Brian Wood - Comics + Graphic Novels

This Week at Standard Attrition

Threads from my new message board, which is also home to Jason Aaron, Brian Azzarello, David Lapham, G. Willow Wilson, Cliff Chiang and Jock:

What’s your favorite curse word?

The Fixing Comics Thread

The Official Standard Attrition Photo Thread

The Five Greatest Things Ever Put On This Earth

Dubious Films You Love Anyway?

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Free Comic Book Day plans:

Cliff Chiang, Will Dennis, and myself will be here:

Upstate Comics
Freedom Business Ctr.
1097 Rt. 55
LaGrangeville, NY 12540
845-452-3320    
www.UpstateComics.com

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Northlanders #5, Notes & Reviews

This post contains NO story spoilers.

When I launched this series, speaking for myself, I was taking a massive risk. It’s an 8-issue first arc, not able to be collected until almost a year after release, and I took a long view with the story. I wanted it to feel epic, and I wanted it to pay off in layers upon layers down the road. The first issue wasn’t the first self-contained episode in a miniseries, it was the first 15 minutes of a long film. It’s a HUGE risk to take for a creator-owned monthly comic, but I wanted to take it and we took it. I had the whole arc mapped out in detail. I knew what I was doing. I felt it would pay off.

Imagine my frustration when some reviews of #1 said it felt incomplete. I was ready for it, having heard all the same things about DMZ. But it was frustrating all the same, because of course it’s incomplete, being a part one of eight, and also because I knew the whole story and I knew it would pay off. I just had to hope people would hang on. By issue #4 I knew people would start to get a sense of something much larger and much more complex unfolding. And by issue #5 I knew the full breadth of my intent would be apparent. Last post I called #5 the keystone that holds the cathedral dome up… and if you forgive me likening this story to a cathedral, you’ll see my meaning.

Some quotes:

As Brian Wood continues to flesh out his uncharacteristic journey into the sword and sandals genre, Northlanders becomes more and more compelling. By exploring Sven’s childhood adventures outside of Grimness and the Orkney Islands, the author provides a deeper examination of his main character’s motivations, and in the process validates the events from previous issues with a new sense of intrigue. If it was Brian Wood’s intention to make Sven a more sympathetic character, than this issue undoubtedly succeeds, as the flashbacks in Northlanders #5 help to take the title from a mere slasher to a more complicated story about independence and personal growth. (IGN)

Sven’s a dick, he’s a murderer, this is a revenge story, nothing more, seen it already in a hundred films. It’s a splatter comic, etc.

I also really enjoyed how the issue helped to define Sven’s distaste for the barbaric pageantry of the Viking age, and in particular his home of Orkney Islands. Wood portrays the character as having misgivings about the system in which he was raised, and this fact is made all the more powerful by the events in the previous issue which saw the politics of his home town destroy the key to his happiness in his country of escape. This turn of events proves perfectly poetic and continues to push the book into less familiar and more cerebrally intriguing directions.(IGN)

He’s a self-loathing Viking, I said in early interviews. He’s got reasons for that. He’s arrogant and elitist. He’s got reasons for that. He doesn’t even physically LOOK like a Viking… reasons for all that too.

As the story of Sven progresses, Wood has filled many of the voids lingering from the series’ inauspicious beginnings. It’s a rare feat for an author to make previous issues seemingly better as respective pieces of storytelling by fixing their problems with subsequent releases, but I feel like that is exactly what Wood is accomplishing here. Wood spent four issues mindlessly spilling blood, and now, as he starts to fill in the gaps of Sven’s life, the previously empty violence takes on some semblance of meaning, making the series much more compelling, and to that end, much easier to recommend.(IGN)

I know I’m hammering home my point here, but I feel fucking great that this is all coming together nicely and that people are starting to see it. I wrote this issue during my vacation in London over New Year’s, when I was signing at Orbital Comics. It was a working vacation, and I sat in the lounge of the hotel while my wife and kid slept, every night, sweating over this script. It dawned on me at that point, all of this, how crucial it was to get this issue right, to have it address everything in the past as well as line up the rest of the story. I used up all my lead time on this issue. And I feel I did it, that I succeeded. It’s one of the bigger accomplishments in my writing career.

Major pieces of Sven’s psychological drive are revealed in this issue, as Brian Wood provides a nice historical background for the character. There are many sociological themes at play here, including the way youth considers its place in the world, having the courage to take alternate paths, and a nice religious paradox is also presented. What I’m beginning to like most about Northlanders is the mature and complex ways that the characters interact with their lives and their realities, in a very unapologetic way… I can say that I love DMZ. I love Local. But Northlanders is quickly becoming the book I look forward to reading the most in the Brian Wood stable. It’s full of surprises, charm, introspection, and ruminations on the human experience. With this issue, I feel like Northlanders has stopped being Wood’s new book with great potential, and has simply become one of his greatest works. (13 Mins)

If you’re one of the ones that stuck around, thank you. I hope its paying off for you. If you’re tradewaiting, thank you… I hope come October you love this book. If you dropped it early on or never bothered with it in the first place, I hope you change your mind and give the trade a shot. Or you can catch up on the singles here, including the sold-out ones.

The next story arc, simply called LINDISFARNE, is a two-parter (#9, #10) that takes a much more historical look at the infamous raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne, Northumbria, considered the start of the Viking Age. No series about Vikings could be complete without it. Dean Ormston provides beautiful painted art, a sample page of which is here.

The next arc after that, which has no firm title as of yet, is a six-parter (#11-16) that will be illustrated by RYAN KELLY. What’s it about? All kinds of things, but of I had to sum it up right this instant, this far out, I would say it’s: a serial killer story set in Viking-occupied Ireland.

And we’ll see Sven again, in time. We’ll also see Davide Gianfelice on this book again too.

Thanks, (I mean that)

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Northlanders #5 - This Week

Why did Sven leave Orkney? How did he get to Constantinople? Why does he reject his heritage so harshly? Who’s the girl? Who What Where When Why How??

I’ve been referring to this issue as the keystone that holds the roof dome up. This flashback story explains everything that’s happened so far and sets up the end of the story arc. Don’t miss it.

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Northlanders #1, Online + For Free

Sold out, and out of print, DC/Vertigo has posted the complete first issue of NORTHLANDERS right here.

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Northlanders #8

Here’s the cover (by Massimo Carnevale) to the last installment in the “Sven The Returned” storyline.

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This Weekend: New York Comic Con

My schedule:

Friday:
3-4pm - Minx “Your Life In Pictures) panel (room 1E09)
4-5pm - Vertigo “Welcome to the Edge” panel (room 1E08)
6-7pm - Signing at the DC Comics booth

Saturday:
2-3pm - Signing at the DC Comics booth
3-4pm - Vertigo Voices Panel (room 1E08)

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2008 Eisner Award Nominations:

Best Writer:
Ed Brubaker, Captain America, Criminal, Daredevil, Immortal Iron Fist (Marvel)
James Sturm, Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow (Center for Cartoon Studies/Hyperion)
Brian K. Vaughan, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse); Ex Machina (WildStorm/DC), Y: The Last Man (Vertigo/DC),
Joss Whedon, Astonishing X-Men (Marvel); Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse)
Brian Wood, DMZ, Northlanders (Vertigo/DC); Local (Oni)

(link) 

 
That’s some tough competition, there. 

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Seth Kushner Shoots Me

See it bigger here.  This is for Seth’s Graphic Novelists project.

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The New York Four, by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

MySpace has a 25 page preview up here.

The New York Four is an original graphic novel I created with artist Ryan Kelly, which will be in shops and for sale online in early July.

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Local, by Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly

Local #11 is on shipping lists for next week, April 16th. Local #12 is being lettered right now, and should be out as planned in mid-May. It’s a 32-page story. Here’s a double-page spread illustrated by, as ever, the amazing Ryan Kelly.

Do us a favorite and head on over here and vote:
http://www.eagleawards.co.uk/vote.asp

If you can vote for Local in the best b/w American book, excellent. One of the Northlanders variant covers is also on there somewhere.

I believe the plan is for an oversized Local hardcover to be out in the summer, and a softcover shortly after, maybe in September. Don’t hold me to that until either I or Oni Press confirms.

Thanks for your patience. If it helps any, its undoubtedly a better book for all the delays. Had I finished the series in January ‘07 as planned, it would not be the same book it is now.

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DMZ "Friendly Fire" Inspiration

The inspiration for DMZ’s “Friendly Fire” came partly from the Haditha killings, where Marines shot up a few houses filled with Iraqi families back in 2005 (it was also partly inspired by a 60 Minutes interview with some of the soldiers involved (Sgt. Frank Wuterich) and the disgusting way Scott Pelley conducted both the interview and himself). Today I saw this news story:

LOS ANGELES - Military prosecutors dropped all charges on Friday against a Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi women and children at Haditha in 2005, abruptly dismissing the case on the eve of trial with little explanation.

Lance Cpl Stephen B. Tatum became the fifth Haditha defendant out of eight to see charges dropped in a case that brought international condemnation on U.S. troops in Iraq. Three Marines, including accused ringleader Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, still face court-martial later this year.

The Marines offered little explanation, saying in a statement only that the case had been dropped “in order to continue to pursue the truth-seeking process into the Haditha incident.” A Marine spokesman declined to elaborate.

Iraqi witnesses say angry Marines massacred unarmed civilians after a popular comrade, Lance Cpl. Miguel “TJ” Terrazas, was ripped in half by a roadside bomb. Defense attorneys maintain that the civilians were killed during a pitched battle with insurgents in and around Haditha.

Other Marines have testified that Tatum, who initially faced more serious charges of unpremeditated murder and negligent homicide, was among those who “cleared” two Iraqi houses after the roadside bombing, resulting in 19 deaths.

Another Marine testified Tatum told him to shoot a group of Iraqi women and children he found on a bed in a closed room. That Marine said he walked away but saw Tatum return and heard a loud noise, possibly gunfire or a grenade.

Of the eight Marines originally charged in the November 19, 2005, killing of 24 men, women and children at Haditha, five have now seen their cases dropped.

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I was struck by a moment in the 60 Minutes interview when Pelley asked Sgt. Wuterich if, in retrospect, knowing everything he knows now, if he would have conducted himself the same way, if he would have cleared those houses the same way, if he would have followed orders the same way. Sgt. Wuterich replied that yes, he would. He did what he was trained to do. The sneer on Simon’s face, the look of revulsion and the overall condescending nature of his questioning was almost too much to watch. But listening to Sgt. Wuterich was fascinating, seeing the inherent confliction between orders or standard training and this fucked-up kind of war situation. Snippets:



(Sgt. Wuterich): “We reacted to how we were supposed to react to our training and I did that to the best of my ability. You know the rest of the Marines that were there, they did their job properly as well. Did we know that civilians were in there? No. Did we go in those rooms, you know, it would have been one thing, if we went in those rooms and looked at everyone and shot them. You know, we cleared these houses the way they were supposed to be cleared,” he says.

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After hearing noises behind a closed door, they kicked in the door and threw in the grenade.

“Frank, help me understand. You’re in a residence, how do you crack a door open and roll a grenade into a room?” Pelley asks.

“At that point, you can’t hesitate to make a decision. Hesitation equals being killed, either yourself or your men,” [Sgt. Wuterich] says.

“But when you roll a grenade in a room through the crack in the door, that’s not positive identification, that’s taking a chance on anything that could be behind that door,” Pelley says.

“Well that’s what we do. That’s how our training goes,” [Sgt. Wuterich] says.

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Pelley tells Wuterich, “the accusation is made that your men went berserk that you got hit by an IED, one of the favorite guys in the squad was cut in half and lying in the road and your guys went nuts. You dropped the five guys next to the car because they happened to be there and then you went to the closest house and then you went down the hallway throwing grenades and shooting and you just killed everybody you could find.”

“That’s absolutely untrue,” Wuterich responds. “My emotion was pushed back. My training came to play…”

..

“What I did that day, the decisions that I made, I would make those decisions today,” he says.
“What I’m talking about is the tactical decisions. It doesn’t sit well with me that women and children died that day,” Wuterich says.

“There is nothing that I can possibly say to make up or make well the deaths of those women and children and I am absolutely sorry that that happened that day.”

What was Wuterich thinking when he went to bed that night?

“That I’m not sure I want to go to sleep tonight, because I don’t know what I’m going to dream.”

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I am not passing judgment on anyone directly involved (except Scott Pelley, and if you see the video of the interview, you might agree with me on that). But if you read that DMZ story arc, I believe that blame in these situations tends to go right up the chain of command ladder and shouldn’t rest solely on the shoulders of the guys on the ground.

Sgt. John Ford, an Army and Navy veteran, wrote the introduction to “Friendly Fire”, including the following:

“…Now put him in a bad situation — scratch that, a NIGHTMARE situation,
with minimum support, poor leadership, and the ever-present reality
of punishment for any and every action. Shit goes down and he’s the
one left holding the blame, game over man. Set up for failure from Day One.

“You don’t think this really happens? Go to war and then disagree with
me.”

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Northlanders #7

cover by Massimo Carnevale.

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