Orc Stain #5 – Review

By: James Stokoe (writer, artist, colorist & one would assume letters, although it doesn’t say that)

The Story: One-Eye the orc finds himself captured by agents of the Orctzar, but why does the Orctzar want to capture our hero?

What’s Good: This is a really fun comic and whenever it releases, it is always among the “best comics of the week”.  This issue is no exception.  There is really nothing wrong with this issue or anything to find fault with.

As you can see from the credits above, Jame Stokoe is doing this entire comic himself and each issue has been ~30 pages long.  So, you would not really expect him to maintain a perfect, monthly release schedule (although it comes out more regularly than some other comics that have 4-5 dudes working on them).  But, Stokoe does what all comics should: It give us a quick, two paragraph recap of the story so far.  Why can’t all comics do this?  Not only did this recap serve as a reminder of what happened in issue #4, but it gave a nice recap of the main plot of the book.  Nicely done…

As for the story, Orc Stain = Fun.  The story is just delightful and off-the-wall as we watch One-Eye trying to evade the forces of the Orctzar and the designed traps that they lay for him.  One of the fun things is that One-Eye seems to have about 50 IQ points on all the other orcs and is almost annoyed by their feeble attempts to slow him down.  It almost has a Roadrunner/Coyote feel to it.  Again, much of the humor of the book comes from the word “gronch”, which is orcish for an orc’s junk.  In this issue we learn that one reason orcs are so eager to chop off another orc’s gronch is that it can then be spent like money.  Ha.

The art design in this book is just outstanding.  It would be nice to know a little more about Stokoe’s background because he has a wonderful imagination.  Everything in this world is alive.  The sexy swamp ramba’s (read: witch) cloak isn’t just an animal skin…it is a live animal with bulging eyes that mutters to her constantly about its desire to murder all of the orcs by smashing them.  The prison that One-Eye is trapped in is actually the belly of some enormous beast that the Orctzar had his minions excavate from the mountains.  The art is just delightful and vibrant.  There isn’t another comic that has this look and color palate.  It’s great stuff.

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

DS’ Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Atlas #5/ Avengers: Prime #3 – It was a thin week and nothing really floated to the top for me, but if forced to take a stand, I’d say Atlas #5 (for the continuing originality) or Avengers: Prime #3 (for the art alone).

Most Anticipated: Brightest Day #11 – return of the Black Lanterns, origin of the new Aqualad and the secrets of the Firestorm Matrix revealed? Are you kidding me? Sign me up! PS: I know some people (including me) have been dissatisfied with the speed at which Brightest Day is rolling out, but issue #10 really felt like the wind had filled the sails again.

Other Top Picks: Other Top Picks: Uncanny X-Force #1, Chaos War #1, JSA All-Stars #11, R.E.B.E.L.S. #21

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Avengers Prime #3 – Fun stuff.  This comic had the moment of the week (for me) when Steve Rogers with a makeshift sword and shield saves a naked Tony Stark (who is riding a horse bareback) from ogres.  And, the Steve, Tony & Thor are now together.  This should be a lot of fun going forward.

Most Anticipated: S.H.I.E.L.D. #4 – This is just a packed week, but I’m most excited about seeing the next chapter in Hickman’s mind-bending story starring Leonardo da Vinci.

Other Top Picks: American Vampire #7, I Zombie #6, Scalped #41, Orc Stain #5, Chaos War #1, Uncanny X-Force #1, 28 Days Later #15, Incorruptible #10, Taskmaster #2

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Action Comics #893 – Action Comics is quickly becoming my favourite book from DC.  The main feature was as good as always, awesome robot Lois and all.  That and it reaffirmed my love for Gorilla Grodd and also proved that he is completely underused.  Of course, at this point, Action Comics’ high quality isn’t news.

The real story here though is Nick Spencer’s Jimmy Olsen back-up, which was pure and unadulterated fun accompanied by equally fun artwork.  It was utterly delightful and I also really enjoyed Spencer’s take on Chloe Sullivan.

Most Anticipated: American Vampire #7 – With a cliffhanger like last month’s, I can’t wait for the next installment of Scott Snyder’s vampire epic.  I’m really curious to see how Sweet and Pearl fit into this new arc and what they’ve been up to.  If you haven’t been following this title, get to it!  It’s really, really good and one of the best new series of the year.

Other Picks: Wolverine #2, SHIELD #4, Madame Xanadu #27, Unknown Soldier #24, Sweet Tooth #14, Secret Six #26, Brightest Day #11, Scalped #41

Joe’s Top Picks

Best of the Past Week: The Stuff of Legend: The Jungle #2 – Mike Raicht, Brian Smith and Charles Wilson III have created a children’s tale for adults that can be best described as a mash-up of the plot of Toy Story with the dark and serious tone of The Neverending Story.  Wilson’s sepia-toned artwork never ceases to please and the script jumps from one nail-biting moment to the next as our heroes confront some dangerous foes this time around.  Not only will I be reading his again and again down the years, but my future kids can count on their dad reading this to them as well.

Most Anticipated: Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit HC – In a week where American Vampire, Uncanny X-Force and Secret Six are all released, you’d think it’d be difficult to choose which new comic I’m extremely excited about.  Darwyn Cooke proves that thought wrong by unleashing his second hardcover adaptation of Richard Stark’s Parker series upon the world.  Cooke’s clean, stark (pun intended) interpretation of Stark’s film noir world is a tour de force, and the artwork alone is worth the hype.  Lucky for us we get a kick-ass story, too, all wrapped up in a beautiful hardcover.  Wednesday can’t come soon enough.

Other Picks: Avengers Academy #5, S.H.I.E.L.D. #4, Shadowland: Spider-Man #1, Taskmaster #2, Uncanny X-Force #1, Wolverine #2, Back Issue Magazine #44, American Vampire #7, Brightest Day #11, Red Hood: Lost Days #5, Secret Six #26