Okko Volume 2: The Cycle of Earth
Hub's graphic-novel debut, Okko: The Cycle of Water (2007), was distinguished by brilliant artistry and a dynamic story about a medieval samurai warrior and his trio of itinerant sidekicks. As their adventures continue, Okko and his companions narrowly escape a backstreet ambush in one of the Pajan Empire's many fortress cities and begin tracking their monk-robed attackers to a remote monastery. One of the ominous clues the foursome uncovers on a treacherous journey into mountainous wilderness includes a rumor that corpses are unaccountably disappearing from Pajan battlefields. After they endure several near-fatal encounters with spell-brandishing sorcerers, it becomes clear that their adversaries are no ordinary monks. When Okko goes incognito as one of the monastery's spectral brethren, he makes a disquieting discovery: the monks are raising the dead for a skeletal army poised to overthrow Pajan civilization. If there is a flaw in the volume's painstakingly detailed, Asian-influenced panels, it's that the pages bearing them aren't nearly large enough to properly showcase Hub's superlative craftsmanship. --Carl Hays