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ocurtsinger's review
4.0
Bizarre and grotesque and cheeky, yet wonderfully illustrated and beautifully colored. The most compelling aspect of it, though, is not really the illustration or the outlandishness, but how succinct Stokoe is at world-building. Every detail is laid out very naturally; some elements are worth explaining, while others are subversively placed in the background. It's all very rich and suggests that Stokoe is very skilled at creating an absorbing environment as much as he is at illustrating or telling a good story (the plot isn't very fresh or original, but that's excusable given how fresh [or rotten, rather, in the best possible way] the rest of the book is).
somethingsnappy's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
forlorncorn's review
1.0
Some of the worst representation of women outside an episode of a Benny Hill episode. All the women are nymphs, they barely speak and are always naked. What year was this written?
jentry's review
5.0
It was a really great intro to a new series. I thoroughly enjoyed this first collection. I am excited to see what he does in the future.
spencyrrh's review
2.0
This book has gorgeous, grungy art, and a very silly story which I find difficult to fully enjoy. Delight in its indulgent, comix-steeped, trichromatic ugliness if you can. It has too many abused testicles in it for my liking, but it's still good fun.
sisteray's review
5.0
The easiest way to understand this book is to think about if Heavy Metal put out anime. The art and color are astounding. It is just page after page of jaw dropping detail. The action is perfectly paced and is continually inventive. The world is cruel, so you have to approach this with dark humor. The characters are fun and I love how their stories interweave. In many ways this plays out like a Leone or a Kurosawa story devoid of any morality with characters just looking to survive.
storyorc's review
adventurous
challenging
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
The intricate, creative, and often cruel, art is the draw here but I was also won over by the dick-based economy despite myself by the end.
michaeljohnhalseartistry's review
5.0
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.
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FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVELS, CHECK OUT:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse
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.
-----
FOR MORE BOOK REVIEWS, PHOTOS, AND MY OWN NOVELS, CHECK OUT:
www.michaeljohnhalse.wix.com/michaeljohnhalse