Skull Kickers #13

Despite a moniker of comic books, very few comics evoke laughs instead of grimaces.  When considering the comics I’m currently reading and the past reviews posted, a strong predilection for horror appears present, which is strange as I’ve never identified as a horror fan. I can’t watch horror movies (at least not anything made after 1968) without lots of bad dreams and haunting thoughts that populate all shadows and strangers with dreadful flesh rending and torturous human disassembling uses for a meat cleaver. So I wanted to write about a book that escaped horrific conventions, a comic comic book (although the books are there, and they are good; BPRD: The Pickens County Horror #2, Ragemoor #2, King Conan #4, along with Animal Man, Swamp Thing, and Frankenstein Agent of Shade, I’ve been reading them all).

So on the advice of the Canadians at the comic podcast Panel Culture, and a whim, I picked up Skull Kickers #13, which despite the title, most definitely refrains from horror.

On hindsight however, this issue hosts some horror elements, but still it raises more laughs than lashes. This book is funny. It is one of the few works that made me laugh aloud.

With the exception of A Prairie Home Companion Pretty Good Joke Book, and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, the grave diggers and Polonius from Hamlet, I can’t think of any works that have caused me to laugh aloud as much as Skull Kickers (maybe Cerebus…yes, I laughed whole concertos when reading Cerebus). Even the title caused all in my household to laugh when they heard I was reading a new comic entitled Skull Kickers, giggles never failed to  erupt. I’m not sure why, but apparently kicking skulls is funny.

Comics are well suited to humor with the combination of both words and images, and the placement of panels allows the creators to control time in and the progression of a reader’s attention and, to a degree, pace of reading, that is not available to the same degree in other mediums.  Jim Zub, Edwin Huang and Misty Coats harmonize these elements well.

This is the first issue of Skull Kickers that I’ve read, so I’m still learning the characters and the story line. Everything I know of the previous story arcs is what the golden, pointy eared, pixie haircut, laurel-wearing creature told me in the first two pages. As it said, “Trust me, it was quite entertaining.” I’m inclined to count this narrator among the reliable ones.

The basic plot of part one of "Six Shooter on the Seven Seas" is that a dwarf and human mercenary stow away on a ship crewed solely by female pirates. They’re discovered in the galley stealing food, and an elf named Kusia, a previous companion of the boys (I couldn’t find their names mentioned anywhere in the issue) sort of "rescues" them. The three join the crew and work the ship until the big bald human discovers some hatched green and purple egg in the hold that then encircles him with jagged tentacles (see, I told you there were elements of horror in the issue) and then the issue ends.

In and of itself, the plot's humor casts long roots. Shakespeare plopped Falstaff amongst women in their social sphere in The Merry Wives of Windsor for similar laughs that Zub and crew utilize. The real laughs though come from that same place where the devil lurks, in the details.

The combination of images and words harmonize not for the sublime but for laughter. The following trio of scenes brought forth the greatest laughs. In describing these scenes elucidation of the humor-giving elements is the goal, not the the defenstration of merriment--this review focuses on the funny, not the fear. The second page of the story stacks three panels, bereft of words but funny nonetheless, and shows the two mercenaries climbing over the railing onto the ship's deck amidst darkness. The human is aboard, and the dwarf is shown reaching for the rail, but he can’t quite make it, so his buddy hoists him by the scruff of the neck over the  rail. This image of a tough battle hardened  and fierce (or so I imagine) dwarf handled like a new born kitten can't help but amuse by its juxtaposition. The frown on the human’s face shows some annoyance and bother, or maybe a dislike of kittens?  The first two panels on this show the human boarding the ship, and the third panel has him reaching for the extended arm of the dwarf, all of which function as a set up and pause to the dwarf getting lifted aboard. This timing gives the scene its edge of humor and dulls any aspects of little people derision that could have been gleaned from the human picking up the dwarf. The timing, those first two panels and the camaraderie and respect the dwarf and human share make the page funny rather than offensive.

Alas, as was of course inevitable, the men are discovered aboard the ship stealing food. When the captain of the ship asks what is going on, all the crew present point to the two stowaways and shout “MEN!” In this bottom third of the page, the tiny period-dot eyes and the tilted-back angles of the bodies of the two Y-chromosome carriers, a floating loaf of bread, and the arced eyebrow of the dwarf, along with his tilted mustache lay the foundation of  the humor with their shocked looks. The funniness builds in the next panel where the two characters, their eyes transformed from periods to em-dashes, look at one another in silence trying to figure out how to get out of this seemingly impossible situation, and the third panel snaps the humor by having the dwarf speak with a cheerily wide-opened mouth, em-dash eyes, leveled eyebrows, and his head at a slight 5 degree angle as he says, “Actually, I’m a dwarven Lady, M’dears. I’m on yer…eh, team, as it were.” His companion has his face in his hand and gives an exasperated “uh…”. The timing, the images, and the sheer exaggeration and unexpected answer from the dwarf combine to bring the laughs. The absence of rotting corpses and crazed possessed monsters also brings a degree of levity to the scene as well.

This escape attempt by the dwarf leads to a question-and-answer volley with one of the pirate’s crew who shouts back, "He’s lying! He’s got a beard!” to which the dwarf responds “Dwarf lasses got beards! There’s songs ‘bout it and an everythin’!” Again, the dashed eyes, the angled eyebrows, the open mouth with teeth clenched together give the dwarf a look of triumph, as if he really believes he can possibly pull off this charade. The next panel has the woman pirate with her hand opened, ready to grab something as she shouts “Prove it!” The dwarf, his eyes back to periods, his eyebrows having curving arcs and mouth closed responds with “Errr…Aw, crap…" and then the fight ensues. A food fight.

The friendly northern Panel Culturists pointed out the creative and amusing use of verbifying nouns and then using them as adjectives  in the fight scenes “ham hocked!” gives the sound of a woman getting hit in the face with, well, a ham hock. “Baguetteified!” does the same with bread and “Classic!” is the sound a pie makes when it hits a dwarf in the face. “Wienerwalloped! grants onamotapeia to sausage links, and “Juicy” sounds an orange.

Of course the men are captured and put to work, which leads to the next amusing scene as the two guys are change into their sea clothes. After the dwarf has dunked his head in dirty laundry water and shook out the wet, the human washes his face with a towel which draws a comment from the tousled-hair dwarf, “Er. You’re getting’ weirder too. What happened to yer flippin’ eyebrows?" Again the dwarf has period eyes and his head is at an angle (I never knew how funny angles could be) Rubbing his head the mercenary human responds “Oh yeah, that. Do we got a mirror down here? I gotta draw ‘em in again with charcoal.”

The dwarf: “No mirror. You…uh…shave ‘em?

Human: “No. They’re gone. Been gone for a while. Long story. Just drop it.

Dwarf: “Okaaaaay… Like I said, Everyone’s crazy.”

Again, the tilting heads, the characters with their backs turned to one another, the dwarf’s crazy hair, and the wave in the a’s of the dwarf’s “okaaaaay” cultivate a humor of that couldn’t unachievable by only words, or images alone.

The last panel I’ll mention is again at the dwarf’s expense. Upon hauling in a large cache of fish, the dwarf hunches down, hands on his head, beneath the open net that will dump fish on his head. And there it is. A fine change from superheroes, crime and horror comics. Swashbuckling with silliness.

While I’m not set to abandon my other books, or admit to being a horror fan, the light tone and tight construction of Skull Kickers #13 offer welcome variations from rampaging demon animals, possessed castles, mad sorcerers, and Animal Man’s mother-in-law. The humorous antics of Skull Kickers moved me to add this title to my pull of monthly comics. I'm pleased to clambor aboard this story arc and expose my skull to its kicking.