What I'm Reading: D'Orc

Viral comic hit provides a fun ride and just a bit of commiseration

Once upon a time, I was an avid comic reader and collector. Then, the hobby started to get more and more expensive, and I wandered away. These days, with each issue running $3-$5, to keep up with what used to be a $50-$60 a month habit, I would be spending $150-ish, and I just can’t justify it.

I was always more of a reader than a collector, though, and a couple of months back, my brother told me about a book that he thought I’d enjoy, D’Orc, by Brett Bean. It sounded fun, so I decided I’d pick up the first issue. Only, I couldn’t. The book turned into a surprise viral hit. It was unobtainable unless you were willing to spend big bucks. I wasn’t.

I lamented that fact to my brother, who gave his dealer a call. He was able to get me a third printing of the first issue (again, I’m a reader, not a collector) and get me on the list for new issues going forward. I’m glad he was able to because the first two issues are a ton of fun.

The story centers around D’Orc (not his real name, though through two issues we haven’t learned what his actual name is.) He is half light dwarf and half dark orc, and he lives in The Scar, the place between dark and light. He thinks both sides suck, and both sides think he has been prophesied to doom the world. He wields a blood-thirsty magic shield that pushes him toward violence. He resists, but when forced to give in, he turns berserker, which leads him to gain a second sidekick, the ghost of a chicken, formerly an innkeeper. All he really wants is to be left alone, but now both the light and the dark have sent their most powerful warriors to hunt him down and end the threat to their existence.

If it sounds ridiculous, well, it is, but it’s also hilarious. It doesn’t hurt that I identify very strongly with D’Orc, caught between the blue forces of light and the red forces of darkness who hate each other with a passion and fight on sight just because. He despises both of them and just wants them to leave him alone to live his life. Sounds very, very familiar. Yeah, it’s not subtle, but it connects and makes me root for the underdog even more.

Both issues have now sold out and are hard to find without spending a lot of money, but it looks like the first five issues will be collected in graphic novel format later this year. If you like over-the-top fantasy silliness, I highly recommend it, and extra points if you’re one of those people who feel like you’re caught between two factions of zealots and just want to be left alone.