Half dwarf, half orc, D’ORC finds himself rather inconveniently caught in the middle of Sunderaine’s never-ending war. He’s apparently the one prophesied to end the world, and all he’s got by his side is a wise-cracking enchanted shield and a chicken.
Author-illustrator Brett Bean has worked on several esteemed projects, notably working as an illustrator on Skottie Young’s beloved series I Hate Fairyland and Marvel’s Rocket and Groot. His other works range from Draw! Brett Bean Breaks Down the Art of Drawing, to graphic novel series Zoo Patrol Squad. His latest project is D’ORC, a hilariously brilliant high fantasy romp coming to Image Comics in February 2026.
A whimsical, laugh-out-loud fantasy, D’Orc follows an orphaned half-dwarf, half-orc, wielding an ambitiously violent sentient shield, caught in the middle of a never-ending war between the Light and Dark. We loved issue #1 (check out our review here), and ahead of the series’ debut on February 4, we recently caught up with creator Brett Bean.
While D’Orc might be set in its own fantasy world, brimming with wild and whimsical characters, the spark for the series came from Bean’s life experiences. “The original spark, believe it or not, was life,” he explains. “I’ve kind of always been the guy to sit in between factions from middle school onwards. My extreme narrow focused parents to liberal minded friends and other family members, I was able to get through high school sitting between jocks and nerds, the in crowds and the outcasts. Even through college I bridged the gaps between groups and never saw myself in any crowd and that made me feel individual and alone as well as familiar with opportunity to interact with lots of personalities. It grew from that spark in direction.”
His protagonist D’Orc is an inherently complex individual — loyalty is key, but he’s certainly not a person to be messed with. “D’orc is fiercely loyal, good natured most days, but also knows a level of anger that brews inside that frightens himself when it comes out,” Bean says. “I think a lot of people can feel that way. The awakening of self as you enter a bigger world that is ready to devour you.”
In creating a comic brimming with humour, he still keeps his portrayal of characters, no matter how whimsical, grounded. “I think of them as people. Fantastical, but at the end of the day, people,” he says. “So I write to how I think they’d act and react to each other.”
“We all have moments of humor, pain, love, kindness, anger, and joy and sometimes all in one day and butted up next to each other. It’s just a balance with beats to a story. My moments of clarity in story or character growth comes from the beats between humor and action. Just how I live day to day.”
Developing a fantasy series like this wasn’t without its challenges. With comics especially, the process carries a lot of intensity. “The biggest challenge is leaving comfortability for the unknown. 20 years in animation, video games, TV, and film. I have a slew of knowledge on how things work, pipelines, getting stuff done. Comics is the wild west. There is no rhyme or reason to much of this, and you wing it as you go. It’s a leap of faith and I’m not just jumping alone; I grabbed my kids and wife and hurled them off the ledge too! So, staying creative knowing I was starting down a path I had no idea how it would end was the biggest challenge. Writing and drawing is easy compared to that initial jump.”
One thing that instantly stands out about D’ORC is Brett Bean’s signature comedic style. We compared it to Terry Pratchett (of Discworld fame) and Douglas Adams (of A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame). “Wow, that is high compliments. I appreciate that. I honestly wanted to be an improv actor growing up so Ryan Stiles and Colin Mochrie were huge influences from Whose Line Is It Anyway.”
“I almost moved in High school with my best friend, but he chickened out on me at the last second. I had all my stuff in the back of my dad’s car and was going to just take it and never look back, Aw youth… Years later I took classes when I eventually landed in LA and did a show in front of an audience and always thought if drawing and writing didn’t work, I’d go try it out. Other big humor influences were Bill Watterson, Joss Whedon, Monty Python, the movie Clue, Will Ferrel, Sergio Aregones, Don Martin, Mad Magazine. Stuff like that.”
In terms of world building, Bean sees parody and tropes as almost negative words. “For me, this universe is self-contained. All the humor comes from situations that arise within its OWN universe,” he explains. “At least that’s how I see it. Other books with humor use that formula of parody and trope displacement but I learned this from my time with Disney is to make it timeless, or within its own ecosystem. That way it can be enjoyed whenever someone picks it up, tomorrow next year, hopefully five years from now. That’s the goal, right? How many great stories have been written and enjoyed for generations. We try to make something that works and is familiar in some ways, and different in others. It’s the balancing act to every new series or story. I love all this stuff, it’s just a fertile playground to create a fantasy world that has familiar elements and then rearrange them to feel unique and fresh.”
If you’ve read our review, you’ll know that our favourite character is the wise-cracking enchanted shield, but a shield was not the original plan. “Originally it was going to be a bow and arrow where he found an enchanted bow and every time, he fired her, she’d move her hips or something and he’d be off target,” he reveals. “But that’s a one punchline character and not very deep for an ongoing series.”
“Then I remembered how Rob Reiner had cast James Caan in Misery. He wanted James, an actor always wanting to move around in a scene. He wanted this dynamic actor so he could stick him in a bed and make him miserable. You can see how that created his character. That push and pull of the situation and his nature. I just put together my extremely violent and angry personality into the opposite setting, a defensive weapon. That made me laugh, boom. Done.”
And yes, an origin story for the shield is in the works. “Yes, it will happen. It will all weave in and out of the story I have planned.”
Finally, we asked Bean how long he foresees D’ORC running for. “I have story ideas through issue 20. I have big plot points I want to hit, yes. I know how it ‘ends’ but as you write, things change and characters begin to write themselves, so who knows. Other characters are waiting to join the story as well.”
One goal, perhaps, is to open up the universe for other artists to jump in. “I love chicken so much I can expand the universe, hire another artist and let them run with the character and make a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead type of situation. Basically, from Chicken’s point of view as he goes off to explore the world of Sunderaine. Get more lore from his storyline, but from a very different perspective.”
We’re seated for wherever the story takes us next!
D’ORC #1 lands in comic stores on February 1.
