Vinland Saga (manga)

Vinland Saga (ヴィンランド・サガ, Vinrando Saga) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by YUKIMURA Makoto.

Plot
Thorfinn is son to one of the Vikings’ greatest warriors, but when his father is killed in battle by the mercenary leader Askeladd, he swears to have his revenge. Thorfinn joins Askeladd’s band in order to challenge him to a duel, and ends up caught in the middle of a war for the crown of England.

History
Originally Vinland Saga started in the 20th Issue of Weekly Shonen Magazine in April, 2005. But since the author wasn't able to keep up with the weekly schedule, after the 16th chapter released in the 45th Issue in October, the manga was moved to the monthly magazine Afternoon, starting in 2006-02 Issue in December 2005. The first 2 volumes containing the first 16 chapters were released under Weekly Shonen Magazine, but later after the manga changed magazines, they were also re-released under Afternoon imprint, having different covers and some additional extra pages.

In 2008, the series was one of the nominees of the 2008 Manga Taisho Award. And in 2009, it was awarded the Grand Prize in the manga division of the Japan Media Arts awards. In 2012, the manga won the 36th Annual Kodansha Manga Award in the Best General Manga category.

In 2013, the manga was licensed by Kodansha USA and the first volume was released in October 2013. The english releases have hard covers and combines 2 japanese volumes, with average 450 pages per book. The edition also contains some additional extras and talk with the author.