[WEB] COMIC BOOK OF THE WEEK! 8/27/12 – BATTLEPUG

I read so many comics now, both on traditional paper and now digitally via ComiXology on my iPad (more on that in a future post); I don’t have time to keep up with all the fantastic web comics that have been cropping up the past several years. Thanks to the podcaster Stephanie Cooke at TALKING COMICS!, I relented to her continued support of Mike Norton’s web comic Battlepug and read the first few storylines. It was well worth the time it took to read it!

 

According to Mike, “Battlepug: The Web Comic was born out of desperate scramble to appease iFanboy. They contacted Mike to create a signature t-shirt for a new line of merch. However, Mike had been working exclusively with DC Comics for 4 years and had no original properties that he could reveal to the world yet. He drew the image you see above and had Allen color it. And lo, a BATTLEPUG was born!”

 

In case you’re like me and are unfamiliar with writer/artist Mike Norton, his web comic blub describes him thus:

Mike Norton has been working in comics for over 10 years now, gaining recognition for projects such as The Waiting Place and Jason and the Argobots. He’s made a name for himself working on books like Queen and Country, Gravity, Runaways, All-New Atom and Green Arrow/Black Canary, Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam, and Young Justice. He is currently drawing Marvel’s Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt, and his own weekly webcomic, Battlepug. He is also very, very tall.

 

Battlepug starts out with Moll and her dogs Mingo and Colfax, as she narrates the tale of "The Warrior and the Battlepug”. The saga is a tale of a fearless barbarian, his trusty and freakishly large pug, and his adventures as he battles a giant seal and many other assorted giant creatures! The story begins with the barbarian as a young child and his village is attacked, wiping out everyone. He is captured by the Kinmundy Northern Elves and forced to work as their slave until he grows into a man. The giant seal that killed his family years before attacks the Kinmundy and our hero is given his freedom after saving their village. To say more would spoil the surprises that await you on the web pages of Battlepug!

 

Read the preview pages below and you’ll see how Mike Norton’s cartoonish style is able to not only convey the unique humor of the story, but also the human drama and quirky pathos of the characters.

 

 

For more information – or to start reading Battlepug right away – go to: http://battlepug.com/