NORTHLANDERS #35
What did the
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Art by BECKY CLOONAN
Cover by MASSIMO CARNEVALE
Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99
This review contains spoilers, click here to read
Brian Wood must really plan these things in advance. Last year he started the magnificent Plague Widow epic in the midst of winter, and now he gives us a new snowbound story just as Britain finds itself in the grip of a very unusual (for us) cold snap. Which somehow makes this book even more enjoyable, the kind that you want to read while wrapped in a blanket with a steaming hot drink in hand.
It's the tale of Jon, an old man surviving his final days on the very edges of a viking community, who finds the corpse of a girl frozen in the ice. He spends a large portion of the book ruminating on her death and who might be responsible, before being almost caught with her defrosted corpse in his possession by the men of the local chieftain who are scouting the area in advance of a coming war.
As is so often true with Northlanders, the biggest attraction is the mood and setting. There's nothing else like it on the racks, and I have no idea how they do it. Wood has an impeccable array of art partners, and together they always manage to put you in the time and place he's writing about. I think the established use of modern vernacular eases the transition very well. If you're willing to go with it it makes the reading very easy, leaving you to just disappear into the story rather than jarring you out of it with loads of "thees" and "thous". There's also plenty of "silent" panels, the quiet only broken by the occasional sound effect. You've got to really read these pages, soak them up, but if you invest the effort it's really the very best evocation of a historical way of life you can find. It's also a great excuse for Cloonan to show just what she's capable of.
In a way there's not huge amounts of story, in the sense that there's not massive amounts of action, but that's always been Northlanders way. If you take a step back you can see Wood has quietly done a massive amount of set up for next month's second half. You have a mystery to solve, a threat to Jon's way of life and a coming conflict, all of which need to have some form of resolution next time. Can't wait 'til then...
Art: 4 - Very Good
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