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Review: Skullkickers #14 – Everything You Knew Was Vaguely Incorrect

Review: Skullkickers #14 – Everything You Knew Was Vaguely IncorrectPeter S. Svensson reads and reviews comics for Bleeding Cool.

Image has asked that we not spoil the massive major game-changing holy shit did I just read that aspect of the latest issue. So I won't.

Skullkickers 14 is one of those rare issues that make you go back and reread everything with a new understanding. There are precious few comics that can pull that sort of reveal off. I never would have thought that Skullkickers would be one of them. This is no insult to writer Jim Zub, who I've been following for years. But this issue made me go WTF and then DAMN and HOLY SHIT OH SHIT SHIT SHIT.

If you pick up the current issue, you will understand the latest revelations about as much as those who have been following the adventures of "Shorty" and "Baldy", two mercenaries in a fantasy world trying to make a living, not be killed by random encounters and basically get into brutal yet hilarious action-adventure. The book doesn't take itself too seriously, and it's been one of the books that would cheer me up every month. This issue… isn't like the rest. I mean, there's this whole "Anything posted about it is a spoiler" thing. Well, the solicitation makes this much clear, see "Baldy" (for storytelling reasons, we as readers do not know the names of the two main characters and have assigned them labels based on their physical characteristics.) has a gun. This is a weird thing, as this otherwise is a pretty bog-standard map-fantasy world with dungeons and occasionally dragons, and perhaps explorers who go forth and find paths towards adventure. It's not that this is some sort of steampunkish setting where guns and railroads and girls wearing extraneous gears are common. This issue explains the gun. I had a pet theory before reading it. I was wrong, so very very very wrong.

In an ideal world, I could say "When you go to your Friendly Local Comic Book Shop today to pick up your books, grab a copy!" But I work at a comic shop, I know the numbers. The odds are that your local shop doesn't carry it because we retailers are a cowardly, superstitious lot and just order the bare minimum we're guaranteed to sell, never taking risks on books that don't feature Batman or Wolverine. If they have Skullkickers #14, pick it up. You won't suffer from not having read the past few issues. (The first issue of the arc, #13 does recap EVERYTHING if you want to backtrack and get some context, but really, believe me when I say you don't have to pick it up.) You will want to read the next issue immediately.

Now, you may ask, "But comics are expensive, and trying out a new book is risky! What if I spend good solid cash on it and not like it?!" Jim Zub has an answer. Skullkickers.com puts up backissues of the book online as a webcomic for free. You can go right now and read a bunch of it. FOR FREE. It's high-octane fantasy action-adventure with humor and gorgeous art. If any bit of that sounds appealing, the most you have to lose is time.

Alright. So, what else can I say about this latest issue without blowing away any of the big shocking changes that will still be surprising if you haven't been following the series but at least have the gist of it?

It's awesome.

(Hey there True Bleeders! I want you to respond to this review with your favorite comic that changed everything and made you go back and reread the past issues in a new light!)

Skullkickers is published by Image Comics and is available now.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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