Vertigo's latest ongoing series is Northlanders, a Viking story by Brian Wood. 

In many ways, this is perhaps the most commercial thing Vertigo has tried in a while.  There are big violent guys with axes.  They use them against one another.  There is blood and violence and death.  You won't find any transgendered tarot enthusiasts in this book.

Sven of Orkney is a Viking who left his hometown years ago, on the entirely understandable grounds that it's a godforsaken dump and the weather is terrible.  Instead, he's set himself up in the Constantinople region, where the relatively modern and civilised locals are much more to his taste.

On learning that his father has died, and that he should have inherited the town, Sven returns home.  Not because he wants to rule the town, though.  He's just planning to pick up his gold and head straight back to Constantinople.

Generally speaking, the key to historical dramas is to find an angle that's still relevant today.  With Sven, it's a story about a character returning to his home town, believing that he's moved on.  That's the hook, and Wood sells it convincingly.  What's perhaps more interesting is how he engages our sympathy in Sven, who really doesn't do a great deal to earn it.  True, he's been screwed out of his inheritance, but his plans for it aren't exactly noble.

It works, I think, partly because Sven is our point of view character, and we can readily understand why he doesn't want to return to this dreary grey wilderness where the only colour comes from his clothes.  But there's some playing with audience expectations as well.  We all know he's going to stay; he's the lead character in a book about Vikings called Northlanders.  So we can forgive him an awful lot, because we know there's a good chance he'll be changing his attitude and staying, sooner or later. 

Artist Davide Gianfelice draws fantastic Vikings, and provides some wonderful visuals.  The art is strong enough to retain its power despite the all-pervading grey.  And colourist Dave McCaig wisely eschews the normal Vertigo palette of muddy brown, selectively dropping bright colours onto the page when it makes sense to do so.

This is a good first issue.  Okay, perhaps I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt that Sven will turn into a more sympathetic character - but somehow, I feel that it's a safe bet.

Rating: A-

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