If you've been following along with my book reviews this year, so far I've read a number of comic volumes - The Autumnlands, Rat Queens, From Under Mountains, and more recently Pretty Deadly, and while I enjoyed some more than others, one defining feature seems to have a profound correlation with how much I enjoy the book - the artwork. As I've said before, I'm not a comic-guru, I haven't read much outside of Star Wars comics, and I don't have a preference for style when it comes to comic book or graphic novels, I just know that when I like something, for whatever reason, I really like it. For example, the reason I loved The Autumnlands so much was because of the realistic, detail-oriented artwork of Benjamin Dewey. The one thing I loved about From Under Mountains was the whispy, painterly artwork of Sloane Leong.
Before diving into Orc Stain I flipped through the book, just to glimpse some of the images and get accustomed to writer and artist James Stokoe's style, and was immediately hit with a cerulean and emerald aesthetic explosion where every little corner of the page is utilized to animate this fantasy-themed world with as many bizarre and mind-bending creations as possible. It took me so long to get through this comic, because half of the time I was just sitting there staring at the page, taking in every little detail drawn in an over-the-top cartoon style that's unlike anything I've ever seen before.
Orc Stain tells the story of One-Eye, a thieving, hammer-wielding orc, one of a million nameless orcs just trying to get through life. Meanwhile the powerful Orc Tzar leads a war band north to an ancient god in order to harvest it's organ for some unknown reason. When it's prophesied that a one-eyed orc will stand in his way and bring his warmongering days to an end, he has every one-eyed orc rounded up and send to the god-beast to be fed to the formidable creature.
This comic was released by Image Comics and was the sole creation of veteran comic writer and artist James Stokoe. It was released back in 2010... 7 years ago! And I can't image how painful the wait for the second volume has been for fans of this comic. I just read it and I'm already craving for more.
It's such a fun, light-hearted comic that's brilliantly drawn and told... if not a little weird at times... for example, orc-culture is centred around the gronch, which is... well... orc penis. Even their money is made out of sliced up and coated gronch. It's got some WEIRD concepts, but it all makes for a whimsical, incredibly weird, twisted, and incredibly humorous comic (which is something I tend to stay away from!) I'll definitely be continuing this series... if it ever gets a second volume. FINGER'S CROSSED.
