The Spider King

The Spider King #1-4

by Josh Vann, Simone D'Armini (Illustrator), Adrian Bloch (Illustrator)

When aliens crash land on Earth during the middle ages, a group of vikings are the only thing stopping them from enslaving the planet.

Enter: The Spider King

More than just an excuse to swipe axes at aliens, the Spider King is a clash of genres. It takes all of the best aspects of medieval fantasy and science fiction, and smashes them together to create an unexpected twist on two well worn stories.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Manga, Graphic Novels Comics

Paperback

First published February 1, 2016

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar to Lake of Fire with Vikings, aliens crash to Earth in viking days and vikings get ahold of advanced weaponry. It's all pretty straight forward from there. I found the art too messy and busy at times. And the noses look funny, as if each character had their nose replaced with a vegetable. Sigrid's shifting rutabaga nose particularly bothered me.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, this book was such fun, excellent

[Alberto Martín de Hijas · Rating 2 out of 5]

La idea es interesante, pero no me termina de convencer el dibujo (demasiado abigarrado para mi gusto) y el desenlace me deja la sensación de algo apresurado. Probablemente hubiera ganado con más páginas.

[maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

My only complaint would be that it was too short :(

[Armando · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vikings vs. Aliens was not something I thought I needed in my life.

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't remember when was the last time I laughed out loud during reading comics. It is so greatly written and drawn! Those situations are just perfect, characters funny and very likable. Gore in this is amazing, shown not in a disgusting way, but very good though and funny sometimes. I recommend this to anybody who likes either Vikings or aliens, or if you just want to have fun and read something crazy full of blood. I couldn't get enough of it, it has a very promising start and it continued better with each issue. If you liked Head Lopper, I think you'll love this!
Donkey, boosted donkey, swearing, blood, guts, violence, kiddo, spaceships, kings, princesses, little blue alien, arms cut off, friendship, it has everything.

[Michael Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vikings vs aliens. Starts pretty straight then gets pretty funny and wildly over-the-top. Good visuals. Overall an enjoyable story.

[William O’Pomegranate · Rating 3 out of 5]

King Hallvard dies fighting his traitorous brother, Aarek. Many years later and Hallvard's son, Hrolf, is still fighting with his uncle over his rightful land. Unfortunately, Hrolf is incompetent, and this war is coming to a close. Fortunately, a bunch of spaceships crashland. Hrolf finds an alien armoury and decides the gods have bestowed him and his surviving army with the arms of gods. Meanwhile, Aarek gets attacked by an alien body snatcher and becomes a horrifying space alien and turns his army into a bunch of mindless drones.

This is by no means the first Viking Sci-fi meld. Immediately Outlander (2008), a retelling of Beowulf with a sci-fi twist, comes to mind, but this story takes itself less seriously. I think the best comparison for this story would be Cowboys and Aliens. It's got a couple of good laughs and a lot of good action.

[Marina Vidal · Rating 3 out of 5]

El cómic está bien, pero es un Outlander con diseño de personajes chulos.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

How does this manage to have the same aliens vs medieval warriors plot as Lake of Fire but wind up being so excellent? Well...effort.

Spider King takes the stock characters of rebellious princess, reluctant hero, and grizzled mentor and spices them up with interesting dialogue and personality. The art is bizarre as it is unique and the humor is just the same, using a mix of slapstick and gore to lighten up the story. The vikings mistaking the alien they pull out of a destroyed battle mech for an ugly infant and dragging it along with them is one of the many small touches that makes this such a fun read.

[A Fan of Comics · Rating 4 out of 5]

Out of this world.

Two clans are in the midst of battle when aliens crash and take out one of the leaders. Its part medieval fantasy, part syfy horror. Throw in some awesome art and amazing cast of characters, youve got The Spider King! I really liked how this story played out. I wasn't expecting the alien aspect of it. They still had a fair amount of folklore and norse mythology involved which was cool. No complaints! I wouldn't mind a Vol 2 some day. The graphic novel was nice because it even had a few extra stories in the back!

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had so much fun with this Vikings vs. Alien graphic novel. It's a story on warring Viking factions that falls upon a crash landed alien that decides to take over Earth. The concept isn't that new, but man did Vann do a great job making it fresh and unique. The Vikings are full of personality and fun to follow as they try to figure out what is happening around them. The alien is super creepy. And the artwork is absolutely stunning.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely bloody loved it! The artwork is a bit quirky but it adds so much character and diversity to the characters. The story naturally twists and turns and peaks. There is a good amount of humour in it and not a stereotype in sight nor a horned helmet...
My favourite characters have to be Sigrid and Helga although Hrolf has his moments...
Will definitely try and get the sequel volume to follow this one up.

[Juho Pohjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's like the Lost Vikings in a comic form, cranked up to eleven.

I loved Lost Vikings.

[Melissa Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars
This graphic novel had an awesome story line and some really great characters. Was a bit disappointed with the artwork. There were a lot of times that I couldn't really tell what was going on. Had to keep reading and do my best guess. This took away from the overall book but still enjoyed it.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haven't read this in some time, this reread was great. Love Simone's art so much.

Hope Josh and Simone can spin more tales in this Viking vs Aliens universe someday!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is what happens when you give high tech weapons to vikings that have to fight aliens. Fluffy.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now I read the individually published comics rather than the collected edition but I finished them up and I rather enjoyed it. I think the idea of mixing alien stuff with a historic time has been done before, like say in the movie Cowboys and Aliens. This did it better though. The medium of comics and the viking mythology let it be more outrageous.

[Brais Bello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal. Vikingos con un high concept de ciencia ficción de fondo pero centrándose en un conflicto personal (interno y externo), para que no te despegues. El arte es genial, una especie de Mignola x Darkest Dungeon, pero más animado. Un cómic cortito FRESQUISIMO

[Annmarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story so much. The Characters are lively and loveable (or hateable) and the idea of vikings being invaded by aliens is just great, and definitely a breath of fresh air from the "modern day alien invasions" because those are so boring. But vikings? awesome.
The character dynamics in this book are wonderful and you form such an attachment to them very quickly. The aliens are unique and creatively designed. The art style is one that makes itself really stand out, it's different from any I've seen before and really just sets it out. I highly recommend picking this up and giving it a try.
I was lucky enough to meet two of the creators of The Spider King, and they were so nice and funny. And I love the dynamic between the creators themselves, being from all around the world and still working together to create this awesome story and some amazing art.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Spider King is nearly perfect as a fast-paced Viking versus alien adventure tale. Young Hrolf must team up with headstrong Sigrid to protect their people from the alien parasite known as the Spider King. This monster has crash-landed on Earth in the midst of two warring Viking clans and proceeds to infest the warriors, creating an army of undead monsters. Everything happens very quickly in The Spider King, but explanations for events are expertly paced and nicely sprinkled with black humor and gruesome violence. The only downside to the Viking setting and intense action is that the art sometimes gets a little messy. Battles can be hard to follow, particularly with the Viking's voluminous outfits and D'Armini's cartoonish style. Still, The Spider King is exceedingly well done and is the rare book that qualifies for a grotesque adjective: unputdownable.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vikings versus Aliens - I don't think I've seen that before. It makes for an interesting story, well served by the cartoonish art style chosen. An unwilling king and a shackled princess fight another Viking clan while both are empowered and attacked by an interstellar conflict. There's a surprising amount of humor, and some intense violence. The story plays out surprisingly well, and sets up a future volume, although the story stands pretty strongly on its own. The main characters are well thought out, and there's a lot of interesting back matter. It's not something that I would have gone out of my way to read, but it's definitely worth reading if you come across it.

[Francesca Giardiello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nessun inizio è migliore di un “nuovo inizio“, ed è la situazione in cui si trova da subito il giovane protagonista vichingo Hrolf: suo padre, il re del clan Laxdale, è stato assassinato da suo zio Aarek durante un’interminabile guerra sulla supremazia territoriale. Bisogna fermare il clan dei Rhund ad ogni costo, anche se… non tutti hanno la stessa idea su come agire in merito. All’equazione tutta al maschile si aggiunge la principessa del clan dei Longobardi Sigrid, unica persona convinta che bisogna sconfiggere Aarek con ogni mezzo possibile.


Non contento per questo equilibrio già surreale e precario, lo sceneggiatore Josh Vann decide di introdurre un elemento totalmente spiazzante: alieni con relative armi ed equipaggiamenti. Cosa potrebbe mai accadere di strano se un re vichingo assetato di vendetta trovasse delle super armi e fosse convinto che gliele abbiano donate gli dei del Valhalla come segno del loro benestare? Ma soprattutto… e se uno o più di questi alieni non fossero pacifici?

Ci troviamo di fronte ad una trama del tutto inaspettata e con un volume difficile da classificare, proprio perché unisce tematiche ed ambientazioni in modo del tutto naturale come raramente avviene per la maggioranza di questi “esperimenti”. Vedere alieni combattere al fianco di tribù barbare qui è plausibile ed i momenti pregni di sangue e violenza sono altrettanto veri quanto le risate che ne conseguono, considerando che per i protagonisti combattere e rischiare la vita rientra quasi nella routine quotidiana.


Solamente in un altro fumetto prima d’ora ho trovato un connubio splatter-comicità così ben riuscito ed è in GrizzlyShark (sempre SaldaPress); questo perché la morte viene resa vera e tragica ma anche naturale e facente parte del mondo dei personaggi, il dolore rende più forti ed è motivo di vanto in un mondo in cui sono praticamente tutti dei guerrieri.

I momenti di azione (come prevedibile) sono davvero tanti e la lettura scorre in modo serrato eppure non eccessivamente veloce, poiché viene dato il giusto spazio ai dialoghi fra i personaggi ed alle spiegazioni. Si è raggiunto un equilibrio che rende The Spider King una graphic novel completa, con una trama approfondita e dei personaggi ben studiati, in grado di agire in totale autonomia all’interno della storia senza annoiare il lettore e permettendogli, anzi, di venire talmente preso dal susseguirsi degli eventi da godersi appieno i colpi di scena.


Simone D’Armini, al suo esordio nel mondo del fumetto, mantiene ogni aspettativa che una trama così complessa possa fornire: i suoi disegni dai tratti forti e squadrati fanno sentire appieno l’atmosfera del freddo inverno e della crudezza barbarica, ma al tempo stesso riesce anche a rendere ben distinti senza alcuna difficoltà i momenti pieni di pathos da quelli dominati dalla comicità. Inoltre D’Armini si è dimostrato in grado, mantenendo il sempre suo stile, di ricreare anche l’atmosfera onirica dell’inconscio, rifacendosi allo stile pittorico del cubismo. Non poteva esserci un disegnatore migliore per esprimere in maniera così precisa la complessità e l’immensa sfaccettatura di questo volume.

È letteralmente impossibile poi non prendere in simpatia i personaggi o quantomeno sentirli molto vicini, perché sono davvero ben caratterizzati e definiti, cosa che viene confermata alla fine del volume in una sezione dedicata allo studio dei personaggi e del mondo, con commento da parte sia del disegnatore Simone D’Armini che dello sceneggiatore Josh Vann. I protagonisti incarnano la potenza fisica e morale, la forza dell’ideale barbaro, ma al tempo stesso dimostrano di essere uniti e di avere una loro personalità nel momento in cui ci sono delle scelte da fare.


Una delle cose più interessanti da menzionare è la vicinanza tra il giovane Hrolf e Sigrid. C’è amicizia fra i due protagonisti, un passato in comune che li aiuta a cooperare e combattere assieme, anche se il loro modo di affrontare la minaccia aliena è totalmente differente: mentre Hrolf, da buon barbaro, vede come unica soluzione uno scontro aperto contro il nemico mantenendo il proprio onore, per Sigrid l’importante è sconfiggere l’oppositore con qualsiasi mezzo e per questo non trova meno onorevole avvelenarlo o pugnalarlo nel sonno. I due incarnano quindi approcci e mentalità totalmente opposte e mettono il lettore quasi nella condizione di doversi schierare, per decretare chi dei due abbia realmente ragione.

Molto gradita è stata la scelta di arricchire The Spider King con un raccontino inedito, lo sketchbook, copertine variant e tributi da parte di diversi artisti; ciò rende ancora più completo il volume ed estremamente godibile, fornendo al lettore curiosità ed immagini altrimenti inedite e dandogli un senso di esclusività ed importanza.

The Spider King è stranamente un volume che mi sento di raccomandare a tutti poiché nel suo racchiudere tanti temi, ambientazioni e circostanze è in grado di entrare nelle grazie della maggior parte dei lettori, specialmente di coloro che cercano una storia diversa ma abbastanza intricata, unita ad un sano senso di leggerezza e comicità. Personalmente ho apprezzato questo davvero molto fumetto e lo considero a pieno titolo uno dei “must have” di casa SaldaPress.

[Carey Healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know what to expect when I started this book. I didn’t even read the back cover. The book starts like a common revenge tale between two battling clans. What’s initially surprising is the humor. The characters are immediately memorable with quirks and silhouettes. I read a lot of comics and the characters here are some of the best I’ve read. They each have unique personalities, and I felt their personalities were revealed naturally without being forced.

The overarching narrative is good, but I’ve read similar plots that do it better. Also, the primary villain (who is introduced in the middle of the story) is completely uninteresting. The delivery and pace of the story is frenetic and lacks any exposition. It is a little harder to follow than most comics.

The art is equally as unique as the characters. The characters proportions are grossly exaggerated. Everything is warped or bloated. I didn’t love it, but I will remember it. The coloring and shadowing complements the art well, and there are portions of the book with refreshing colors and stark beauty. The layouts and paneling is good. With just enough words to carry the story without being overwhelmed.

Overall, the comic is lifted by its memorable characters, humor, and unique art.

[Munawar Mobin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aliens vs Vikings? Hell yeah! Originally initiated from a kickstarter, the Spider King presents a fun, 4 issue story about viking clans clashing and fighting the devious spider king organism(who speaks a bit like a mix between marvels annihilation with the courage and enthusiasm of early 60s era Doom).

The story's very linear, very common, but still packs a little punch in the very end - great script all through out though

The art! man, the art of Simone D'Armini is just so special. It reminds me of the first time I saw Yale's work or Lauffman's work - the anatomy of the figures is so off and the colors are so bright, its all such a brilliant mix - sometimes it's hard to figure out what's going on but that kinda adds to the beauty of the story.

Hopefully, we get more Spider King soon!

[José Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo tengo un problema con este cómic. El dibujo de detallista de cojones y el guión es simple pero va al grano lo que agiliza la lectura. Si bien es cierto que me habría gustado de que la historia fuera más larga, mi problema no tiene que ver con eso. Lo que me ha molestado es su edición en español.
El gramaje, la portada y contraportada son bellísimas y el lomo aún que sea aburrido, no es algo que odie. El problema que le encuentro es el tamaño que Grafito a elegido para este cómic. Con un dibujo tan detallista se pierden un montón de matices o líneas que serían mucho más agradecidas en una edición más grande.

En cuanto al cómic, todo chachi, recomendado para quien quiera leer algo rápido y entretenido

[Fi Newbold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! An explosion of ideas, made into an incredibly fun and well balanced story that I couldn’t get enough of. The artwork is incredible, especially when gory, and the humour and language had me smiling as I read.

The Spider King is chockers with fantastic characters, who are really fleshed out considering this is the first instalment. I was surprised at how quickly and easily I felt I knew their motivations (or lack of), strengths and weaknesses as well as their personal connections.

When I grow up I hope I’m a mouthy peasant girl, but until then I cannot wait for what comes next!

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vikings V. Aliens.

I just read this:

"Viking teeth were often subject to a great deal of wear, which is largely attributed to their diet. Study of the skeletal remains of Vikings has also shown evidence that they suffered from periodontal disease and tartar buildup."

Really? Periodontal disease AND tartar buildup? What an amazing discovery.

Why are people studying things like this? Are we thinking the vikings will have known something about dental care that we don't?

I mean, in a way, they DID solve a lot of dental issues by dying before they turned 50. If you're dead, you don't need great teeth.

[Storm Bookwyrm · Rating 5 out of 5]

How d'you get much pulpier than vikings pillaging the wreckage of an alien spaceship crash and fighting the escaped prisoners within? You don't. It's an oddly simple story, in spite of it's genre-mixing premise, but it doesn't need to be weird and complex. It just needs to deliver on the promise of vikings grabbing weird alien technology and fighting aliens with that technology. Which it does.

...Though, it's really, really weird to me that there's TWO comic books released very close together with the exact same premise. In 'The Lake of Fire', it's not vikings, but crusader knights who fight the alien infestation that brought down a spaceship.

[Corto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compré el cómic por abril cuando Grafito lo anuncio sin saber bien que iba a encontrarme pero embelesado por el estilo del dibujo. Entonces pensé en añadirlo a goodreads pero todavía no estaba en web y no sabía bien si las ediciones originales en inglés se correspondían exactamente con la impresión en castellano. Dejando de lado esto, es una obra es entretenida, corta (por desgracia) y bonita visualmente. Tiene vikingos, alienígenas y princesas que se salvan a si mismas, poco más puedo decir. Si os llama la atención echadle un ojo.