Brian Wood's Viking epic NORTHLANDERS tells the story of Sven, an expatriate Viking serving as a Royal Guard in Constantinople, as he returns home to claim his inheritance and birthright, stolen from him by his murderous Uncle Gorm. The massive scope of the book unfolds over eight issues, as Sven comes to grips with the changes his people and their ancestral land have undergone since he fled as a child, and prepares to gather an army to challenge his Uncle. There are places where the pace of the book is maddeningly slow, and others, such as the climactic battle, where we're rushed along, missing potentially important plot points, almost as though Wood realized he was running out of room and had better pick up the pace. (The transition from "Let's get an army together!" to the actual battle is, literally, one page.....We go from one lone man to an army of followers with little buildup or sense of time passing, and it was very jarring....) The art, by Davide Gianfelice, is appropriately gory and grimy, and serves the story quite well. My only major complaint is Wood's use of language that you probably wouldn't have heard a Viking use, such as when Sven doesn't hear Hakkar talking to him, because he "Tuned him out for a moment".....Isn't that a term that plays off of radio and television....? Instances like that, and when Sven says he should "Call this guy on his B-S", took me right out of the story and hurt the overall mood of the book. Small quibbles aside, NORTHLANDERS BOOK ONE: SVEN THE RETURNED is one hell of a beefy book (200 pages!) for under ten bucks, and it was good enough to have me wondering just where Wood could possibly take the series next. I'll be back for Volume Two......