Skull Kickers #2

Written by Jim Zubkavich
Art by Edwin Huang

I don't usually read books like this, and have been checking this out on the recommendation of the manager at the comic store I shop at.  The first issue intrigued me enough to come back for a second, and I'm afraid that this book is working its magic on me, and is likely to get added to my pull-list pretty soon.

In a lot of ways, this book reminds me of early issues of Chew.  At the start, I wasn't that interested in the title, partly because of the artwork, and now it's one of my favourite titles.  The same thing is working for Skull Kickers.  I've never been a big fan of what I think of as the Udon house style, which is how I would describe the art in this issue, with its manga influence and bright digital colours (I hate the way the fight in the burning building looks), but I find that it suits this type of story so well that it is growing on me.

The story, about a stupid human and a possibly stupider dwarf journeying to recover the body of a dead political official from a zombie-like creature, is amusing and quick-witted.  The two rescue a pair of merchants and their employees from a goblin attack just to rob them themselves.  This, and the scene where they threaten to eat a prisoner are pretty funny.  I'm not sure if there is enough material here for an on-going comic, but I'm curious to see where the story leads.