Scan barcode
A review by rosseroo
Black Road, Volume 1: The Holy North by Garry Brown, Brian Wood, Dave McCaig
3.0
For me to pick up a graphic novel, I have to like both the look of the art and the setting for the story -- this ticked both boxes for me. It's set sometime around the 11th-century, when the Christian church is forcibly converting pagans of Norway. The protagonist is a hulk of a warrior who makes ends meet by acting as a guide/bodyguard, and here he is tasked with escorting a Vatican official along the dangerous titular road.
The characters and landscape are rich material for the amazing art and color work. The use of solid black inks and washes is exactly the kind of technique I love. I have to say, however, that I didn't love the storytelling quite as much -- where the art is crisp and vivid, the writing is more vague and fuzzy. There are skips in time and action that are a bit jarring, and sometimes the dialogue reads as if there's a whole backstory that I should have known from a previous set of issues. At one point, I actually did check to make sure this was the first collection in the series.
I do want to read the next, but before I do so, I'll probably need to go back and reread this to try and get it all straight in my head. Overall, good stuff -- especially if you're a fan of work grounded in real-life history and horrors, and/or have a special enjoyment of Norse-themed stuff.
The characters and landscape are rich material for the amazing art and color work. The use of solid black inks and washes is exactly the kind of technique I love. I have to say, however, that I didn't love the storytelling quite as much -- where the art is crisp and vivid, the writing is more vague and fuzzy. There are skips in time and action that are a bit jarring, and sometimes the dialogue reads as if there's a whole backstory that I should have known from a previous set of issues. At one point, I actually did check to make sure this was the first collection in the series.
I do want to read the next, but before I do so, I'll probably need to go back and reread this to try and get it all straight in my head. Overall, good stuff -- especially if you're a fan of work grounded in real-life history and horrors, and/or have a special enjoyment of Norse-themed stuff.