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Skullkickers
Skullkickers, Vol. 1: 1000 Opas and a Dead Body
Two nameless mercenaries are mashing monsters and making a name for themselves. Image's new hit fantasy action-comedy series has gone through multiple printings of each issue released so far and is getting rave reviews from readers and critics alike. Pick up the first collection and find out what all the excitement is about.
Collects SKULLKICKERS #1-5 and the short stories from POPGUN, VOL. 2 & 3
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 13, 2011
5 people are currently reading
397 people want to read
About the author
Jim Zub
926 books327 followersJim Zub is a writer, artist and art instructor based in Toronto, Canada. Over the past fifteen years he’s worked for a diverse array of publishing, movie and video game clients including Disney, Warner Bros., Capcom, Hasbro, Bandai-Namco and Mattel.
He juggles his time between being a freelance comic writer and Program Coordinator for Seneca College‘s award-winning Animation program.
He juggles his time between being a freelance comic writer and Program Coordinator for Seneca College‘s award-winning Animation program.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews
February 10, 2014
Set in fantasyland (think your standard D&D/Word of Warcraft landscape) where your fantasy comes true if you've ever wanted to live in Game of Thrones, a prince is assassinated and his body stolen by a necromancer. The kingdom hires a pair of bounty hunters – a nameless dwarf and barbarian – to bring his body back for burial but things don’t go quite according to plan and soon they have a zombie apocalypse on their hands!
Skullkickers is a light-hearted take on the fantasy genre, mixing in humour and ferocious action that reads like a buddy-cop movie. There isn’t much to the lead characters – or any of the characters really – who’re your standard template dwarf and barbarian characters with the barbarian perhaps written in a slightly more cerebral way than simply just a brawler. There also isn’t much to the plot: the two get their mission, they fight monsters, they get paid.
Jim Zubkavich’s writing is competent and the story he tells is enjoyable enough but his take on the fantasy genre isn’t especially noteworthy. The back and forth dialogue is snappy without being that clever or funny, but I did feel that the action often ground what little plot there is to a halt. It’s very BIG action where multiple pages and large panels show how the fighting plays out but the action is very unremarkable – a dwarf and a barbarian hacking away at monsters looks exactly what you’d expect and if you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all.
Edwin Huang’s artwork is ok but it’s very clearly drawn digitally and I’m not the biggest fan of digital art – it just doesn’t look right. It’s a bit too bland and a bit too clean. Though I did like the onomatopoeia in the panels where a stage direction or action is literally written out as a sound effect.
The first Skullkickers book isn’t a complex story nor a very original one but is a decent comic that’s not badly written or drawn. I’m not a big fan of fantasy comics but I still liked it and if you are then you’ll probably enjoy this a lot more than me. Skullkickers is an ok but forgettable comic - for MMORPG addicts who need a rest from their game but don't want to stray too far into reality with any non-fantasy related reading matter.
Skullkickers is a light-hearted take on the fantasy genre, mixing in humour and ferocious action that reads like a buddy-cop movie. There isn’t much to the lead characters – or any of the characters really – who’re your standard template dwarf and barbarian characters with the barbarian perhaps written in a slightly more cerebral way than simply just a brawler. There also isn’t much to the plot: the two get their mission, they fight monsters, they get paid.
Jim Zubkavich’s writing is competent and the story he tells is enjoyable enough but his take on the fantasy genre isn’t especially noteworthy. The back and forth dialogue is snappy without being that clever or funny, but I did feel that the action often ground what little plot there is to a halt. It’s very BIG action where multiple pages and large panels show how the fighting plays out but the action is very unremarkable – a dwarf and a barbarian hacking away at monsters looks exactly what you’d expect and if you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all.
Edwin Huang’s artwork is ok but it’s very clearly drawn digitally and I’m not the biggest fan of digital art – it just doesn’t look right. It’s a bit too bland and a bit too clean. Though I did like the onomatopoeia in the panels where a stage direction or action is literally written out as a sound effect.
The first Skullkickers book isn’t a complex story nor a very original one but is a decent comic that’s not badly written or drawn. I’m not a big fan of fantasy comics but I still liked it and if you are then you’ll probably enjoy this a lot more than me. Skullkickers is an ok but forgettable comic - for MMORPG addicts who need a rest from their game but don't want to stray too far into reality with any non-fantasy related reading matter.
March 24, 2023
Skullkickers kick..a..butt
Love these guys. I'm surprised they're not more well-known.
While I do prefer the more realistic artwork of the early anthology stories, the manga-like look of the regular series works just fine.
But what makes it fun is the banter of these two blackguards and their camaraderie.
If you sword-and-sorcery, D&D, or fantasy, and you like buddy action movies; Skullkickers is right up your alley.
Love these guys. I'm surprised they're not more well-known.
While I do prefer the more realistic artwork of the early anthology stories, the manga-like look of the regular series works just fine.
But what makes it fun is the banter of these two blackguards and their camaraderie.
If you sword-and-sorcery, D&D, or fantasy, and you like buddy action movies; Skullkickers is right up your alley.
January 9, 2021
Keď si Zub napíše nejaké fantasy, vždy to stojí za to. Jeho D&D/Baldur's Gate veci milujem a tešila som sa aj na toto. Fantasy akčná komédia, kde sú hlavnými hrdinami holohlavý nabúchaný týpek a zrzavý trpaslík. Potvory, zombie, mágia. Násilia a krvi tam je hojne a je to vtipné. 4,5/5
September 7, 2016
:( Sad face!
I really liked the look of this, but alas it has not hooked me.
It has a lot of potential, but it just falls flat in the end.
I really liked the look of this, but alas it has not hooked me.
It has a lot of potential, but it just falls flat in the end.
October 11, 2019
I can see why Zub started writing the D&d stories. The art by Huang is very clean giving it a sort of digital look, like its been created on computer. Solid fantasy with graphic action and a devent amount of humour. Too many issues for me to want to continue.
February 23, 2016
I wanted to love this, I really did. There was so much potential - blood, grit, sarcasm, and skull kicking, but it just fell flat. I blame it on the artwork. Don't get me wrong, I thought the graphics were great, but the two anti-heroes, "Baldy" and "Shorty" were too comical. I know, I know, this was supposed to be a witty, action-packed, drama, but it was too cartoon-ish.
I was expecting this . . .
(these were from the original short stories 2 Copper Pieces and Gotcha)
What we got was this . . .
Although the storyline was decent, I kept imagining these two as Mulan's sidekicks, Chien-Po and Yao.
Sadly, I probably won't continue on in this series. I needed a little more raunch!
I was expecting this . . .
(these were from the original short stories 2 Copper Pieces and Gotcha)
What we got was this . . .
Although the storyline was decent, I kept imagining these two as Mulan's sidekicks, Chien-Po and Yao.
Sadly, I probably won't continue on in this series. I needed a little more raunch!
November 2, 2014
A couple of unnamed mercs take on a mission to recover a royal corpse 'deadified' by assassination.
This first volume of Skullkickers gives us a taste of great things to come! There are Goblins, busty merchant women, Undead zombie beasties, and giant gooey looking monster types! Throw in an angry Dwarf mercenary with a big, bald, gun-shooting companion and you got yourself a story!
I mean really...what more do you need outta a comic book?
Also, the pictures in this book are pretty freaking awesome - the covers are epic and all in all the artwork enhances the story perfectly.
If you are in the mood for a tongue and cheek action packed romp with all the expected fantasy tropes, this is a book for you!!
If you aren't in the mood for that...well...after this first volume you probably will be!
April 26, 2012
The kind of story that the word "romp" was invented to describe. These two skullkickers inhabit a world that feels like a cartoonier, darkly funnier Lankhmar. If you love Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser (if you are my friend you'd damn well better) then you'll enjoy this goofy romp (see!) through a world of sword and sorcery that is smart and funny in a way that acknowledges where its roots are without being too jokey and navel-gazing to enjoy on its own merits.
November 22, 2016
I thought this would be the boy equivalent of rat queens and I was wrong.
the art work is a bit dodgy and the writing is Meh. There are pages of fights where it's just argh plorp splat bloosh and that can be funny but I guess skullkickers just isn't for me.
the art work is a bit dodgy and the writing is Meh. There are pages of fights where it's just argh plorp splat bloosh and that can be funny but I guess skullkickers just isn't for me.
February 19, 2016
Beautiful Fantasy art, fantastic send-up of Conan/D&D style mayhem, and wonderfully brazen self-interest on the part of these anti-heroes. Dark, pitch-black humor, but if you go in expecting it its hilarious. And it definitely doesn't take itself too seriously, a danger of fantasy--often the story takes itself way more serious than the reader is able to make him/her self take it. Not the case here. It's just absolutely hilarious.
I do the team had chosen to go with the "more rendered" look of the two short-short anthology pieces at the back of the book, those stories are truly amazing artistically. But it's a small complaint, and the slightly less rendered and more stylized art of the primary text fits the off-beat goofiness of the plot, dialogue, characters etc. very, very well indeed.
I do the team had chosen to go with the "more rendered" look of the two short-short anthology pieces at the back of the book, those stories are truly amazing artistically. But it's a small complaint, and the slightly less rendered and more stylized art of the primary text fits the off-beat goofiness of the plot, dialogue, characters etc. very, very well indeed.
December 29, 2013
This book has a really rough start. It's almost all dull fighting and for some reason the fighting sequences are drawn in a very murky style that's hard to interpret. Things pick up in the last few issues when there's some of the long-promised comedy and an increasingly smirk-worthy use of onomatopoeia — but it wasn't enough to enthuse me about continuing on with the next volume.
September 30, 2018
Kind of a mess on the whole. Mushy, cartoony art that loses a lot in the fight scenes (can't tell what's going on much of the time). Goofy, comic banter that doesn't really fit with what's happening. Rat Queens is mining very similar territory, but doing it a thousand times better. This just isn't for me.
March 31, 2015
I love humor in fantasy and sf stories and this series has the humor good artwork and action that I love.
March 28, 2016
This was okay, but I have to admit I liked the two stories in the back (art by Chris Stevens) better than the main part. That had some highlights but didn't really convice me to come back for more.
July 6, 2017
Odd at first, but quickly entertaining when its quirks were understood.
January 23, 2026
A giant rogue and short barbarian are hired to recover a noble's corpse, stolen by an evil necromancer. Rampant skullkicking ensues.
Kind of a low-rent version of the stellar first Rat Queens volume, with some Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser flavor. The big guy and the little guy aren't exactly heroes--they're content to turn to robbery and general mayhem when the mood strikes. They're just mercenaries doing mercenary things, which happen to be moderately heroic from time to time.
It's ebullient, I'll give it that. And funnyish. And it moves quickly. Jim Zub clearly enjoyed himself here. The illustration is serviceable, I guess. I found the onomatopoeic choices to be distracting. In addition to the standard CLANG!, WOOSH!, POW!, we get things like:
SPRINT!
HUGE SWING!
LOSS OF GRIP!
CORPSE KICK!
COMPLETE HORRENDOUS BRAIN DAMAGE!
It's telling that this isn't wasted text, because it's often hard to figure out what a panel is trying to convey.
Kind of a low-rent version of the stellar first Rat Queens volume, with some Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser flavor. The big guy and the little guy aren't exactly heroes--they're content to turn to robbery and general mayhem when the mood strikes. They're just mercenaries doing mercenary things, which happen to be moderately heroic from time to time.
It's ebullient, I'll give it that. And funnyish. And it moves quickly. Jim Zub clearly enjoyed himself here. The illustration is serviceable, I guess. I found the onomatopoeic choices to be distracting. In addition to the standard CLANG!, WOOSH!, POW!, we get things like:
SPRINT!
HUGE SWING!
LOSS OF GRIP!
CORPSE KICK!
COMPLETE HORRENDOUS BRAIN DAMAGE!
It's telling that this isn't wasted text, because it's often hard to figure out what a panel is trying to convey.
December 16, 2022
Really bad D&D-inspired junk. The art is awful (except in the 2 prequel stories, which is okay because it is a totally different style). The cartoony art style could have worked but it is far too busy in action sequences and too bland and ugly in other parts. And once again, making lots of cartoon blood doesn't make a story interesting or edgy, it's just boring and overdone.
Neither main character is good and frankly I can't even remember their names and I just finished this thing; they feel like other immature "buddy" scenarios - they make me think of the Army of Two game series, which is NOT a good thing. It's like a 14 year old's idea of what a cool pair of dudes would be like. Yeah they fight and drink beer all the time WOOO SO COOL.
Yes we know you like D&D fellas (and apparently the writer would go on to write for them), but this doesn't need to exist at all. How did this get 6 volumes of story out of this?
I usually like generic fantasy comics, but this is just not good at all.
Neither main character is good and frankly I can't even remember their names and I just finished this thing; they feel like other immature "buddy" scenarios - they make me think of the Army of Two game series, which is NOT a good thing. It's like a 14 year old's idea of what a cool pair of dudes would be like. Yeah they fight and drink beer all the time WOOO SO COOL.
Yes we know you like D&D fellas (and apparently the writer would go on to write for them), but this doesn't need to exist at all. How did this get 6 volumes of story out of this?
I usually like generic fantasy comics, but this is just not good at all.
January 2, 2026
A dwarf and a human team up to be bounty hunters. They get into over the top epic battles, cracking wise along the way. There's not a whole lot to this but it is a lot of fun. The art has a mushy quality to it and Huang clearly can't draw eyeballs so he makes everyone squint to compensate. Still it was fun to go back and reread this as these knuckleheads keep getting themselves into trouble.
May 5, 2017
A great read for any D&D player. The humor is completely on point for RPG gamers and very not for little ones. Love this so much.
May 12, 2017
Very funny light story.
May 16, 2017
A fantasy comedy with one of the funniest characters I've experienced in any medium. The tone of the writing and artwork match perfectly.
October 26, 2017
Jim Zub is my favorite author working today! Hands down Skull-kickers is his VERY best work.
October 28, 2017
Sehr gutes Buch!
October 29, 2019
Rompy and fun. I think maybe what I liked best about it was the intro by Robin D Lawes though.
April 15, 2020
Fun and fast paced!
October 6, 2020
Fun, although not a very deep story. Great art though.
February 22, 2023
A fun little DnD story. Still have some others to go through. Can't wait.
September 10, 2024
Too funny, couple of murder hobos going hard and getting in a power of trouble - lots of fun
April 7, 2025
A delightful mix of fast-paced action and humor!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 80 reviews