In Conversation with Brian Wood

Mark and I are hugely honoured to bring you an interview with Brian Wood which we scored a few weeks ago as we were preparing for Viking Week. Brian is one of our favourite graphic novel writers and is well known for his work on DMZ and Demo, amongst others. His Northlanders graphic novels, are superb studies of character and settings. Here we get to ask him a few questions about Northlanders:

Artwork from Sven The Returned

Northlanders is such an epically told story, using strong images and even stronger characters.  Where did you decide to start with the series? In other words, were the characters there first or were the stories there first? 

I think the overall concept was there first, this notion to do a comic book series about vikings, and also to structure it as I did, a series of miniseries, an "anthology series".  Once I had that in my head, the "Sven The Returned" story was the first I came up with, and I put that into the proposal along with a few other story ideas.  But for the most past I like to keep things flexible, leave myself the ability to allow new ideas to come in at the last minute, which is sometimes how the best ideas are born.

What is it about Vikings, do you think, that appeals to your readers and to other writers who write stories about them? 

Well, I try and be an universal as I possibly can.  I honestly believe that is the #1 reason the series works so well.  The language is written in a modern style, I never use character names that are difficult to pronounce, and the themes of the stories themselves are the stuff of basic human drama.  In doing this, even though it is about Vikings, there is always something there the reader can relate to, hopefully.

Your decision to write a series of graphic novels, with its eight issue story arc, before a new story starts, is quite different.  Did you feel that you were taking a risk by doing this?



It's a risk, absolutely, and while Northlanders was a big critical success, its commercial success was a little less so.  Readers and retailers of comics have been trained to assume things about the way series should be structured, and their tastes have been shaped by what is the norm.  Even now, after screaming it from the rooftops for four years, its still hard to get the word out that the series is the way it is.  People reject it outright, in a lot of cases.

Northlanders is rich with historical background and especially Sven’s story-arc struck me as very detailed.  I know you visited Norway to do a bit of research, but what other historical research did you do and how much fun did you have playing with historical fact within the context of your writing?



I mostly read books.  And by reading books I mean I read over 60 books, easy.  I also visited Iceland, and Scotland many years ago.  I got pretty obsessed with doing research, I must admit, and I didn't REALLY need to read all those books.  But at some point i realized I could stop, that I had fully absorbed everything I needed to absorb to write the series purely out of my head.  That was kind of a cool moment.

Sketch by Massimo Carnevale for Shield Maidens 

Working with artists like Davide Gianfelice, Leandro Fernandez, Ryan Kelly etc. for the various issues, must become very much a collaborative effort.  How much time do you spend chatting with the artists before and during the process of creating the story-line and how much do their take on the story and what they produce, have an effect on you and the story?

I always know which artist I'm writing for, before I start on a script, so that allows me to look at their past work and craft a story that compliments their style, that plays to their strengths.  There's not a lot of back and forth in terms of writing the story, but for this book especially there is a lot of communication regarding history and photo reference and things like that.  But I'm pretty solitary -  I prefer to be left alone to write the story as I see it, and in return I don't micromanage the artist.  I think that's the best kind of collaboration.

I love the reaction to The Shield Maidens especially - link to piece  - and was wondering how reviews and comments like this influence you as a writer, especially whilst you are still writing the series? Do they create more pressure on you or do you feel that now you’ve given the critics something meaty to chew over, you can have a bit more gory fun?

I make the classic mistake in reading reviews of my own work.  It's gratifying, for sure, but a bad review that really ruin your day.  But as far as the writing goes, like I said in the previous bit, I dont really let anyone in on that process, especially anonymous people on the internet!

Brian Wood

We were very sad to hear that Northlanders got cancelled, but are cheered by the fact that we all had the chance to read a superb series.  What will be looking for from you in the future?  More historical epics? 

At some point I'll do another Viking book... I have an abundance of ideas.  I have another historical one set in the Quattrocento I hope to get to eventually, when I am ready for another excessive round of research.  But the big new project I'm working on is The Massive for Dark Horse Comics, about environmentalism in a post-crash, post-natural disaster world, set mostly on the ocean.

Northlanders - Sven The Returned by Brian Wood & Davide Gianfelice

In this first volume collecting NORTHLANDERS #1-8, DMZ writer Brian Wood stabs Viking lore in the face with a fresh take on what it means to be a warrior. Meet Sven, an exiled Viking prince who must return to the desolate lands of his birth to reclaim his vast inheritance upon the death of his father. 


Mark and I were late to finding Northlanders.  The first collected volume, telling Sven's story, was already bound together in graphic novel format, but this did not stop us both falling for the strong imagery and superb storytelling by Brian Wood and Davide Gianfelice. 


The first volume, tells the story of a young Varangian guard, Sven, being told during a battle with some Norse warriors that his uncle Gorm has stolen his rightful inheritance.  Sven, exceedingly arrogant and dismissive of the place he once called home, decided that he would be interested in meeting up with this thieving uncle of his, not to take back his inheritance, the village and lands of Grimness in Orkney, but to get the riches owed to him as the rightful heir of his father's. 


He sets sail from Constantinople and arrives in the Orkneys to find that his uncle has done his utmost to ravage the lands, over which he held ultimate sway, inflicting his special brand of heavy handed religion and superstition on the locals.  


Sven, being soon discovered on the shores of the island is taken to meet Gorm but it is indicative of how little Gorm regards Sven, that he leaves him alive, cast outside of the settlement.  If this was a way to encourage Sven to run away, like he did when he was a young boy, it was the wrong tactic. 


Sven stays, still arrogant and dismissive of the land and its people, thinking that they are still living very much in the dark ages, complete unaware of the majesty of Constantinople and other amazing cities he has seen.  He fights guerrilla tactics against Gorm's warriors and holes up in a lone farmstead, where one of Gorm's slave girls and playthings Thora, keeps his bed warm when she can.  


Slowly but surely, Sven's arrogance is whittled away as the battle for mere existence takes its toll.  He still has issues with the villagers and the land, uncertain how anyone would want to live in a place as arid and hostile as this, until he makes friends with a wild young Scottish girl who lives on the island.  Their friendship strengthens and they face the winter out together. 


Enough about the story lines itself, I don't want to give it all away, because it has to be read to be appreciated.  But, needless to say that there are a lot of battles, one to one combat and clever tactical fighting on Sven's side of things.  There are also quiet reflective moments that elevates Northlanders to a very meaty feast of superb storytelling.  Sven is wholly formed - his actions and reactions are easy to understand and come to grips with.  Enna, the wild Scottish girl, represents the things he is running from, his understanding of the land and his ties to the old ways.  Things do get a touch melancholy, but it very much reminder of the duality of the Viking way of life: the fierceness of battle, the joy, the blood, the gore, the adrenalin, pared with the reality of it all, the coming down of that high, to the facing of reality that even though you may not fear death, it was very close to you indeed, your place in the universe and what plans the Norns have for you. 

Sven meets Enna

Even if you are not someone who reads graphic novels and yet find yourself intrigued by Vikings and the Norse, Northlanders is a series that will hit the right spot.  Visually it is a feast with some amazing set pieces.  The amount of research done by both Brian Wood and David Gianfelice is superb.  Right through from the rich colours used to depict Sven's life in Constantinople, to the quieter more solemn colours used to showcase Sven's life on the island, they enhance the story and fill in far more by showing us what Brian isn't telling us with dialogue or narrative.  


I love this series.  You can pick up each of the bound graphic novels and read them as standalones because that is what Brian decided to do when creating Northlanders.  Each bound GN is a story of eight volumes bound together.  Together the books form a series of anthologies, with different characters and settings.  It is a brave move and one we've come to enjoy thoroughly.  We hope you do too. 


Find Brian Woods' Tumbler page for Northlanders here and read Issue 1 of Sven's Return here.