SIXMOREVODKA’S MARKO DJURDJEVIC RETURNS TO LUCCA COMICS & GAMES 2026 TO LAUNCH ITS FANTASY UNIVERSE, ORKEN 60th Anniversary Edition
Wednesday 28 October – Sunday 1 November 2026 | Lucca, Italy
Marvel cover artist Marko Djurdjevic and his studio SIXMOREVODKA will present the first public European book launch of Orken at Lucca Comics & Games 2026 – nearly a decade after the project was first revealed on the same stage.
Lucca Comics & Games have announced that they will host the first European public book launch of ORKEN, the creator-owned transmedia fantasy universe from Berlin-based studio SIXMOREVODKA and artist-author Marko Djurdjevic. This marks a return for Djurdjevic to Lucca, as he will. stand on the same festival stage where he first announced the project in 2017. Lucca Comics & Games will also be the first opportunity for European audiences to encounter the physical books and publishing line in person. Marko is best known from his cover work for Marvel Comics – including Thor, Captain America and other flagship titles – and for co-creating Degenesis, the creator-owned tabletop RPG that became a benchmark of independent game design and world-building. He now returns to Lucca to launch the world of ORKEN.
Conceived as a contemporary reinvention of fantasy, ORKEN abandons the traditional division between civilised humans and monstrous orcs and instead frames its world around a violent first contact between two civilisations at the height of their respective powers.
On one side are the Khar — the Orken inhabitants of Edom, an ancient culture deeply bound to the land they have occupied for generations. On the other are the Elemon, an industrialised human empire arriving from across the sea after exhausting the resources of its own continent. Armed with steel, organised armies and an expansionist ideology, the Elemon see Edom as a new frontier. To the Khar, their arrival represents an existential invasion.
Neither civilisation is presented as a faceless fantasy faction. ORKEN tells the conflict through shifting perspectives on both sides, following soldiers, rulers, families, believers and ordinary people caught within a collision neither culture fully understands. The result is a story about conquest, survival, identity, cultural misunderstanding and the narratives people construct to justify violence.
SIXMOREVODKA describes the central premise as a “clash of civilizations,” with the visual and tonal shorthand “Princess Mononoke on the set of Apocalypto.” Rather than building toward a conventional good-versus-evil fantasy war, ORKEN asks what happens when two sophisticated societies meet and both believe the future belongs to them.
A PC Demo of Orken was launched in February, and is free to play on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4146090/Orken/
Commenting on Orken’s release, Marko said “Lucca is the best convention I have ever attended: Organisation and atmosphere, people, weather, food, the city itself, it all creates the perfect backdrop to launch a new product. Nine years ago I was fortunate enough to be invited and present the first concepts for Orken, and now, in 2026, my journey is completed and I can finally show to the public what I’ve been building for all these years. It’s a pleasure to complete this long marathon where it once started, and I’m eager to see the audience responding to it after so many years of waiting.”
Emanuele Vietina, Director of Lucca Comics & Games added; “We are very happy to have participated in the Orken Journey from its origin. In 2017, Marko Djurdjevic presented Orken for the first time in Lucca, bringing concept art and revealing characters for the first time. We have seen it grow through the years, to become an incredible, compelling and fully realised fantasy world. Marko is a great artist, launching an independent innovative IP, Lucca Comics & Games is proud to be part of this success story, which truly showcases the festival as a creative hub for world makers and the perfect platform for other creatives to launch their game properties.”
More information can be found at https://orkenworld.com
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ORKEN ORKEN is a creator-owned transmedia fantasy universe from Berlin-based studio SIXMOREVODKA and artist-author Marko Djurdjevic. Set in the world of Edom, it chronicles the first contact between the indigenous Khar and the technologically advanced human empire of Elemon, whose arrival from across the sea ignites a brutal struggle over land, resources and survival. Told through shifting perspectives on both sides of the conflict, ORKEN approaches fantasy as a clash between cultures rather than a battle between heroes and monsters. The universe spans novels, illustrated fiction, setting books, art books and interactive media. Its 2026 Kickstarter raised €250,881 from 1,384 backers — 627% of its original goal.
