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quetzelish's review against another edition
4.0
Gotta start off with the disclaimer, I won this in the goodreads giveaway and to be honest, I would never have picked this up otherwise. It didn't look like it would interest me but after reading it, I have to say it's really interesting. Black Road is supposedly a "mystery" set in some part of scandinavia during the Roman christian time period. I'm vague on the setting and time period as this is a comic who's approach to time and location is vague at best, which really adds to the empty, lost feeling of the setting. You can piece together just enough to get your bearings but nothing more. No hyper-specific time boxes (which usually are pretty useless) and other than town names when there is a town, not many location titles either. Usually the vague, LATER and BEFORE, are annoyingly pointless and just serve to confuse but here they actually work, as specifics don't matter.
The art is rough, not polished at all, but clear in its direction and while the art style may make scenes feel muddy, it fits the tone of the book well. Plus, the colors are vibrant, even though this is a very grounded story. I'm not going to talk about the story because most of it is set up in this volume. Why is Magnus on this quest, who are his companions, what lies at the end of the Black Road? These are all questions I think will slowly be answered in subsequent volumes and I think I might pick them up. The pacing is a little slow though and I do wish that there were a few more answers than questions at this point but many times, that's just the nature of a mystery.
The art is rough, not polished at all, but clear in its direction and while the art style may make scenes feel muddy, it fits the tone of the book well. Plus, the colors are vibrant, even though this is a very grounded story. I'm not going to talk about the story because most of it is set up in this volume. Why is Magnus on this quest, who are his companions, what lies at the end of the Black Road? These are all questions I think will slowly be answered in subsequent volumes and I think I might pick them up. The pacing is a little slow though and I do wish that there were a few more answers than questions at this point but many times, that's just the nature of a mystery.
bymaniak's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
informative
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
indigo_han's review against another edition
4.0
I'm really liking this one. Brutal in all the good ways.
trish204's review against another edition
4.0
I only discovered this because of Brian Wood who also created Northlanders, one of my favourite comics series. This, too, is about what is nowadays known as Scandinavia, the Vikings living there and what their lives were like.
The book is about the time the Christian Church took over and either burnt or enslaved all pagans in their way. It's also about Magnus the Black, a Viking who doesn't declare himself for either side of the war. He lost his wife and is now wandering the landscape, doing the odd job here and there for money. He's a tall fellow too, with lots of things having happened to him in the past.
Someone hires Magnus to take a Cardinal up north on the so-called Black Road, but they are being ambushed and the Cardinal killed. Apparently, Magnus has another beef with those men (it's not entirely clear yet) and swears vengeance.
This first volume was a nice introduction to the time and place of this story, with multiple battlegrounds, blood, gore, even (which is always surprising in American media) complete nudity, as well as gritty but cool art.
(They might not have been drawn completely realistically, but I LOVED these wolves!)
I was dreading the end of the aforementioned Northlanders series, which is why I didn't read all volumes one after the other, but this could be a worthy substitute. The story isn't quite up to the magnificent quality of the Sven story yet, but we had enough action and mystery and different places which made for a very nice introduction. *wants next volume*
The book is about the time the Christian Church took over and either burnt or enslaved all pagans in their way. It's also about Magnus the Black, a Viking who doesn't declare himself for either side of the war. He lost his wife and is now wandering the landscape, doing the odd job here and there for money. He's a tall fellow too, with lots of things having happened to him in the past.
Someone hires Magnus to take a Cardinal up north on the so-called Black Road, but they are being ambushed and the Cardinal killed. Apparently, Magnus has another beef with those men (it's not entirely clear yet) and swears vengeance.
This first volume was a nice introduction to the time and place of this story, with multiple battlegrounds, blood, gore, even (which is always surprising in American media) complete nudity, as well as gritty but cool art.
(They might not have been drawn completely realistically, but I LOVED these wolves!)
I was dreading the end of the aforementioned Northlanders series, which is why I didn't read all volumes one after the other, but this could be a worthy substitute. The story isn't quite up to the magnificent quality of the Sven story yet, but we had enough action and mystery and different places which made for a very nice introduction. *wants next volume*
beorn_101's review
5.0
Wow!
Ok this was an amazing discovery.
A semi-historical medieval adventure story, that is an amazing blend of sword battles, religious discussion, and great characters.
Magnus the Black seems to be on the surface a basic brute of a barbarian; however, as the story fleshes out his motives and goals become clearer and it quickly becomes apparent he is a nuanced and interesting protagonist, who is also a bad ass.
At the crux of the story is the struggle between the pagans and the aggressively militant Christians, persecuting the pagan natives. Magnus thrust himself into this conflict.
I also found myself enthralled by the illustration style which uses color and landscapes as much as people and faces to evoke emotions and concepts.
There were some flaws, such as a major twist in the middle not fully explained or explored. However, overall I really enjoyed this and will most definitely be reading volume 2
Ok this was an amazing discovery.
A semi-historical medieval adventure story, that is an amazing blend of sword battles, religious discussion, and great characters.
Magnus the Black seems to be on the surface a basic brute of a barbarian; however, as the story fleshes out his motives and goals become clearer and it quickly becomes apparent he is a nuanced and interesting protagonist, who is also a bad ass.
At the crux of the story is the struggle between the pagans and the aggressively militant Christians, persecuting the pagan natives. Magnus thrust himself into this conflict.
I also found myself enthralled by the illustration style which uses color and landscapes as much as people and faces to evoke emotions and concepts.
There were some flaws, such as a major twist in the middle not fully explained or explored. However, overall I really enjoyed this and will most definitely be reading volume 2
marisacarpico's review against another edition
4.0
There're some interesting ideas here with a lot of potential, but the execution isn't terribly exciting. Don't think I'll read more.
heypretty52's review against another edition
3.0
Brian Wood makes yet another promising premise boring.
ajlenertz's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a bit confused. This has more to do with the format, I think, than anything else.