Northlanders, Book Two

The Cross + the Hammer
written by Brian Wood
art by Ryan Kelly

Set against the tumultuous beginning of the 11th century in Ireland, in the immediate approach to the Battle of Clontarf in April of 1014, The Cross + the Hammer recasts these tensions as the pursuit for a single Irishman Magnus Mag Rodain, a skilled killer and former Cistercian monk, and his young daughter Brigid by Viking mercenary and forensic specialist in the service of Sigtrygg Silkbeard, Ragnar Ragnarsson.  The "cross" and "hammer" respectively, these two men—metonymic substitutes for their races, cultures and religions—engage in a bloody game of cat-and-mouse, which leaves a trail of bodies, both indigenous Irish and occupying Vikings.  Despite Wood's meticulous research and inclusion of detail, the central story itself--mostly on account of the extreme anachronism of Ragnarsson's criminal profiling and forensic expertise--rings as more modern than historical.

Unlike Wood's first major Northlanders arc, Sven the Returned, which provides the reader with the necessary historical information relevant to his story, The Cross + the Hammer demands a fuller independent knowledge of events to follow and appreciate the parallels between the wider political conflicts and the singular chase of the fictional Magnus. In fact, Wood provides no narration for the Battle of Clontarf despite its tactical complexity, including the feigned flight and relocation of a number of the Viking forces via the River Liffey to the north of Dublin, so that it must be understood only through its visual depiction.  That the combined armies of Máel Mórda and Sigtrygg lost to the forces of Boru in a battle with extensive casualties on both sides, for all intents and purposes breaking Viking rule in Ireland and returning the island to its previous political status quo of small competing kingdoms and creating a number of significant power vacuums throughout, is indicated by little more than the laconic "The end of the occupation" (The Cross + the Hammer: 125 [16:3]).

Despite the ostensible victory of the Irish over the Scandinavian invaders and their Viking mercenaries, The Cross + the Hammer is a tragedy of Magnus, who even after the liberation of the island is forced to face is own deeds and losses immediately before his execution by his Viking pursuers.  Wood's twist is solid if not entirely original, and it does reshape earlier episodes, inviting the reader to revisit them with a new eye.  Though never without an ambiguous sense of morality, Magnus is, for most of the arc, the hero, a one-man insurgency against tyrannical occupying forces.  He targets only agents of Sigtrygg, once killing a Viking pedophile whom even his own people acknowledge "will not be missed" (46 [12: 17]).  However, his increasingly dark, arbitrary, and berserking behavior makes him a difficult hero to endorse, and one who by the end proves impossibly so.  Viking forces may have been overwhelmed, but the legacy of their settlement is inextricably rooted in the new Irish landscape, even in Magnus's own family.

Kelly's artwork—more characterized by heavy shadows and strong lines, thick bodies, and a boxier design—gives The Cross + the Hammer a look distinct from earlier Northlanders issues.  It's less elegant that Gianfelice's graceful portraits and stark landscapes, but it's well-suited to the visceral texture of the story.  Similarly, Brigid, the story's only female character, is soft, unlined, and delicate, standing sharply in contrast to the story's brutish male figures.  And, in contrast to Sven's Orkney, Ireland is lush, full of vegetation and wildlife.  Colorist McCaig, also responsible for Sven the Returned, gives this book a ruddier, richer, and warmer palate, equally beautiful if widely divergent in tone. 

Collects Northlanders #11-16:  "A Rising Tide of Falling Blood," "Slayings + Prosecutions," "Over the Broad Green Sea," "Heart of Oak," "The Red Road," "Brigid's War"

ISBN:  978-1401222963