After the wizard battle, Pez feels left out. She decides to play a joke on Bog. It seems funny at first but causes him big problems. With all the attention on him, will Pez ever feel like she belongs? Find out in Orcs! The Curse #2 from BOOM! Studios.

ORCS! THE CURSE #2

Writer: Christine Larsen
Artist: Christine Larsen
Colorist: Gonçalo Lopes
Editor: Sophie Philips-Roberts
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: July 27, 2022

Previously in Orcs! The Curse: The Orcs have a dance party when suddenly a wizard arrives with a retinue of crow people and announces that he is summoning them to join his army. The Orcs have had some experience with evil wizards. They pull out their standard mercenary contract. At a minimum, they want fair wages. In a huff, the wizard flees. His crow servants are willing to help, but he does not feel they are good enough as they are. Instead, he calls them all together and casts another spell on them, turning them into a monster. A few manage to escape and go to the Orcs to warn them and to ask their witch if she could help save their people. The wizard attacks; Granny puts her spell together; and the crows deliver the spell!

AND IDLE PRANK WITH CONSEQUENCES

Orcs! The Curse #2 opens with a story about the great Orc adventurer, Drod, and her companions. She recently received a fancy upgrade to her magic sword and does not know yet what it does. Plainly, the best way to figure this out is by attacking things. It is a story that plays out like a D&D game and tells us something about Orcs.

The crow people, Carn and Mori, decide to stay with the Orcs at least through winter. They want to repay the Orcs for their help, but Granny only asks for four more feathers so she can prevent the wizard from turning them into monsters. Utzu helps bandage the wounded. That night, Granny has a nightmare about not being able to save the Orcs. When she awakens, she discovers she made a mystery potion in her sleep.

Granny wakes Utzu up announcing that she wants to teach her magic. Pez wants to learn too, but Granny turns her down and tells her to make herself useful. Pez goes to the workshop where Bog jokes about her not being useful. She checks in with Hurl in the kitchen, but he already has help. She goes back to Granny’s place, but no one is there. Instead, she takes the mystery potion.

Granny takes Utzu outside to refresh the protection spells. Pez returns to the workshop and offers Bog the potion. He drinks it without asking about it. The potion makes him fart, but not just normal farts. To the guys, they are very stinky, but to the girls, they smell good and make him irresistible. Hilarity ensues as Bog tries to get away and hide without farting more. He and Zep decide to flee the cave, but Zep sends young Sprog to find Granny and let her know what is going on. It does give us a moment with Bog, who knows this is a curse because he does not like girls at all. And Zep, who gets a hard time for pretending to be a guy finds the farts smelly.

And then they run into a bear, who should be hibernating, and who happens to be female. Bog tries to get his friends to flee, but Zep grabs her mask, which is full of the smell, and throws to distract the bear. It works. They travel to the Dwarf city, hoping to hide out deep in the catacombs. It does not take long to realize that Bog’s curse also affects Dwarves.

Granny, Utzu, and Sprog head out to look for Bog. Granny makes sure they have masks so the smell will not affect them. Pez sees them and wants to help. Instead, Granny and Utzu scold her and leave her behind. They travel by teleportation and manage to reach Bog before he gets into much more trouble and gives him an antidote. The antidote works, but with some unexpected consequences!

GETTING AWAY AND FEELING LEFT OUT

The artwork of Orcs! The Curse #2 is vibrant and active. The loose style is somewhat cartoonish, but that is great for depicting the Orcs. I also like the use of color. Granny’s firelit workshop is colored with warm, dark tones. But when she dozes off, an idol on her worktable starts to ooze a green vapor. Granny’s nightmare is also colored mostly in green and, as it happens, so is the potion she makes in her sleep. I did not catch this connection until a second read, and I love how this subtle touch ties things together.

The main part of the plot is about poor Bog and his farts. He is a big, tough-looking guy, but the curse makes him profound uncomfortable, and we can see that. He does not flee out of fear but rather to get away and have some time to think about what to do. We have a lot of sympathy for him even while we are amused at the frequent toots that surround him. While this storyline is big and obvious, there is a secondary story about Pez, who wants to do things too, while everyone else tells her she is useless, especially after her joke on Bog has such dire consequences. She struggles both with feeling left out and with coming to grips that she makes a mistake.

BOTTOM LINE: A VIVID WORLD AND A GREAT STORY

Orcs! The Curse #2 is rollicking and amusing but with some serious undertones. I like that the Orcs often act without considering the consequences, but nonetheless are affected by them and must deal with them. And the story closes with a great connection to the wizard who was last issue’s problem, so we have not seen the last of him!

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ORCS! The Curse #2

90%

90%

Great Story

Pez’s little prank leads to big problems for Bog!

• Writing

  9
• Art

  9
• Coloring

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