Northlanders #33

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Riccardo Burchielli

I've been enjoying Metal since it started, but I think this is the best issue of the story to date.

Erik and Ingrid are continuing their rampage across the Norselands like a Viking Micky and Mallory Knox, hunting down and slaughtering Christians everywhere.  Their legend has grown, and one night, while sharing a fire with some local Norsemen, they learn about how the locals see their deeds.

At the same time though, the spectre of Black Karl, the man they killed last issue, pursues them.  The way Wood has structured this arc, I'm not sure what is real and what is in Erik's mind.  Northlanders has always been delivered as a historical fiction series, so this arc, with its spirits (and now Draugrs) is jarringly out of place.  I tend to read scenes like the last one in this comic as proof of Erik's addled mind, but I suppose it is also possible that Wood is giving us an old school Vertigo story, with all the dark fantasy that usually entails.

Either way, I'm enjoying this book.