyond the fact that they are historical backdrops for stories. I’m not comparing scale or importance or which is more widely-studied, since that’s all beside the point. All the point is, is that knowing (or not) the eventual outcome of the history doesn’t necessarily affect the reading of the story. Like Band Of Brothers, or Les Miserables, or Three Kings, etc etc.
You’re still competely missing the point. Band of Brother, Les Miserables, or Three Kings are compeltely different because everyone knows how those wars ended, they are common knoweldge, thus nothing is ruined because the outcome is know from the start. Therefore the entire emphasis is put on the characters alone. My point was most people don’t know the outcome of th Seige of Paris, therefore the story is about the characters AND the conflict. Knowing that it ends essentially in a truce ruins the tension that was built in the first two issues. As I said before it doesn’t spoil the end of Mads story but it does spoil the conclusion of the backdrop conflict. Issue two ends with Mads destroying the bridge connecting the tower to Paris itself, thus isolating the tower, giving the impression the tide has turned in favor of the vikings, and appearing to lose an arm in the process. Imagine how much more powerful it would have been to have actually read in the comic that desipte his sacrifce and bold actions, the viking leaders decided to settle. Instead it is spoiled in three lines in the solict thus breaking all the tension built in the first two issues.
Also here is a copy and paste from one of your above posts: “Using a WW2 analogy (again), knowing the allies won doesn’t spoil the ending of Band Of Brothers, does it?”
Here’s my question: why even tell this story? Think about the main (and only) story beats; in the first issue the Vikings show up to sack Paris, second issue they’re having a tough time getting past the tower, and now third issue, neither side wins. Neither side overcomes the the conflict, it just stops. Am I the only one who thinks that’s an increadibly pointless story?
Now if you wanted to explore the nature of war and/or the effects of it on particular soldiers as the solicit proposes, why in the world would you only do 3 issues where you only have the opportunity to put in the main plot points? I would think to do this type of story adequately you would need more, you have to draw it out and give the readers time to get into the situation and get to know the new characters at least a little before it ends.
What I meant in my original comment was that this story and these characters were introduced and now dismissed so quickly that I don’t care about either them at all beyond the most basic plot points (which was put into the solicit).
My god, north let it go. It might not be the meat or core of the story, but it still is one surprise, one facet taken away from the reader. Spoilers aren’t just about endings, and neither are comics as a whole. Samuel L Jackson dies early in Deep Blue Sea, I guess that’s not a spoiler. Like obviously, you could read the imdb plot synopsis before watching!
I’m not overly bothered but I am baffled by the solicit. It’s not a particular exciting detail, why put it in there? To lower expectations for climactic battle?
@MacAoidh I’m confused, are you asking me to let it go or answer the questions you just asked me?
@USPUNX The solicitation doesn’t say who settles, but I take it you found out on your own? Also, its not that I’m missing the point, its that I think you’re just wrong! 🙂
To everyone else who gives a toss: Fandom is rife with people judging books and stories based on a marketing department’s ad copy or other such preliminary info, and its a pretty silly thing. Genuine speculation and curiousity is fun, but claiming something is “ruined” etc etc when you haven’t even SEEN it yet is moronic. All I’ve been trying to do here is to keep an open mind about this issue and say, hey, maybe its not as it seems? Maybe? Just maybe?
I guess not.
@MacAoidh: I was thinking about that too and my guess is it was done because not much time is spent in the comic itself actually explaining the end of the seige. I’m guessing it mainly focuses on Mads and what he does in the aftermath of the failed conquest. Feels like an anti-climactic ending but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve read it.
When this arc was first announced I spent 2 minutes reading about it online, because that’s about as long as it takes to explain the event. It’s actually a really boring story, the actual siege. There’s virtually no record of it. They came, they seiged almost by accident, and then …it was over. The most notable thing about it is that it changed things for specific members of the French nobility, in the years that followed. Also, I guess, its a curiousity that the Vikings did this in the first place.
So when I saw the comic, it made sense that it would focus on one man and what his time was like, something that’s proven to be 1000% more interesting than the actual siege. The whole story so far has been Mads’, and at the end of the last issue his own predicament is more than overshadowing that of King Sigfred and Charles The Fats. Looking forward to seeing the end of Mads’ story.
I certainly didn’t ask you any questions north. It was great to hear your personal journey with the story of this arc though, wait… (I jest).
My last comment on this silly tirade, and not the book: Nobody is judging the comic yet, how can you not understand that? When we say ruined we mean in relation to that piece of information, not the book as a whole; I’m pretty sure it’s going to be great. I’m also sure most people who watch the Empire Strikes Back for the first time will love it, despite the twist that Darth Vader is Luke’s father will be probably known and ruined in advance.
I think you’re reading people commenting on this page far too extremely, presumably because you have a prejudice about comic fans always prejudging books. As a last remark, personally if I’m reading a historical comic or book about a known event, there’s no chance I’ll go online to read what happens in advance.
quoting @malecema: “and now third issue, neither side wins. Neither side overcomes the the conflict, it just stops. Am I the only one who thinks that’s an increadibly pointless story? “
To my eyes, @MacAoidh, that’s a judgment (and an advance review?), although not yours. Yours were of a much more subtler variety, haha.
Anyway, I’m sure I seem angrier than I am (which is not angry at all). If I got angry at the level of comic book discourse online I’ve had perished of an ulcer a long time ago. I was just baffled at the emotions expressed here. But your Star Wars example is a pretty good one, and does a great job in support of my first post in this thread.
Meet you all back here tomorrow so we can trash this comic AFTER having read it!
(a joke)
(?)
@north: You’re just not listening. At least three people have said, in so many words, that we are not judging the issue, only the seemingly over explainatory solicit. No one here has said they think the issue will be bad, in fact the pasionate debate occuring here makes me think people are excited about this issue and just wish the solicit had been more vague. People do pre-judge books before they are released, and I agree that is unfair and pointless, but that is absolutely not happening here. Why would we pull this issue and plan to buy it if we think it is going to be bad? Please try not insert your own personal grudges and prejudices about certain types of comic readers into situations where they have no revelance. Not every complaint someone makes, especially when it is not even about an actual comic issue, is an opportunity for your personal soapbox about the ills of negative fandom.
Also if you think the level of comic discourse online is so low why are you even here?
@MacAoidh: Not a fan of METAL either. I’m likeing Siege of Paris just not big on the art.
AFTER ALL THAT, my shop didn’t have it in this week. 🙁
I like the art, although I wouldn’t want to read too many more issues like this. Does it remind anyone else of Robert Crumb?
@UNPUNX, I tried to be concillatory and light, with a couple jokes towards the end, with the goal of ending the negative back-and-forth.
@north72: If you say so.
So in the end I gave this a 3. It was okay, not great. It did feel like this issue lacked any tension and didn’t have much of a resolution. Also I’ve never liked when comics are told in mainly flashback narration. It just seems to lack any emotional punch. One issue that always comes to mind as an example of that is the final issue of Secret Invasion. Anyway, the next issue looks cool, let’s just hope the solicit doesn’t give away whether he kills the deer or not…
I found this to be one of the most hopeful Northlanders, in terms of Mads’s story and how it ended. And having read the history, yeah, its pretty much exactly what went down, siege-wise. Wasn’t the best Northlanders arc, but Mads is one of the better male characters – sarcastic, bitterly funny, loyal.