Skullkickers #18

Written by Justin Jordan, Blair Butler, Charles Soule, J. Torres, John Layman, and Aubrey Sitterson
Art by Tradd Moore, Enrique Rivera, Michael Mayne, Alberto J. Alburquerque, Rob Guillory, and Ivan Anaya

In some ways, I think I prefer the 'Tavern Tales' issues of Skullkickers that show up between story arcs more than I do the actual comic itself sometimes.  This latest version, 'Son of Tavern Tales', has six short stories that more or less perfectly distill what makes Skullkickers work so well.

The book opens with the Luther Strode team of Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore (who clearly has never seen another picture of a dwarf).  Their story is cute and amusing, as is the one after it by Blair Butler and Enrique Rivera.

Charles Soule and Michael Mayne give us a great story about the world's best beer, and the strange creature that makes it so great.  J. Torres and Alberto J. Alburquerque show what happens with role playing games get out of hand (always zombies).

The Chew team provide the best story in this book, as our favourite mercenaries try to figure out a way to scam themselves free beer for life in a bar where the owner has an interest in collecting mythological    tail.  (I was hoping for a Poyo cameo, but no luck).

The final story, by Aubrey Sitterson and Ivan Anaya show that in medieval fantasy times, guilds operated much like unions do today.

This extra-sized issue was a nice treat.  This series is going on a bit of a hiatus until next year, and I look forward to its return, but I look even more forward to the Tavern Tales issue that comes after the next arc.

Resurrection #7

Written by Marc Guggenheim and Aubrey Sitterson
Art by Justin Greenwood and Brett Weldele

This is another strong issue of Resurrection. Guggenheim's story takes some time for character work as the two Secret Service guys watch over the armored car our protagonists and Bill Clinton are sleeping in, although they don't do a very good job of guarding it.

Guggenheim also introduces a new element into the story in the form of a group of people who have been worshiping the bugs, which has had the effect of keeping Baltimore safe throughout the invasion, and making it the nicest city in the world (which is ironic, since there are large sections of Baltimore today that look like the rest of the world does in this comic).

The back up, but Sitterson and Weldele is a nice little exploration of the 'Burns', the people that had been experimented on by the Bugs. Weldele colours his own work here, strengthening the comparison I usually make between him and Ben Templesmith.