Thor: Vikings #1
Review by Everest
Story:
Art:

Written by Garth Ennis
Pencils by Glenn Fabry
Colors by Paul Mounts
Lettering by Dave Sharpe

Published by Marvel/MAX.
Price: $3.50.
My verdict: Get in on that 1st issue action…

The Shakedown: This story opens with a good, classic Viking village raid--we’re talking grand theft, assault, rape, homicide, and the occasional pillage, mixed in with a few small-time misdemeanors. All the good stuff is thrown in here. After these Vikings kill off everyone in the village and clean it out, they take off for the New World, a place where they don’t have to worry about folks complaining to the king when they thieve and murder people, but the village wise man, who was merely unconscious, not dead, comes to and overhears their plans. Just as they’re putting their longboat into the water and taking off, this selfsame wise man steps out and calls them a bunch of cowards and, basically, bastards; the Viking leader loads up an arrow and finishes the old guy off just as he pronounces his curse: “Though you sail for a thousand years, O Norsemen, you shall not reach the land you seek!”

So they sail and sail and sail. They grow old and ugly as time passes them by and the effects of the curse take them over. We see time taking its toll as more and more progressive ships sail on by, leaving them, unseen, in their wakes. Then, one day, they see land. They see a giant statue rise up out of the water before them and monolithic buildings made of glass over her shoulder. After a thousand years at sea, they've got a lot of playing catch-up to do.

The Writing: Garth Ennis has got an interesting story on his hands here. I’m a sucker for alternate histories and historical curses and things of that sort, and this book has got all that. Yes, Ennis’ writing here is a little formulaic, but not too much so, and it’s a lot of fun. This story is a great, though very quick, read.

The Art: Glen Fabry’s style hasn’t changed one bit, but it’s MUCH better suited to a book like this than it is to superhero stuff. His storytelling is fantastic in this issue and his art, while certainly not my favorite, works really well for this story.

Buy it – it’s a good read and worth a look-see.