ORCS!, a new six-issue fantasy comic series by Christine Larsen, is coming in February 2021 from BOOM! Studios imprint KaBOOM! The story will follow a group of misfit Orcs that set off on an adventure in the Known World.
After a prank involving an acorn leads to an understanding that results in exile, Bog and his crew find themselves banished from their Orcish village by monarch King Hrograhgah. Following in the steps of the legendary Orc adventure Dod One-Eye, Bog and his crew enter the ominous Eerieasallhel Forest, where they encounter gnomes, trolls, and more.
Can Bog, Zep, Pez, Utzu and Gurh survive, claim their fortune, and find their way back home? Or are they about to discover that the real fortune is the friends they made along the way? Hopefully both!
ORCS! creator Larsen is an adjunct instructor teaching comics and illustration at the University of the Arts Philadelphia, and she and John Allison are the co-creators of By Night! from BOOM! Studios. In addition to other self-published work, Larsen has also illustrated licensed comics like Adventure Time from BOOM! Studios and Samaurai Jack from IDW.
You can get a preview of the first pages of ORCS! below, and if you’re interested in reading BOOM!’s offical press release on the upcoming comic, you can find that by scrolling all the way down. Please be sure and let The Beat know if you’ll be picking up ORCS! in the comment section!
LOS ANGELES, CA (November 18, 2020) – BOOM! Studios today announced an all-new original six-issue comic book series, ORCS! by cartoonist Christine Larsen (Adventure Time, By Night), about a band of misfit Orcs who set off into the great, wide Known World in search of glory and gold but find that the real treasures were the friends they made along the way.
The Adventure Starts Here! Join Bog and his crew, who were banished from their Orcish village by King Hrograhgah (it was a simple misunderstanding, involving an acorn-related prank!) and must now venture out into the world to seek their fortune and hopefully, one day, find their way back home again! Bog, Zep, Pez, Utzu and Gurh’s many adventures will find them entering the dreaded Eerieasallhel Forest, facing off against Trolls, Gnomes, squirrels and more, and even following in the footsteps of the legendary Orc hero, Dod One-Eye!
Christine Larsen is a Harvey Award-nominated cartoonist and Illustrator from Philadelphia, PA, who creates art for comics, book covers, stories, posters and albums. She has worked with clients such as Dark Horse, Image Comics, IDW, BOOM! Studios, DC Online, and Simon & Schuster. In addition to numerous self published ventures, she is co-creator with John Allison on By Night! from Boom! Studios and has illustrated many licensed stories, including Samurai Jack from IDW and Adventure Time from BOOM! Studios. Larsen is also an adjunct instructor at the University of the Arts Philadelphia where she teaches illustration and comics.
“ORCS! is dedicated to everyone who’s taken an arrow from the hero, who wasn’t more than a nameless menace in the story, who didn’t have the looks for the main role—the quirky sidekicks, goofy henchmen, and army of lackeys,” said Larsen. “Goons are heroes, too!”
ORCS! is the latest release from BOOM! Studios’ award-winning KaBOOM! imprint, home to comics for middle grade and younger readers including original series Just Beyond by R.L. Stine and Kelly & Nichole Matthews, Hex Vet by Sam Davies, Drew and Jot by Art Baltazar, Hotel Dare by Terry Blas and Claudia Aguirre, RuinWorld by Derek Laufman, and Pandora’s Legacy by Kara Leopard and Kelly & Nichole Matthews.
“Christine Larsen brings a wicked sense of humor and incredibly fun illustrations to this series about the misunderstood characters from your typical fantasy quest finally getting a chance to step up and be the heroes of their own story,” said Shannon Watters, Senior Editor, BOOM! Studios. “If you’ve ever played Dungeons & Dragons, read a fantasy novel, or played an online quest and wondered about all the characters left in the dust, ORCS! is the story you’ve been waiting for.”
Print copies of ORCS! #1 will be available for sale in February 2021 at local comic book shops (use comicshoplocator.com to find the nearest one) or at the BOOM! Studios webstore. Digital copies can be purchased from content providers, including comiXology, iBooks, Google Play, and Madefire.
For more on ORCS! and other projects from BOOM! Studios, stay tuned to boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.
