I can no longer buy or read Marvel comics. It really doesn't matter who writes, or draws, them because they all seem to be regurgitated material repacked and retold using contemporary language. I need something fresh, something daring, something unique. The art no longer impresses me because it all looks the same to me. In other words, I'm over the Disney owned company that release rare gems every ten years or so (Hickman's SHIELD, that's about it). As a lover of comics, I'm always on the treasure hunt to find those rare gems no one really talks about because they've been overshadowed by the comic media. This book, on the other hand, is something truly different and, I think, underrated.
I first heard of Orc Stain when I began to read Brandon Graham's King City. Naturally, I looked up his name online and discovered he had a Live Journal Blog at the time. I would always check out his posts because they were chalk full of crazy, mind blowing, extravagant, art from artists I've never heard of before. Graham speaks my language. Anyway, one day, he posted a pin up of the Silver Surfer drawn, inked, and colored, by James Stokoe. I was exposed to this style I've never seen before. I was immediately hooked. The rest, as they say, is history.
Not only is this book well drawn and colored, but its well crafted. The plot is nice and tight, and hilarious. I also love the violence in it. It's so very grotesquely divine. It's one of the very few comics that makes me laugh out loud while reading it, and its also one of the very few comics where I take my precious time looking at all that fucking insane detail. I timed myself once and it took me an hour to read one entire issue. An hour!!! Who reads a 32 page comic for an hour? I do, apparently. This book demands that kind of attention from the reader. If not, you'd be doing the book a grave injustice.
Orc Stain is not a monthly book, but I could care less that its not. I think if Stokoe did meet his monthly deadline, the book's magic would diminish because he would have to give up all those hours adding those fine details he's spoiling us with. I don't want that. I want Orc Stain in all of its glory, or not at all.
Keep up the good work Stokoe. If you (not directed to Stokoe, but you, the reader) happens to stumble upon my blog in this abyss known as the Blogosphere, pick up Orc Stain and basque in all of its brutal, sick, glory.
