Skullkickers #10 – PREVIEW

Skullkickers #10 PREVIEW

Story by: Jim Zubkavich
Art By: Misty Coats & Edwin Huang

‘FIVE FUNERALS AND A BUCKET OF BLOOD,’ Part Four This issue has it all: A cover, printed pages, comic panels in sequential order and staples! You heard that right – staples! Okay, now that we’re past that stuff – Does anyone read this info? Do you? Let us know at http://www.skullkickers.com. PS: We now have more issues than Battle Chasers.

 

Skullkickers #8 – PREVIEW

SKULLKICKERS #8
story JIM ZUB
art EDWIN HUANG and MISTY COATS
cover CHRIS STEVENS

“FIVE FUNERALS and A BUCKET OF BLOOD” Part Two

Weaponless, weary and wanted by the law! The Skullkickers’ heroic reputation has flip-flopped in a whirlwind of faerie magic and bloody bodies. Who’s responsible and how bad are they gonna get thumped by everyone’s favorite monster mashers?

SkullKickers Vol 1: 1000 Opas and a Dead Body -Graphic Novel Review

Written by Jim Zub, Line art by Edwin Haung, Colors by Misty Coats, and Art by Chris Stevens

Story: The Dwarf and the Big Guy go around kicking the ass of anything that gets in their way…or just seems convenient to kick.

The Good: First of all, if you are a fan of comics and graphic novels and did not immediately think “I need to read that,” when you saw the title Skullkickers, then really, what’s the point of even trying? But at the same time, with a name like Skullkickers, the creative team needs to really bring the awesome.  So, do they? Do they? Well, Jim Zub definitely does. The script is lively and absolutely hilarious. The Dwarf and the Big Guy (they have no names) are extremely fun characters, working of the classic loose cannon and stoic pair up. And if there was any confusion, the Dwarf is the loose cannon. Now loose cannons are always fun to write and they get the most notice from the audience, but the stoic ones are much more challenging. The bigger the loose cannon, the more grounded the other character needs to be, and it can be challenging to create this dynamic if you create something as crazy the Dwarf. But the Big Guy is the perfect balance. Never too crazy, always calm even when things get really…really…really crazy. In fact, there were times when the Dwarf was present that I would have preferred the Big Guy…and yet never a time when the Big Guy was being featured where I was wondering what the Dwarf was up to. As fun as the Dwarf is, the Big Guy is more compelling.

Our heroes aside, there is also something very characteristic to Skullkickers that must be addressed. The “Imminent Violence” and “Sneaky-Sneak” that adorns the pages. Literarlly. Imagine if POW! or BAMM! or KRRRACCKKAAACOOOM! was used for silent moments. So, we get sound effects for Corose Stench and Stride! Stride! The other purpose these serve, aside from telling us silent action, is to—well, tell us action. Sure, we can see the Dwarf kicking a skull…but it’s must funnier to “Skull Kick” in big orange letters accompanying the action.

The Perfectly Decent: Okay…so, while I was reading, I really enjoyed the art. Edwin Huang’s style and Misty Coats colors seemed perfect for Zub’s script. But then I got to the bonus stories that originally appeared in the popgun anthology with art by Chris Stevens. Stevens has a much more realistic style than Huang, and with the absurdity of the stories Zub tells, you would think that it wouldn’t mesh well. That might have been true with any other genre (I just read a preview for an upcoming graphic novel called Massively Effective that uses a style more similar to Huang’s and worked wonderfully).  But with the fantasy setting, the more realistic approach evokes the classic fantasy feel  while the humor contradicts it—a similar match to the Dwarf and the Big Guy. Again, nothing wrong with Huang and Coats, but I would have loved to see what Stevens could have done with the material.

Also…$9.99! Damn do I love Image. They really know how to hook people in. I can’t wait for volume 2.

Grade: B+

-Roman Colombo

Skullkickers #7 – Advance Review

by Jim Zub (writer), Edwin Huang (artist), Misty Coats (colorist), and Marshall Dillon (letterer)

The Story:  At their own celebratory dinner, our two adventurers find themselves framed for a bloodbath they didn’t commit.

The Review:  It’s been a while since I’ve read Skullkickers.  I picked up the first issue and found myself disappointed, and moved on to other books.  With this being the first issue of the second arc, I figured I’d give it another go.

One thing that certainly hasn’t changed since issue 1 is the art.  Wow, wow, wow is this comic pretty.  Between Edwin Huang’s big-budget comedy anime feel and Misty Coats’ bright, vibrant colors, this is a book that’s larger than life and absolutely brimming with energy.  While still looking like a cartoon, it’s work that’s really detailed, full of character, and really polished.  The world Huang and Coats create is immediately likable.  This is a world that’s so full of life with a cast of characters that all look adorable.  It’s the sort of comic that has art that makes you really, really want to like it.

What makes this issue better than the last time I read it, however, is Jim Zub’s writing.  I won’t necessarily say that it’s improved, only that he hits  more of the right notes this time.  Skullkickers is just the kind of book.  It’s a comic that launches a never-ending stream of jokes and, as is usually the case in situations like that, not every joke is going to be a hit.  This month, his hit percentage is significantly higher than when I last read the book.   His jokes hit the mark far more often than they fall flat.  There are still a few that felt forced or didn’t hit the mark, but overall, this was a book that left me smiling more often that not.

Part of this is because Zub goes for natural avenues of humor that suit this comic well.  For instance, putting the two adventurers into a royal court situation leads to the sort of “fish out of water” comedy that is a natural fit for this comic and it’s rough and tough characters.  Seeing the dwarf’s attempt at polite dinner conversation, for instance, is hilarious.  Other jokes succeed as well, for instance, the running disparaging of the unfortunately named town of Mudwich.

Skull-Kickers #2 – Review

By: Jim Zubkavich (writer), Edwin Huang (art), Misty Coats (colors) & Marshall Dillon (letters)

The Story: The big-bald-dude/rampaging-dwarf continue their adventure to recover the body of a murdered noble.

What’s Good: “Romp…”  That is the word that best describes this comic.  The first issue of Skull-kickers was a little hard to review because of the hype surrounding it (with the first issue getting bid up on eBay before it even shipped).  In reading #1, there was a tendency to have a, “Well, it’s good, but it isn’t all that.” And some of that reaction was probably just blowback against the hype-train because (in a vacuum) issue #1 was just fine.

Ironically, this second issue is much better than issue #1, yet it is getting no hype.  There were no breathless pantings on message boards about how “Wednesday is the big day for issue #2!!!!”

What makes this issue such fun is that it just keeps bouncing along and alternating between action and humor.  First we get a big fight scene of our duo trying to reclaim the corpse they’re looking for from a troll and horde of bad guys. Then we see them interrogating a survivor for information about the bad guy’s hideout by pretending to eat him (trust me, it’s funny), then there’s a battle with orcs and we wrap up with the comical image of these two guys sharing a horse.  The action is pretty good, but the humor is really this comic’s calling card.