2012 Graphic Novels of the Year

2012 was an epic year of comics reading for me.  In what was probably my most voracious year of reading ever, I managed to read a grand total of sixty-three graphic novels!  Definitely the most comics I've ever read in my life, and there was lots of quality too.  Picking out the titles for list was pretty tough, and there's a lot of great stuff that I read that won't get mentioned.  As always, there's a mix of the new and the not so new on the list here, that's just how I do it here at Battle Hymns.

2012 GRAPHIC NOVELS OF THE YEAR:

#5. Orc Stain: Take some incredibly detailed art, a crazy cast of characters, a hilarious plot, and a fantasy world where orc penis is the main currency, and you not only get the genius wonder-comic that is Orc Stain, but you also get the fifth best comic I read all year.

One glimpse of this comic which was written, illustrated, colored, lettered, and all that good stuff by the one-man comic machine that is James Stokoe and it's easy to see that you are holding something perfectly unique, and wonderfully creative.  There simply isn't anything else like Orc Stain.  Stokoe's art is stunning in it's level of detail, and it's beauty.  He just draws awesome stuff.  Orc Stain is also a hell of a lot of fun to read, as it is hilarious, and creative, and well written. Stokoe pretty much hit this one out of the park. This is an all around gem that will make your life more awesome.  Read it.

#4. King City: A couple years back I came across a couple single issues of King City and instantly fell in love with the art.  All twelve single issues were more or less impossible to track down at that point, so I resigned myself to waiting for the trade to come out.  And boy did it ever come out. When Image released King City, they collected all twelve issues in one thick volume and priced it at the bargain price of $20.

That's by far the best fucking deal you'll find on any shelf.

King City is another work of comics genius.  Brandon Graham, who is pretty much my comic creating hero of 2012, delivers the goods here as writer and artist. His story follows a "catmaster" who can do a number of amazing feats with his cat.  As per usual with Brandon Graham material, the story flows organically, the characters seem like people you know, and there's a heavy dose of puns.  Additionally, Graham makes this one of the more beautiful comics on the shelves with breathtaking art, pages you want to stare at for hours, and mini-games included right on the pages; a recipe for one phenomenal comic.  Just writing about King City makes me want to go grab it off my shelf again and read it.

#3. By This Shall You Know Him: It was the cosmic, geometrical, swirly, floaty art that initially drew me towards this comic, but it was the story and that drew me in.  Becoming fully engaged with both the art and the story of By This Shall You Know Him is a true pleasure and an experience that has stuck with me since I read it back in mid-October.

I've never read something quite like By This Shall You Know Him, and I sort of hope that I don't, as this comic felt like a wholly original piece of art.  I've never seen such layerd or textured illustration like this. Not to mention, the combination of art and writing evoked this really interesting cosmic feeling that you probably can't get without the use of drugs. This was one of my first indie-somewhat-underground-comic reads and I feel like I've been opened up a whole new world of wonder.  This is an absolutely unforgettable comic, an instant classic in my book.

#2. Skyscrapers of the Midwest: There's so much to love about this comic.  Like any top five graphic novel of the year, it has great art, and great writing.  That's a given, but the emotions artist/writer Joshua Cotter was able to evoke is what really impressed me with this graphic novel.

The highlights of such emotional evocation came when Joshua Cotter managed to perfectly capture so much of the experiences, emotions, and wild imaginings of childhood.  I was blown away with the numerous times where he perfectly captured and articulated complex childhood feelings; feelings that in some shape or form everyone experiences.  On top of that Cotter captures the awkward, the bizarre, the sad, the tradgic, the embarrassing, and also the hilariousness that comes with moving from childhood into adolescence.  This is flat out on impressive work of art, one that has stuck with me, and one that I've been recommending to anyone who's willing to listen.  I laughed, I cried, and I even wrote a fan e-mail to the writer/artist. (That should say something!) This is a comic I treasure.

#1. The Underwater Welder: If you know me, and know my comics tastes, then this probably won't come as much of a surprise.  Much like my Comics of the Year post, my most anticipated graphic novel became my most favorite graphic novel.

Jeff Lemire told me a year prior to this release that The Underwater Welder was shaping up to be the comics work of which he was most proud and I can see why.  Though he's responsible for some absolutely great comics, this one stands out as his best both in terms of art, and writing.  Lemire utilizes two distinct art styles here, which help to add to the emotional impact of the story.  As a monthly reader of his comic Sweet Tooth it was cool to see how Lemire adapted his art to a different story.

As usual with Lemire's work, his story is one that packs an emotional wallop, and I can definitely see that this is a story that I'll come back to at various stages of my life and gain new insights and experience different emotions each time I read it.  Any story that can be read over and over and offer new things each time is a treasure and Lemire has created one of my all-time favorite comics with The Underwater Welder.  Lemire is one of the very best writers of our generation and The Underwater Welder is his finest work yet.

Most Honorable Mention:

Batman Snow: Despite Batman Year 100 coming onto the scene later in the year, I gotta give the nod to Batman Snow as my favorite "mainstream" read of the year.  This one gets the edge because the story packed more of an emotional punch.  A great Mr. Freeze story, coupled with some ridiculously fun art.

Ghost World: This comic impressed me with it's cross-generational appeal and with the fact that it's a work that is a cultural touchstone.  It was also a great gateway drug for me towards reading more indie-comics.  It also provided a great look at how to masterfully intertwine art and writing so that the two seem indistinguishable from one another once into the flow of the narrative.


So there you go, my 2012 Graphic Novels of the Year.  A pretty amazing list of work.  There's some heavy hitters on there, and a couple of pleasant surprises.  All told, I had an awesome year of comics reading.  There's lots more good stuff unread on my shelves too, so next year should be equally great.

So, how about some outside input? What stuff did Battle Hymns readers read this year that you loved? Anything you'd like to see me cover? Chime in with comments!

2012 Comics of the Year

2012 was easily my best year of comics reading yet.  Not only did I read a ton of great comics, but I honed my tastes further and branched out in new directions. The result being that I was rewarded with some amazing gems.  Scarily, my comics reading pile continues to grow; I think I have enough comics to last me the next couple years...

As always, I read my fair share of both floppy single issues and collected editions, or as they're more commonly known: graphic novels.  My 2012 Comics of the Year list covers just the former, the single issue stuff, and there was so much good stuff it was pretty hard to choose just the top five.

TOP 5 COMICS OF 2012:

#5. Prophet: Prophet has been one of my favorite monthly titles this year and a big reason is the sheer variety of talent that Brandon Graham has brought together for this title.  Ever since issue one (or technically issue 21), there's been a smorgasbord of talented artists associated with this comic.  Though the main players have primarily been Graham, Simon Roy, and Giannis Milonogiannis, there have been plenty of other awesome folks getting credits for this title. The result is that I've had the wonderful pleasure of being exposed to some amazing talent along the way.  Farel Dalrymple stands out as an artist who has worked on this book and impressed me greatly with his talent.

On top of all the great artistic talent associated with this comic, the story has been incredibly entertaining and intriguing.  Any week where there's an issue of Prophet is a special week.  Graham and company have created an absolutely fascinating universe to set their story in, and I love the feeling of discovery and exploration that comes with each issue.

The icing on the cake for Prophet is that each issue comes with a back-up short comic, and all of these have been fantastic. The back-up Shock Post by Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean stands out as one of the best comics I read all year.  Awesome, awesome stuff.

#4. Fatale: The combo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is one of my favorite comic creating duos.  When these guys are together they create fantastic comics.  They did a couple of super powered spy stories in Sleeper and Incognito, then some straight up crime with their Criminal stories.  Their latest work is Fatale  a sort of crime-Lovecraftian mash up.  

I'll admit I wasn't totally enamored with this comic from the get go. I liked what I was reading, but I wasn't totally feeling it. I had enough faith and past experience with Brubaker and Phillips to keep plugging away and sure enough, everything congealed in the fifth issue.  We're two story arcs in now, the second of which was fantastic, and Fatale was an easy pick for this top five list.  

There's an awesome blend of horror and crime going on in this comic, a mix we don't see too often, and I think fans of both genres will find plenty to like here.  

#3. Godzilla The Half Century War: Despite the fact that I love monsters, I can't say that I've ever really been a Godzilla fan.  Well, that all changed earlier this year when James Stokoe started working on Godzilla The Half Century War.  

This is one amazing comic.  

It's amazing for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that this is almost completely Stokoe's vision.  He does the writing, art, and lettering.  The only thing he doesn't completely himself is the coloring, and he gets "coloring assists" from someone, so he still has a hand in that aspect of the book as well.  That's an amazing amount of work to put into a comic, but the pay-off is great as there is no loss of vision along the way.  

This is one absolutely gorgeous comic too.  Stokoe is definitely one of my favorite artists, and his work here is some of his best.  His stuff is always hyper-detailed, and that skill is put to amazing use here as you really get a feel for the destruction and mayhem Godzilla can cause when he wrecks shop.  Add in some fucking phenomenal monster fights and Godzilla The Half Century War is probably the best treat for your eyes on the shelves. Oh, the story is pretty flippin' great too! A must read for any comics fan.

#2. Multiple Warheads: 2012 was the year of Brandon Graham in the comics world.  His King City stuff got recollected and republished, His amazing re-imagining of a Rob Liefeld comic, Prophet came out, and to top it all off, he started releasing his Multiple Warheads mini-series.  That's a pretty impressive output, but even more impressive is the incredibly high quality of it all...most impressive of all though is that fact that Multiple Warheads makes this list with a mere three issues worth of material on the shelves.    

Multiple Warheads, is completely a Brandon Graham entity as he handles all the comic creating duties: writing, art, colors and lettering.  To put it simply, Graham is a comic creating powerhouse of unique vision and artistic talent.  His comics simply aren't like anyone else's.  In fact, it almost seems like a deliberate effort is being made by Graham to not be like anyone else.  

And I love it.  

His stories meander, follow interesting paths until they are no longer interesting, then find another path to follow until something else comes up.  Along the way the reader is treated to some really beautiful art, and a boat-load of puns and jokes.  The misogynist parlor joke being my favorite so far.  Multiple Warheads is a shining example of how much fun comics can be, and I love and am grateful for every panel of every page.

 #1. Saga: It's not often that my most anticipated title becomes my most favorite, but that's exactly what happened here.  Saga stepped onto the scene back in March, and it has been absolutely top of the line ever since.  Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that a space opera about star-crossed lovers on the run could impress me so much, but it did. I love this story and I love these characters...with the exception of The Stalk, she scares the shit out of me!

What's impressive is that I can't point to either the writing or the art as the primary culprit of quality.  Both aspects are so wonderfully connected and work so well together that they seem to flow into one another. Granted, both the writing and the art are top of the line, and Fiona Staples has got to be the best discovery of the year for me, but it is impossible to talk about one without the other working the way into the conversation.  Simply said, Saga is a great example of how comics should work, how the art and the writing should be a combined effort.  

Month in and month out this has consistently been the best written and best looking comic on the shelves, and honestly, despite so many other really great comics, an easy pick for the number one spot.  

Most Honorable Mention: 

Sweet Tooth: Despite all the nice things I said about the comics above, Sweet Tooth is still my favorite monthly comic.  It hasn't had a dip in quality either, I simply didn't put it in the top five because I've covered it so extensively here at Battle Hymns.  I will be really fucking sad when the last issue comes out in January.  

The Sixth Gun: Another flat out fantastic comic which only gets better as the issues go by.  The fantasy-western combo has found it's home here.

Best Single Issue of 2012:

Stumptown Vol 2. #4: Holy fuck, this is an amazing comic!  This beauty gets top billing for one big reason: the best flippin' car chase scene in a comic ever. 

First, a little side story: Seattle has a bunch of drawbridges, which are really cute looking but it sucks to be stuck at one in your car while the wings raise up to let some rich prick in his yacht motor through on his way to a day of sailing. I've always thought about how cool it would be if someone just said "fuck it" and used the raising wings as a ramp to jump to the other side rather than waiting. 

It turns out Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth have had the exact same thoughts, because that very scene, among many others that were amazing, plays out in this comic.

Ahh, wish fulfillment, even vicarious wish fulfillment, can be a wonderful thing

This issue would not have been such a success without the talents of Matthew Southworth. He not only made me feel like I was watching cars scream by me at break-neck speeds, but he also played around with the format of the comic so that when the cars turned, you had to physically turn the comic in order to continue on with the story.  This was a really cool concept, and brought me closer to the action. 

I don't think I've ever had such an overwhelming sense of fun and excitement while reading a comic.  A singularly great issue and an easy pick for best single issue of the year.

So there you go, my best comics of the year. Image almost completely swept the category.  What stuff did you folks read that you thought were deserving of mention?  

Comic Quickies: Let the Phantasmagoria Commence

The Zaucer of Zilk #1: Wanna talk about a book that leaps off the shelves? It was hard to not notice The Zaucer of Zilk when I walked into the comic shop a few weeks ago.  With a cover more vivid than the technicolor dreamcoat, I just had to pick this up and flip through it.  The inside of the comic was on par with the cover, and the art style was certainly eye-catching and offered up some incredibly psychedelic and mind-bending illustrations. (My lady said it looked like one of her old Lisa Frank stickers!)  The art seemed to be completely different from anything else on the shelves, so I decided to pick it up and give it a read.

The Zaucer of Zilk is co-written and illustrated by Brendan McCarthy, a guy whose writing is as far out as his art.  The story follows a young man who wanders into a candy shop, steals some candy, eats it, and winds up in a strange, psychedelic fantasy land where he holds the noble title of Zaucer of Zilk.  Along with a magical wand and some strange companions, The Zaucer finds himself caught in an elaborate trap set up by his enemy, the Errol of Raine, who's trying to steal the Zaucer's magic wand.  Along the way a lot of really strange, weird and oddball shit goes on.

The Zaucer of Zilk has got to be the weirdest thing I've ever read in my life, yet it was still pretty entertaining.  McCarthy can draw some really weird shit, but I gotta say, I enjoyed taking my time with the art and soaking it all in.  Just out of sheer curiosity, I'll be looking forward to seeing what happens next with the Zaucer.

Godzilla The Half Century War #3: I don't claim to be a Godzilla fan, which is kinda strange given my affinity for monsters, but god damn, James Stokoe has created one absolutely amazing Godzilla comic.  You don't have to look any further than the cover to know that you'll be getting some absolutely amazing artwork when you buy this comic, but you're also getting a really amazing story.

Stokoe's story follows a team of soldiers who specialize in trying to reduce the amount of death and destruction Godzilla wreaks whenever and wherever he happens to pop up across the globe.  He doesn't come around all that often, but when he does, the AMF is there. So far Godzilla has cropped up in WWII Japan, Vietnam during the Vietnam war, and In this issue, in Accra, Ghana in 1975.  In fact, a shit ton of other monsters are on hand as well, and they all appear to be drawn there by some sort of homing beacon.

Everything is dialed up to eleven in this issue, the monster fights, action, destruction, and incredible art are all off the chain here.  Stokoe pretty much puts on a clinic for how to make a fucking incredible comic.  There's more going on in one splash page here then most other comics combined.  Reading Godzilla The Half Century War is a treat.

Multiple Warheads #1:  Rounding out this comic quickies where amazing art rules the day, is Brandon Graham's latest, Multiple Warheads.  This dude was very impressive with King City, and his work on Prophet has been awesome as well.  A year ago, I had never read a single thing by the guy and now I'd easily place him as one of my top five favorite comic creators.

Multiple Warheads is a comic I've been eagerly awaiting for a while now, especially since Graham handles all the comic creating tasks, and I've been eager to see him unleash his comic creating skills on a title that is 100% his own.

Well, my wish was granted.  This first issue of Multiple Warheads weighs in at a whopping 48 pages of Brandon Graham comic-creatin' genius.  The story follows a young couple, Sexica and Nikoli who are on a road trip together after their home was destroyed in a bombing.  Sexica was once an organ smuggler, and sewed a werewolf penis on poor Nikoli.  Now he has dreams of the wolf's past life.  Then there's also Nura, another organ smuggler, who also appears to be pretty handy with the sword she has strapped to her back.  It's unclear exactly what everyone is doing here and why, but as I learned from reading King City, Graham isn't the kind of guy to worry much about plot, and instead prefers to just let the story go wherever it may.

I'm up for whatever as long as Graham keeps cranking out the level of amazingness he produced here.  This is one absolutely beautiful looking comic, and a lot of fun to read too.  Graham is a modern master of the pun, and each page is laced with at least one great pun, if not more.  My favorite was the misogynist parlor.

I think my favorite thing about this comic is the fact that all signs point to the fact that Graham is making exactly the comic/art he wants to be making, without having to make any compromises.  That is a rare thing, and Multiple Warheads is a better comic for that fact.  This is an absolute must read.

Graphic Novel Review: Wonton Soup & Wonton Soup 2

I have let it be known around these parts before, that I am a huge fan of the comics work of James Stokoe.  The man is a flippin' genius.  In my ongoing effort to own every piece of comics work the man has ever created, I recently exchanged some of my hard-earned cash in return for two of his early comics works: Wonton Soup, and Wonton Soup 2: Hyper Wonton Soup 2 Two Ton Soup: The Quickening 2.  That's one hell of a mouthful for a title, but naming aside for now, lets focus on the magic that is Wonton Soup.

Wonton Soup focuses on the exploits of Johnny Boyo, a space trucker who, thanks to an attack on his spacecraft by some space ninjas, finds himself back on the planet of Plaxos.  Not exactly the place he wants to be since Plaxos is the home of his former culinary school, where he rose to the ranks of star-pupil before suddenly dropping out.  His lady lives there too, and within a few hours of his return, he finds himself back in the good graces of his chick, and challenged to a cook-off by the school's current top-chef twins.  Along the way there's plenty of crazy-ass shit that goes on, not to mention some nutty recipes and some crazy cooking exploits.

At the very moment when I finished reading Wonton Soup this graphic novel went down as the most out-there and crazy thing I've read in the world of comics. That lasted a grand total of about 24 hours...which is when is when I finished reading Wonton Soup 2: Hyper Wonton Soup 2 Two Ton Soup: The Quickening 2.  Take everything that was crazy, fucked up, strange and out-there about Wonton Soup and multiply that by about a thousand you got yourself the content of the second Wonton Soup graphic novel.

Johnny Boyo and his partner Deacon are still truckin' around space when they get high as fuck, trip balls for a few days, and wake up on a mostly deserted planet.  While they set out towards the only sign of civilization, we are given the wondrous back-story of Deacon, Johnny's pervy compadre.  The entire back-story is a hilarious trip, but it is primarily memorable for the fact that during said back-story, Stokoe saw fit to give the world "Sex-Bear".  For that, I am eternally grateful.  And eternally scarred.

I gotta say that these Wonton Soup comics lack the cohesion and sharpness of Stokoe's work on Orc Stain, but these comics sure do display his ability to write stories that are absolutely hilarious and filled with incredibly creative and fantastic ideas.  Both of these graphic novels are packed with one crazy/amazing idea after the other.  Stokoe has an amazing ability to tap into a vein of creativity that brings out some of the most inventive shit to ever hit the printed page.  Wonton Soup and Wonton Soup 2 are pure madcap genius.

Oh, this stuff is absolutely gorgeous to look at too.  Stokoe is easily one of my favorite artists in the business.  There are times when I look at one of his pages and totally lose myself because there is so much minute detail, and stuff going on.  I've wondered many times how long a particular page took him to draw, because some pages are so jammed with amazing detail, it is mind blowing.  This is the kind of art that really engenders itself to the reader. Just by looking at Stokoe's work I can instantly tell that hours and hours of painstaking work were lovingly put into each page, and when the creator of a work cares that much about the quality, I find that it translates to high quality work.

Yes, Wonton Soup and Wonton Soup 2 might be two of the weirdest things I've ever read, but they are an absolute blast to read.  You don't so much get a story as you do an experience.  You gotta trust me, just do yourself a favor and go find something by James Stokoe and enjoy being entertained.  You know what, I'll do some of the leg work for you.  Here you go:

You're welcome.

Seriously, check out his website, which has comics stuff for you to enjoy.  Dude also has a tumblr, which is cool too.  All good stuff.  Once you are gorged on the stuff you can see for free, check out the other James Stokoe related mega-awesomenes I've reviewed or discussed here at the blog.

Wonton Soup Grade: A-

Wonton Soup 2 Grade: A

Comic Quickies:

Mystery Society TPB: I read this one a few weeks back, and have just barely enough thoughts about it to give it a review.  Granted, not enough thoughts for a full review, but enough to warrant an appearance here on Comic Quickies.

Mystery Society is another item from my comics club haul, and another title that I likely would have passed over otherwise.  This one follows a rich husband and wife team who pull off clandestine operations in the name of good for all mankind. When we meet said couple, the dude, Nick Hammond, is on a mission in Area 51 attempting to recruit some new agents for their organization. What you get is a bunch of ninja/James Bond style action, and some semi-exciting thrills.  This one reminded me of Umbrella Academy and a little bit of Planetary, but in the cheap knock-off sort of way.  Not really a good thing.

The interesting tid-bit here is that it features art by one of my new favorite comic artists, Fiona Staples, who has been killing it on Saga lately.  Her art here is from about two years ago, and while her work in Mystery Society is quite good, I will definitely say that she has experienced improvement.

Overall, this was entertaining, but not overly impressive.

Godzilla Half-Century War #1 of 5: Buying this comic was a no-brainer.  It was written and drawn by James Stokoe, a guy that blew me away with his work on Orc Stain.  Apparently, Stokoe is a huge Godzilla fan, and getting to make a Godzilla comic is basically a dream come true for the guy.

Well, all that shows because this is one incredibly entertaining and engaging first issue.  It starts with Godzilla majorly fucking shit up in Tokyo as one tank commander, Ota Murakami, attempts to deal a bit of damage to the beast while saving the lives of innocent civilians.  Along with his tank operator, Kentaro, the two become the only effective means of limiting the damage and death that Godzilla lays down.

Sure, it's kinda a standard way of starting out a Godzilla comic, but Stokoe does a great job of introducing the primary characters and delivering some absolutely awesome Godzilla action.  Most importantly, the action is great, and as I've come to expect from Stokoe, the art is absolutely fantastic.  Moving forward, this looks to be a really great mini-series, and I'll be eagerly anticipating each of these issues.

Blue Estate #12: Sure it's been a while between issues, but I'm always willing to wait for an issue of Blue Estate simply because it is always awesome, and easily one of my favorite reads of the week.

This 12th issue wraps up "Season One", or what is basically the first major story line of the series. All the story threads that have been building and building over the past eleven issues pay off here, and the conclusion is pretty damn entertaining.  There's a great combination of shocking and hilarious moments that play out in this issue, and I'm glad that Kalvachev was able to pull it all together for an awesome finale.

Blue Estate is definitely one of my favorite comic series, and it's one that I highly recommend.  Each issue has been a great blend of hilarity, action, and wild plot development.  This comic is definitely one that will keep the reader on his or her toes and leave you wanting more.  I'm not totally positive that there are more issues of Blue Estate planned after this, but my fingers are crossed that there will be more of this amazing comic to come in the very near future.  As far as crime comics go, or any kind of comic for that matter, this is one of the best.

Batman #12: Well, we've reached the one-year mark with all these new DC titles, and after starting out reading seven of the new fifty-two comics, I've whittled that list down to a paltry two titles.  One of those that's still left kicking after all this time is Batman.

Truth be told, Batman has been just barely hanging in there as I've been a bit bored with the whole "Court of the Owls" story line.  Give me some classic bat-villains damn it!  The Owl business was a bit too trumped up for my tastes. That being said, this 12th issue was quite good...probably because there was no sign of any Owl garbage, and the art was done by Becky Cloonan, who totally rocked it.

What this issue did have was a sort of back to the roots approach that was told through the point of view of Harper Row, a Gotham City electrician who is intent on helping the Batman do his crime fighting thing in her own little way.  Harper essentially figures out how Batman controls the CCTV cameras throughout the city while he is doing his thing, and tries to do the Caped Crusader a solid by bolstering his system.  Her plan, though filled with good intentions, backfires with nearly deadly consequences.

Sure, this issue didn't have great over-arching plots and all that, but it was cool to see Batman through the eyes of a regular Gothamite.  Not to mention, the writing and art were much better than usual here too.  My hope is that the whole "Court of the Owls" business is behind us, and moving on Snyder can deliver more compelling Batman stories.

Graphic Novel Review: Orc Stain vol. 1 with added bonus! Issues 6 and 7!

I'm here today to tell you about the wonders of Orc Stain, an amazing comic created, written, penciled, inked, colored, and lettered by James Stokoe. (What? He can't make the paper it's printed on too? C'mon!) Not only does the man do it all, but he does it all extremely well.  This comic is a triumph of creativity and craftsmanship.

For ages upon ages, the world has been dominated by the orcs.  Savage, cruel, duplicitous, and murderous by nature, no one orc has yet been able to bring the hordes that cover the globe under his thumb.  That's not to say no one has tried.  The most recent of mighty orcs is one calling himself the Orc Tzar. Backed by a mighty host of orc warriors, he leads his mob north in search of an ancient artifact of the gods, the ganga-gronch.

While the Orc Tzar and his minions surge northward, One-Eye, a skilled thief, makes his way in the world by raiding tombs and keeping his gronch out of harms way.  When things go sour with his thieving partner, Pointy-Face, One-Eye finds himself on the wrong end of a poxa-gronka vendetta, and on the run from the Orc Tzar's elite soldiers who are tracking down all one eyed orcs because those who possess only one eye may hold the the key to finding the ganga-gronch.

At this point, you are probably wondering, "what the fuck is a 'gronch'?"  Well, the gronch is a precious commodity in the world of Orc Stain.  A "gronch" is an orc's junk, and is part currency, part trophy.  To lose one's gronch is a very bad thing, but to have collected gronches is a big bonus in this world.  Pretty fucked up I know, but also incredibly hilarious.  Oh, and a "poxa-gronka" is like a vendetta on someone's dick.  No rest until you've taken their gronch.  I'm so glad I'm not an orc.

Maybe a comic about orcs and their wangers sounds immature to you, or maybe it sounds as if it's the funniest thing ever, but before you judge a book by it's gronch, let me just say there is so much more to be had here.  Stokoe has created an incredibly exciting world where pretty much anything goes, and all the rules of civility have been thrown out the window.  Simply by putting orcs at the top of the food chain makes for some fun times, but Stokoe has made himself a pretty amazing fantasy world populated by some wonderfully weird and strange creatures and characters.  There's swamp rambas (witch-like hermits who excel in the arts of poison), sentient hoods (weird furry creatures who attach themselves to another being and form some sort of symbiotic bond), a bevvy of orc varieties, as well as numerous other creatures both big and small.

In addition to an incredible world that is a lot of fun to immerse yourself in, you get page after glorious page of insanely hyper-detailed art that is positively mind-blasting.  Stokoe's art is absolutely fucking nuts.  Don't believe me? Just click on them shits and embiggerate them. Or check out the dude's blog.  Every panel on every page is wonderful.  I can't imagine how labor intensive each page must be, or how long it takes the guy to finish a page, the long gaps between issues seems to indicate things take a loooong time. I'm willing to wait. Stokoe is a freak.

So, great story, great art...are there any negatives?  Well, there is one slight negative related to the first volume...while it does collect the first 5 glorious issues of Orc Stain, it doesn't collect the entirety of the first story arc. It ends with a pretty brutal cliff-hanger too. What the fuck?  I don't know what happened here, but I guess Image decided to not wait for issue 6 before releasing a graphic novel collection.  This is a bit of a let down, and may have defeated lesser men, but not I.  For I also own issues 6 and 7 giving me all the Orc Stains known to man.

                          

I'm happy to report that all the awesomeness I came to love and expect from the first volume can be found in epic abundance in issues six and seven as well.  The sixth issue ties up the first arc, and ends with a pretty big and important reveal.  From there, the seventh issue finds our pal One-Eye with the dangerous swamp ramba Bowie as they journey through a deadly mountain pass populated by what appears to be extremely deadly, (and blind) ninja-bunnies.  Yes, you read that right.

Like I said earlier, I'm not really sure what Stokoe's publication rate is, but I will be doing my best to wait patiently for the eighth issue.  Seeing as I read the entirety of the series so far more or less back to back, that wait could be quite grueling.

Orc Stain is a feat of comic genius, and should be enjoyed by as many people as possible.  I give this bad boy the fullest of Battle Hymns recommendations.  Go forth! Read! Enjoy! Viva la Gronch!

Grade: A+