Written by BRIAN WOOD with cover by JP Leon DMZ Volume 9: M.I.A. takes Matty to a remote and desolate section of the city. Self-exile forces him to take a good, hard look at himself and his conduct since he entered the DMZ, and he doesn't like what he's seeing. His discovery presents him with an opportunity that he's tempted to take, but is the price too high?

This volume collects the awesome issue #50 with short stories with art by Rebekah Isaacs, Jim Lee, Fabio Moon, Ryan Kelly, Lee Bermejo, Riccardo Burchielli, Philip Bond, John Paul Leon, Eduardo Risso and Dave Gibbons as well as issues 51-54 with art by Riccardo Burchielli.

Graphic Content posted some pages from issue 50 here and here; take a look inside.

But before we get to that, let’s talk DMZ with series writer, Brian Wood. “We just passed the five year mark on the series, a milestone in itself, and we're going full speed into the final year of the series. You'll see, at long last, the resolution to the war that's plagued the world of DMZ for so many years, and well as the story of Matty, Matty + Zee, and the supporting characters (something we've begun in the "Collective Punishment" arc). "FREE STATES RISING," the current storyline, will take us through to #64, and it kicks off not only the final battle for Manhattan, but explains exactly why the Free States Army has been so quiet in recent times. DMZ's been an incredible series to write, and it's nothing without the superhuman efforts of artist Riccardo Burchielli, all the guests artists we've had over the years, John Paul Leon, and editors Will Dennis, Mark Doyle, Casey Seijas, and of course Karen Berger. At 72 issues, DMZ will stand as one of Vertigo's longest-running series.”

Exclusive reveal of cover #64 by J.P. Leon:

Now, onto everyone's favorite cold weather series NORTHLANDERS. “This is a busy time for the series," says Wood. "Next issue will conclude the story Becky Cloonan is drawing, "The Girl In The Ice," then Simon Gane comes in to draw "The Siege Of Paris," followed by Matthew Woodson on "The Hunt." Matthew's an illustrator with almost superhuman talent - google him - and his story will be a high point in the series. Beyond that, I have notes for a short story called "Thor's Daughter" that'll continue NORTHLANDERS' run of powerful one-shot stories. This is the book I increasingly feel I was born to write, and is so completely tied into my identity as a creator. And based solely on the incredible range and diversity of the artists we've had on the series, there is nothing else like it out there.”

Exclusive first look inside #37 with art by Simon Gane (Dark Rain: A New Orleans Story):

So, what’s this about heading back to college? As second semester begins, so does THE NEW YORK FIVE. This four issue miniseries is not only a unique peek inside college life in New York City, but it’s stunning to look at as well. Brian, take it away.“Artist Ryan Kelly and I are good friends and even better collaborators - with Local, then The New York Four, and runs on both DMZ and NORTHLANDERS. THE NEW YORK FIVE is both a sequel to The New York Four and its own thing, and at 32 pages of story (in each 32 page issue), it’s a satisfying chunk.”

Oh, and did I mention it’s stunning? Take a look inside at Riley and the gang:

There is one thing I consider especially interesting to emphasize in NORTHLANDERS, in general, not only in this particular story: the use of the splash pages. I can say Brian means something with them, he’s giving us (this is just an interpretation, Brian you can correct me if I’m wrong) a rhythm on reading. Considering how different time passed by during that time compared with modern urban life, between rush hour, mobile phones, work duties and so on... there’s a clear intention to say: “slow down, see this moment, get involved with the story...”. And the key thing is most of those splash pages don’t show the classical picture of the action shocking moment. They give us a special one, and they lead us into a different speed of reading. Even though I’m not a big fan of using splash pages, I agree with Brian on this story, as that’s my interpretation of their use.

There are lots of things related with the storytelling I’d love to explain to all readers, some intentional movements we’ve made on this, but I don’t have the time and space to do it, and I honestly prefer that the story speak for itself. Just as an example, the final fist fight between Gunborg and Boris is done on purpose but without any special fight technique. This is just about how men were supposed to fight in a duel to the death fist fight. In the example below, see the fist on the fourth frame and how it hits Gunborg’s face?

These were mostly technical aspects of this book. From the other side, when I started doing this it was the same time the Inlfuenza A flu disease was spreading all over the world, especially at the beginning of the southern hemisphere winter in Argentina, so the atmosphere was sadly coinciding with the story of the epidemic we were telling.

Right now it’s hard to tell that happened just one year ago, but the feeling of hysteria and panic was something present in most of the world during the beginning of it. People almost don’t talk about it anymore, but the image is still vivid--most of public places empty or closed, the kids missing their classes, people avoiding shaking hands or kissing, arguing to buy the last alcohol in gel bottle remaining on the pharmacy, buying extra medicines just to pile together as a stash “just in case,” or giving bad and blaming glances at someone just because he had coughed, all these kind of things mixing together with the “Plague” hitting this Russian Viking city, so many years ago. In some aspects, the book just tells us about human nature in similar times of disease spreading.

So…I could tell this wasn’t only about people in the 1000’s.

Anyway, going back to the book itself, I hope readers find it an interesting read and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making a Viking story.

Thanks to Brian, Massimo for his awesome covers, Mark, Dave, Travis and the whole team of people working on this book I’m so happy to have it now on my shelf.

As an adult, I’m happy to have worked on it. And if I had the chance to meet with myself when I was a small kid, I supposed I (or he) would be happy about it, too.

Best,

Leandro.

The Rus, as they are called, camped above the river trading furs from a log hall, axed out by slaves. The men—tall as date palms, blond, tattooed— had set a pole out front carved with gods to which they offer things to bless their trade. This was all I saw of their piety or conscience. Caliph, they are the dirtiest creatures of God.
- Ibn Fadhlan, On an Arab Mission, Encounters Vikings Volga River, 922 A.D.

I’m looking at the “bible” document I wrote when I was developing THE PLAGUE WIDOW. I consider Northlanders to be the high point of my current output. It’s certainly the title where I feel I am at my creative peak, firing on all cylinders, and a lot of that has to do with the format. It keeps me on my toes constantly, always in a position to refine the concept; each time I start a new story what I’m really doing is starting a brand new project. So there’s a lot of proposal writing and outlining and collecting of reference that goes along with that, and each story gets a bible document.

Here’s the working list of titles I generated:

THE WINTER OF THE PLAGUE
THE PLAGUE WINTER
THE PLAGUE YEAR
DEAD YEARS
DEAD WINTER
THE YEAR OF THE PLAGUE
THE OUTBREAK
OUTBREAK 1000AD
THE FALL AND THE DEATH
DEATH OF A VILLAGE

I remember the first two were the ones I presented to my editor Mark Doyle, and I think we had agreed on The Winter Of The Plague. The others are more stream-of-consciousness, just writing stuff to exercise the brain sort of thing (you should see the titles list for The New York Four - close to a hundred ideas). The Plague Widow, the actual title, came later, in an email exchange with Mark. Not sure how or why, but as soon as I typed it I knew it was the one. I changed a few things around in the outline so the story more closely followed Hilda, our widow. Before that Gunborg, the “crooked cop” was the lead character.

(Gunborg, a few observant readers have pointed out to me, is a female name. I knew this pretty early on, after I had assigned it to the character, but I loved the way the name looked and sounded, so I kept it as a sort of joke.)

THE PLAGUE WIDOW came out of a bunch of notes I had written for a prose novel about the Black Plague. I had it in my mind to write it, until I began to get a sense of just how many novels are out there already about the Plague. So I moved the material over to Northlanders, thinking it would have greater impact as a graphic novel, even if I had to switch it from the capital-P Plague to a lowercase, fictionalized plague. Beyond that, the story is pretty much intact. Using the book A Prayer For The Dying as inspiration, I wanted to tell a story that detailed the fall of a village suffering under a plague, and every step they take to protect themselves just throws up new challenges. Grim stuff, coming from a guy who has a history of writing, grim, depressing stories. I started to refer to it as “survival horror”. Viking-survival-horror-plague-drama, pretty much the book I know I’VE been waiting for, as a reader!

I wanted to make a change from past stories and set this one in a city, or what would pass for a city back then, as opposed to the Viking equivalent of a one-horse town. I wanted streets and alleys and open air spaces. I was lucky to have just returned from Oslo, Norway, on a research trip and had several dozen photos of period homes I took at the Folk Museum there. I sketched out a really simple map for Leandro Fernandez with the city layout, as a guide. So when I would write that scene where Hilda is forced to march across the city, he and I are both on the same page in terms of what landmarks she would pass and what would be in the background as she went.

One thing that really attracted me to the Rus, the Vikings who settled in what is now Russia, is the inherent mixing of culture that the location would allow, a mainstay in all Northlanders stories. I came across this great quote in a book called The Vikings In History: “in 839, the Rus’ were Swedes. In 1043, the Rus’ were Slavs.” I made the residents of the city Christian converts, but not so much that the pagan detailing on some of the architecture would have disappeared. Boris, the “foreigner” in the story, is someone who would have travelled north from the Middle East, and his very presence brings out the xenophobes in the story. But he persists, right up to the end.

A painting by Sergei Kirillov, showing an idea of blend of culture inherent at that time, Norse with Christian Slavic.

With NORTHLANDERS, I’m looking to set the gold standard for Vikings in comics, and the longer the series runs the more creative I am with the term “Viking”. The first few stories dealt with the sort of hacking, slashing marauders that immediately comes to mind, the 9th century criminals, the invaders. Themes of culture war and assimilation followed, and with the short stories that make up most of Book 3 Blood In The Snow, I feel I was hitting my stride, confident enough in the series to start taking risks. THE PLAGUE WIDOW and the currently running Metal are great examples of this, and I’m especially proud of my upcoming The Girl In The Ice, a Viking-era murder thriller, and The Siege Of Paris, a fictionalized account of a real-life battle that is obscure enough that even people familiar with the history of the Vikings might be surprised exists.

I am immensely proud of THE PLAGUE WIDOW (on sale tomorrow). Leo and I had a blast doing it, and don’t be surprised if you hear about me and him on another book, shortly.

-Brian Wood