D’Orc #7 // Review
He just found out who his real father is. And to make matters worse, his real father was actually really trying to kill him. The good news is that it didn't happen. The bad news is that he's falling into a swamp that's filled with all kinds of danger. He's guaranteed not to land on his feet. But that's never stopped him from surviving before. He's starting a whole new adventure in D’Orc #7. Writer/artist Brett Bean continues a deeply enjoyable sword and sorcery fantasy adventure with the aid of colorist Frank William. The issue serves as a remarkably concise, little one-shot adventure.
D’Orc drags himself out of the swamp. It seems largely uninhabited, but there’s a rather inviting, little home in a tree that’s inhabited by a woman named Melinda who seems only too happy to welcome D’Orc for the night. He’s hardly in a position to turn down an offer of rest and comfort in an isolated, little home in a swamp. The woman living there seems perfectly nice. Granted: the local wildlife DOES involve swamp zombies that Melinda calls Bog Men. They might attack in the night, but they’re nothing that D’Orc can’t handle, right?
Bean crafts a clever, a little single-issue story four over the second of the series. This makes perfect sense as kind of a pawn for the larger concerns going on in the series. It's beautifully self-contained and remarkably well-paced. The plot slowly reveals itself with the course of the entire tissue and wraps up quite satisfying with the introduction of the next big conflict that's going to be coming in the eighth issue. Nothing too complicated. Nothing too overburden by backstory. It's just a really well articulated, single adventure. The perfect, little side quest for a character who continues to maintain a great deal of appeal.
Bean has a clever and steady grasp of how to move action across the page with a dynamic punch. The weirdness of some of the magic that's following the title character around heels, particularly well articulated. And it's remarkably witty in a visual sense. The enchanted shield has made pretty close friends with the headless chicken and its ghost. Moving the two of them together in action sequence that's also features of a lot of tricky magic really runs the risk of looking very muddled. Being managed to orchestrate everything in a way that feels remarkably vivid and distinct. Williams’ colors strike a rich depth on the page without overpowering Bean’s action.
A series moves into the second half of his first year with considerable poise. Theoretically, this might start to be when a series starts looking at bigger themes that go well beyond the initial premise, Bean has managed to construct the basics of the series well-enough to keep the series from rushing-off in all kinds of weird directions that move it away from its heart. It’s been a remarkably thought-out journey thus far. Bean continues to impress.
