This past weekend A24 released their highest budget film to date - The Northman - directed by their sweetheart Robert Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse), and starring Alexander Skarsgard and Anya Taylor-Joy. If you’re a Jawiin Discord member then you’ve seen Professors Jason and Ashley’s reviews in the #movie-chat channel. It’s following the swell of good will leading into The Northman’s April release by Everything Everywhere All At Once and the general populace’s love of a Skarsgard in Hollywood.
If you, like us, turned out and fell instantly obsessed under Bjork’s spell only to now find yourself itching for something else Norse and/or Viking related to occupy your imagination we have curated a list of 5 Comic Books to Read if You Loved The Northman!
5. Northlanders Book 1
Written by: Brian Wood
Art by: Davide Gianfelice
Read this collection knowing the first time Professor Ashley ever dove into the world of Northlanders on an international airplane sitting in the middle seat. To this day she is certain it provided entertainment for the strangers flanking her on either side across the North American continent. Like The Northman’s Amleth, Northlanders follows a man named Svan (cue: Jonathan Groff singing in Frozen - “reindeers are better than people”), who is an exiled prince fighting his way back home in order to reclaim his birthright. For similar themes on Hamlet and a similar level of both violence and nudity to The Northman, you can’t do better in the medium of comic books than Northlanders. The series has been over since the 2010s and is now collected in three stunning volumes (aptly named The Anglo-Saxon Saga), certain to provide you with hours of entertainment while we wait for The Northman to hit streaming and/or blu ray.
4. Thor by: Jason Aaron Omnibus
Written by: Jason Aaron & Others
Art by: Russell Dauterman, Esad Ribic & Others
This collection also doubles for any lists we have made - past or future - of Must Read Thor Stories. Various installments throughout Jason Aaron’s tenure on Thor have trickled into Geek History Lesson’s Recommended Readings over the years. Everything folx like about the contemporary post-MCU Thor can be traced directly back to Aaron’s monument updating of the character. In fact, if you are looking for some preparatory reading for the upcoming Thor Love and Thunder movie (read our Trailer Breakdown & Easter Eggs feature!), go ahead and pick up this beautiful Omnibus Marvel issued recently. How does this relate to The Northman? We’re so glad you asked! Something striking about the film is the mythology writ large. If Valkyrie, Thor, Odin, et al tickled your fancy where they highlighted Amleth’s revenge quest you get to see these characters as both Gods and real people, themselves, across this modern comic book epic.
3. The Cimmerian volume 1
Written by: Jean-David Morvan & Others
Art by: Pierre Alay & Others
This recommendation comes to your straight from Professor Jason, himself! If you didn’t know your Kansan professor is a gigantic Conan the Barbarian fan now you know! Before the license went to Marvel Comics in 2019 it was held (in comic books), by Dark Horse Comics. Fun fact: before Dark Horse the license was held by Marvel. Talk about an Ourobouros! The Cimmerian is a collection of two of the best Dark Horse Conan the Barbarian runs including: Queen of the Black Coast and Red Nails. These stories illustrate the expansiveness of the viking culture. Readers will get an opportunity to see just how much of the world Conan can reach in the same way The Northman shows Amleth’s journey from the farthest regions of viking culture in our world - all the way from Rus! The Cimmerian also pits Conan against a woman who may yet be his match.
2. Norse Mythology volume 1
Written by: Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell
Art by: Jerry Ordway, Mike Mignola, and Jill Thompson
Based on Neil Gaiman’s Norse Mythology prose offering this graphic novel adaptation is a retelling of the classic viking myths, in the oral tradition (which is to say: with the added flourishes of the writer), for a contemporary reader. Short of diving into The Poetic Edda or taking a class Norse Mythology is the easiest way to download straight into your brain the codes and tropes by which Amleth and the other characters in The Northman would have lived their lives. You’ll also find similar revenge quests and viking hero archetypes to those who populate the film. Norse Mythology will also deepen your knowledge of all things inspiring the current crops of Thor stories across various mediums. The graphic novel collection features several splash pages and panels you will swear inspired Eggers or any number of designers in the pre-production phases of The Northman.
1. Conan the Barbarian by: Kurt Busiek Omnibus
Written by: Kurt Busiek
Art by: Cary Nord & Others
When we set out to make this list Professor Jason insisted Kurt Busiek’s Conan be the top recommendation. Fresh of seeing The Northman there was no doubt this would sit in the #1 position. Just as without hyperbole we are comfortable writing “The Nortman is Robert Eggers best movie” we are equally comfortable writing “Busiek’s Conan the Barbarian is the best Conan comic book ever published”. This serious introduces grit and violence to Conan on a level the character had never before seen. Like Amleth, Conan must battle his way back to his true destiny of becoming the figure affectionately referred to as “King Conan”. It also stands as perhaps the strongest mixture of classic Robert E. Howard tales and newly penned storylines invented by Busiek. Whether or not any of the artists who brought The Northman to the screen read this collection as specific inspiration, there is a direct line through the annal of art history and zeitgeist from these Conan the Barbarian comic book pages and the mystical viciousness of The Northman. The high-born reduced to an animal. The magical women. The conspiring monarchs. Wrapped in furs and set against a spray of either fire or snow there is nothing more you can want from a viking tale on the panel than this collection. It is sure to give you the same tingly excitement the final flaming battle in The Northman did.