He is known by many names; Sven of Orkney, Sven the Returned, Sven Old-man McBadass. Yes folks, Sven is back! And he is OLD! Set several decades after he left Orkney with his wife Enna, his name became a legend in the Viking World. And The Viking World had a lot of young dumbasses; idiots that had everything to prove, eager for a reputation, stupid enough to seize glory by slaying viking legend Sven.

Sven, the mighty viking of epic tales and poems had become Sven the exile. He and his family had tried living a peaceful normal life, until these young vikings found him. This is where Sven goes Viking Clint Eastwood on them and tells them to get off his lawn, which at that time meant brutally murdering them all.

This one-part epilogue is just so awesome, it had a very THIS IS SPARTA feel to it with the heavy inner monologues and of course, an old man singlehandedly killing 7 younger vikings. I can’t wait til the next arc comes out next month!

The next NORTHLANDERS epic begins now! Set in Viking Russia in A.D.1020, “The Plague Widow” examines a year in the life of a remote settlement under siege by a contagious outbreak. The residents of this village are so focused on shutting the outside world out, they don’t think about who they’re shutting themselves in with. Mixing equal parts crime, history and survival fiction, this is the most brutal NORTHLANDERS story to date!

Did they just use the words RUSSIA and VIKING in the same sentence? YES THEY DID, FUCK YES NORTHLANDERS #21!

A weeaboo friend of mine to recommend this time, a manga called Vinland Saga. Unlike Northlanders that shifts through stories and time periods every arc, Vinland Saga has an ongoing story and timeline; in effect, the reader will get more attached to the characters. The setting is the latter part of the Danish invasion of England. Manly Vikings invading the English, how can it get better than that? Oh wait, it can!

Vinland saga is a bit more unrealistic compared to Northlanders; man-carried ships, throwing huge logs with one hand, horse-killing punches, need I say more? There is also a visible trace of shounen-manga-ness in the characters(maybe because it really is a shounen manga), your typical I-just-want-to-fight-coz-it’s-fun-overly-powerful-horse-punching-guy, the I-don’t-need-anyone-I-just-want-avenge-my-fahter’s-honoooor-emo-kid etc etc. These elements annoyed me at first, but then they started doing badass things and it was all good.

The main protagonist is a young Icelandic man named Thorfinn. He’s a part of a Viking group of mercenaries led by Askeladd; the man who killed his father, a former Jomsviking commander. Every time Thorfinn goes successfully finishes a mission, Askeladd ‘rewards’ him with a duel to avenge his father honorably. Thorfinn ends up decapitating enemy commanders and going through suicide missions one after another only to lose to Askeladd in the duels. With 7 volumes and 56 chapters released, this along with Northlanders has just enough rape and pillage to satisfy my need for manly viking stories!

I wanted my first manga post to be X-men: Misfits, but no scanner had dared to upload it for reasons unknown(too weeaboo? too shojo manga?). Too bad, Totoro Beast-chan so moe kawaii desu ne is so interesting.

On the RJ-side of the world, I’ve started playing World of Warcraft again(Human Paladin: Jisuskrayst). This, along with Magic the Gathering and *** will be my main excuses for upcoming delayed posts.

RJ

Doesn't know FTP to save his life. :|

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1. Northlanders: Rape, Pillage and Viking Chicks
2. VIKING REVIEW: Northlanders #29-#32
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