Vikings The Long Cold Fire is a graphic novel. More correctly, the hardcover trade edition that compiles the first "season" of these comics, published last year.
Vikings are popular subject matter for graphic novels. I am a huge fan of the Northlander series of books written by Brian Vaughn and illustrated by a variety of artists. I discovered these books a couple of years ago; the Viking theme was immediately attractive to me and I was impressed how Vaughn used that archetype to tell tales of revenge, redemption and quests that were inner as much as they were exterior.
Vikings share similar themes but is more visceral, more immediate and more .. well .. graphic
Written by Ivan Brandon and illustrated my Nic Klein, Vikings tells the story of two brothers, Finn and Egil, two young men who take "viking" that is the art of pillaging and looting, very seriously. As the story opens they are not good men. They are violent, arrogant, they revel in the power they possess, that power being a lack of morality that permits them to go to any means .. usually violent means .. to achieve their ends.
Their own father cautions them that their recklessness can only lead to tragedy. And of course it does. Personal tragedy for the brothers, and tragedy for those they encounter, including a beautiful and strong young woman, the daughter or a king who in his youth was perhaps as reckless and violent as the brothers.
This is heady stuff. Much like Northlanders, this is a story of redemption but is it a redemption that has come too late. There is a lot going on here, there are layers of story and back stories for each character but it all happens as if in a blood tinged rush, barreling at you, almost overwhelming.
This is, of course, a graphic novel and the writer and artist use that medium to their great advantage. The story is told entirely through the art and through dialogue; there is no narration, no third or even first person exposition boxes, there are only word balloons and images.
What this means is that we are never formally introduced to the characters, they are just there and we have to figure out who they are. It is a bit off putting but it serves the story well, you feel as if you have just been dropped into the story and being a story filled with violence and rage, it keeps you on your toes.
Nic Klein's art work is spectacular. The trade edition of the collection is a huge hardcover and it does the work justice. Klein mixes a variety of styles and techniques, not only from page to page but sometimes from panel to panel. From almost impressionist oil paintings to line art to a contemporary graphic style, you are once again kept a bit off kilter which gives reading this book an almost physical feel. One of the things I love about graphic novels is that they have a cinematic quality and Vikings has that, often using nothing but panels to advance the story, like the frames of a film. But this book, through Klein's art work and the very structure of it, really gives you a sense of action or more properly that you are in the action
The story does not end with this collection. Because this was just the first season of the comic, we are left with a cliff hanger. But what makes me want to read more is just not some plot hook but because the artists have done an impressive job of creating and developing characters that I am interested in following. I am fond of stories of redemption, of growth and I have a feeling that that growth will be hard earned in this Viking world .. but I hope the brothers make it.
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