Skinwalker

by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, Brian Hurtt

A killer is leaving a trail of bodies across the country... bodies without skin. The murders started on a Navajo reservation and lead all the way to Washington DC. Can reservation Officer Anne Adakai and FBI Agent Gregory Haworth stop the killer before it's too late?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Mystery, Fantasy

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2003

About the author

Nunzio DeFilippis is married to Christina Weir; together they have written a large number of graphic novels. They have written superhero comics but also created original comics and graphic novels of many genres, from YA fantasy to sports to horror to crime drama.

Reviews

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel is an interesting mix of crime and the supernatural. It has well-drawn characters and a few nice twists in the plot. The art is fine, although the reproduction in the copy I read was very muddy, making it hard to read at times.

The story follows a member of the Navajo tribal police and an FBI agent who are investigating the disappearance of another FBI agent. Things get complicated very quickly, due to politics and the strange nature of the crimes they uncover.

Well worth reading, and a good example of how the graphic novel format can be used to tell a wide variety of stories.

[Michael Norwitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting cross-genre piece, starting from a murder on a Navajo reservation, turning into a cross-country manhunt against a killer who has revived an horrific 'skinwalking' technique of literally inhabiting someone else's skin to impersonate them. I wasn't crazy about the trip to conspiracy theory at the tail end, but overall reasonably well-done.

[Benjamin]

An announcement: I'm reading a bunch of comics these days because I'm collaborating with my college friend Chris Van Dyke on a webcomic. If you're interested, come check it out:

Webcomic: http://voyagercomics.thecomicseries.c...
Blog: http://voyagercomics.wordpress.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Voyage...

(And yes, I do feel dirty pushing my stuff.)

This is another random comic book selection from my local library; I picked this up because (A) it was printed by Oni Press, which is a comic book publisher that intrigues me (because they publish a bunch of graphic novels) and (B) it was a complete mini-series/graphic novel.

As a story, it's a pretty inoffensive and simple horror/procedural about an FBI agent who partners with a Navajo Tribal Police officer to track down some weird goings-on on the Rez. FBI agent Haworth is an up-and-comer who gets a panicked call from his ex-partner, screw-up agent Forsythe. Forsythe is meeting with a local Navajo juvenile delinquent who is under observation by Office Ann Adakai.

When these partners get together, they don't see eye-to-eye; and I want to give this book high marks for its use of parallel stories and split-screen storytelling. There's one real nice page where Adakai is arguing with another agent in a back-and-forth manner, which is illustrated in just two panels: in one panel, the audience of other FBI agents is facing the agent, and in the other panel, the same audience is facing her, with the dialogue balloons running down the middle. Running over that argument, your eye has to ping back and forth a bit, mimicking the argument, but the essential stance of the argument remains the same--no one is convinced or moved.

While some of the layout here is a lot of fun, the story here gets a little too off-target for me. I'm happy with a mismatched culture/buddy cop murder mystery; I'm happy when it turns out the murder is related to some supernatural enemy; but when (SPOILER) the supernatural enemy is related to some big government conspiracy, it starts to feel a little bloated.

And If you have any suggestions for interesting comics, please tell me.

[Shazza Maddog · Rating 4 out of 5]

I literally grabbed this graphic novel up for the title alone. I'm glad I took the chance.

The story is about two very different people, one FBI special agent, Gregory Haworth, and one Navajo police officer, Ann Adakai. Thrown together by Haworth's investigation into what happened to his old partner, Brian Forsyth, when he goes missing on the Rez, they turn up a chilling murder mystery - someone skinned Forsyth, and that someone is a young Navajo man who's been traveling slowly down some dark roads in the past. Ann knows the kid's bad news, but it might be her knowledge into just how bad that news is which can possibly flip the case over and show just how scary things can be when Navajo witches get mixed up in Federal business.

A very tightly written story with excellent art, my main problem was needing a magnifying glass to read the mental dialogue happening in both Adakai's and Haworth's heads. Otherwise, I would've given this story five stars. Adakai is everything I would expect a Navajo tribal officer would be, and her background and resources back up just how horrific the case is (in fact, it seemed a little whitewashed, but that could just be me, and I hope you pardon the inadvertent pun). Haworth's determination to find out what happened to Forsyth leads him down a rabbit hole that he accepts almost unconditionally (which showed a lot of bravery on his behalf, in my opinion).

A very interesting read, and I would like to see more of these two.

[CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very quick and enjoyable read. I got through it in one sitting. It was perhaps not the best book to read directly before bed, though, at least not for nightmare-inclined people like myself. It wasn't too graphic or gorey or even too scary. It just seemed to stick in my subconscious and lead to some seriously bad dreams. I still enjoyed it, though.
I picked this up because I've been jonesing for more Gotham Central, but in lieu of that, have decided any crime graphic novels will do. Turns out it was a good choice, the best of both worlds. I got Navajo/ Dine culture crossed with FBI profiling and crime solving, with a magical/ mystical scary twist. I really liked Ann Adaki; she had a bit of an attitude, but she generally had good reasons for her attitude. She just didn't take any BS from anyone. And Agent Haworth was likeable too, a smart, motivated, stand up guy in the tradition of Hotch from Criminal Minds (always a recommendation for me). The mystery was good and kept me guessing; although a number of my guesses were correct, several other big ones weren't. I'd definitely read more about these characters and this setting, if there are any more.

This review also shared at Once A Week Or More

[Mjhancock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gregoy Hayworth is an FBI agent on the rise. His skill in criminal profiling has earned him a spot in the Behaviorial Science division. But just when he's about to start his new job, he gets a call from his old partner in distress, which sends him to Dinnehotso. Already there is Ann Adakai, sole member of the Navajo Tribal police. Suspicious that the Navajo peacemaking method is going too lightly on local thief Charlie Wiletto, she starts to follow him. Their cases combine when Hayworth's friend is found dead and skinned in Wiletto's home. The first issue sets the basic tension between Hayworth and Adakai, as well as some cultural context for the Navajo, and these sections are probably the strongest part of the book. Later sections shift the focus to FBI politics and conspiracy theories, which are comparatively less interesting. The art is good; the characters are distinctive, which is necessary in a procedural-type story where there's only occasionally action scenes to punctuate long discussions. The lettering, though, for Adakai especially, was a little hard to read in places. All in all, the book starts off interesting, but ends up somewhere a little more conventional, in a sort of X-Files thriller sort of place--still good, but not as good as that first chapter.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first venture into graphic novels (if you don't count Megatokoyo which is sooooo different!)

The intro and added info were fascinating. I didn't realize graphic novels were such a collaborative effort. It took me a little while to get into the rhythm of things, but once I did, it flew. I am a huge Hillerman fan, and he has been my source of info about skinwalkers to date. The characters were developed in a different way than I am used to from traditional novels, but Adakai was great.

[Terry Mulcahy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although short, this was an excellent read. Southwestern NOIR! Takes the meaning of skinwalker to a whole new level. How does one classify this? Fantasy? Sci Fi? Crime? Detective? Beats me. Maybe it's all of those things. The artwork is similarly superb. B&W, very noir-ish. This would make a great movie.

[Sarah Sammis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous read and well worth the wait to read it. It's an interesting mixture of the supernatural and crime drama. Every so often the story pauses for a cultural lesson and those are equally fascinating.

[HeavyReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a mysterious tale about murders. It was ok. Too bad the hot woman in the story had to be a cop.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy crime story, with some cool Navajo history and culture thrown in.

[Taffy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the details on Navajo culture and the dual perspective. Good read.