Skullkickers #6

Written by Chris Sims, Brian Clevinger, Ray Fawkes, and Adam Warren
Art by Joe Vriens, Jim Zubkavich, Scott Hepburn, and Jeff Cruz

During a lull between story arcs, instead of putting the book on hiatus (which is happening until May), the Skullkickers team decided to gift us with a fun little anthology issue, made up of four short stories featuring the demon-killing duo.

The first is the best.  It's written by The ISB's Chris Sims, with really nice Sam Kieth meets Simon Bisley artwork.  This is a great zombie warrior woman story that really captures the two characters the way regular writer Zubkavich has set them up.

The same is true for the Clevinger/Zubkavich story.  It's nice to see Zub handling the art for a change; I didn't know he could draw.  The third and fourth stories are weaker, but I really enjoyed the 70s cartoon vibe of Cruz's artwork.

While all four of the stories are just riffs on the basic Skullkickers premise, I hope to see more one-off issues like this one between story arcs.  It's a good way to draw in some new readers (especially if more highly-recognized creators come on board), and reward long-term ones with something fun.

Resurrection #8

Written by Marc Guggenheim, Chris Sims, and Chad Bower
Art by Justin Greenwood and Rusty Shackles
This series has been chugging along quite nicely since its relaunch. This issue has our crew in pristine Baltimore (which I still think is odd based on the image the world has of Baltimore thanks to The Wire), and meeting with the alien that appears to be running the show. Thanks to a text box, we know that this is the same alien that was running around in the woods in the first volume, although the story in no way makes that clear or relevant.

There is a discussion about semantics, and Clinton finally tries to kick ass. Not too much happens in the main story, but Guggenheim is taking his time unfolding this tale, and I'm fine with that.

The back up is (for the second month), written by a comics blogosphere luminary instead of a professional comics writer, this time in the form of Chris Sims, with Chad Bower. This is a smart move by Oni, as I'm sure it's creating a lot more internet discussion about the comic, at least on the guest writers' sites.

It's a fun story about three adolescents who have been raised on 80s teen movies, and who have found themselves living in a town that could have been in Y the Last Man for its lack of male residents. Good stuff.