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Tripwire Top 10 Graphic Novels Of 2021: Day Two

Published

5 years ago

December 24, 2021

Admin

Behind The Mask

It’s the end of 2021 and here’s Tripwire’s top 10 graphic novels of the year with one choice a day from now until 1 January 2022…

2. Next up we have Rorschach by Tom King, Jorge Fornes and Dave Stewart, DC Comics.

How do you follow a classic? Watchmen by Moore and Gibbons is still considered to be such a high watermark in modern comics so King and Fornes taking this on is a bit like a new director coming in and creating a follow-up to Francis Coppola’s The Godfather. Rorschach is in here because of the sheer ambition involved with writer King channeling paranoid 1970s conspiracy theory movies like Three Days Of The Condor and All The President’s Men as well as offering a new take on Moore and Gibbons’ world of pirate comics, superheroes in society and alien invasions. Fornes is a wonderful illustrative partner in crime here too, with a classic sense of storytelling and kinetic action and character portrayals.

Rorschach doesn’t quite live up to its initial promise as a series but the intention here is an admirable and impressive one which is why it deserves to be part of our Top 10 list. King has proven himself to be one of the most distinctive voices in comics today and Fornes has already come such a huge way in a short time as an artist very much in the mould of modern greats like David Mazzuchelli, Steve Dillon and Dave Gibbons and vintage masters like Alex Toth while offering something new at the same time. The covers for each issue, reprinted in this lavish hardcover too, by Fornes are also graphic and intelligently composed too.

Dave Stewart’s colouring is the perfect match to Fornes’ linework too. Rorschach is a worthy dive back into Moore and Gibbons’ seminal setting.It is cinematic, thought-provoking and well worth a reader’s time.