I love Northlanders.

Now that I’ve got that out of the way, I think I can sit down and tell you what I don’t like about Northlanders (and it’s not much). At the end of the third issue of this series, I knew that it was going to be a winner. But two issues in, and the only problem I could find with the book was the fact that its scope was so incredibly narrow.

At that point we had a former citizen of Orkney Island, one who was once in line to take the thrown as his inheritance. We found Sven on his way home to ravage his betraying uncle and steal back his homeland. But the presence of the characters and the weight of the happenings after two issues felt so limited that it actually reduced the tone of the story for me. Sure, the concept was epic. But the way Wood handled it at the beginning felt so tight and focused on Sven that nothing else mattered. I didn’t give a damn about the island or its people at the start. I just wanted to know about Sven. It worked for the series at first, but after two issues I already yearned for more out of Wood and his Northlanders.

That’s when the third, fourth, fifth and sixth issues stepped in and poured the world of Northlanders out onto the table in front of me. I cared about the people on the island. I wondered what was going to happen to Gorm, Hakkar, and even the woman Sven shacks up with in the woods. Suddenly I was concerned with Sven’s past as well, and all at once came this rushing desire to learn so much more.

So that all sounds great right? Well, it is and it isn’t. Those several issues were absolute comic magic in my mind. That’s the good stuff that everyone hopes to pull off the shelves from week to week. But the beginning was weak and it lacked drive, motivation and narrative scope. And that’s where I am again at the end of the seventh issue of Northlanders.

Sven battles the Saxons in this one with the help of an unexpected group of allies. The fight scenes, as always, are spectacular from panel to panel. The conflict even comes to Gorm for a bit, I won’t spoil things, but it reads wonderfully and I can safely say I was psyched the whole way through. But then, as the issue concludes, the wide scope that was brought to fruition by the four issues before it shrinks back down to its original ground. Readers will be able to see that Sven has grown in all directions as a man and, more importantly, as a human being. But the way this issue leaves you will make that earned morality seem pointless.

You will almost certainly think, “Well…now what?” And it’s that feeling of lacked direction that will leave a bitter taste in the mouths of most when they see the beautifully drawn final page. There’s one issue left in this arc, and I have no idea where it’s going.

Okay, Northlanders has been an awesome book so far. I don’t mean to make it out to be this pile of soulless pages that no one should read. Read it! It’s great, really. But don’t be surprised if you find yourself wandering between loving it and being nearly perplexed by it. This issue came home to open arms this Wednesday, and I loved every bit of it…until the end. It’s the return to narrow form that’s knocking some bullets off of this baby. Northlanders, this hurts me more than it is going to hurt you, but ugh, 3.5 bullets for one of my favorite books.

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