Skinbreaker #3 // Review
There’s a fire going, but there’s nothing to cook on it. The people are likely to go hungry. Survival is difficult enough as it is with the horrors that are hunting them. Thankfully, the chieftain returns in Skinbreaker #3. Writer Robert Kirkman continues.a brutal tale of pre-modern survival with artist David Finch. Color comes to the page courtesy of Annalisa Leoni. Simple interpersonal conflicts give way to a very real and visceral struggle for survival as a monster attacks at issue’s end. It’s not terribly deep stuff, but the basic pulse of the pre-modern struggle is not without its charm. There’s some real gravity on the page that’s clinging to the heart of the series.
Thul’s hunting days are behind him. He’s thankful that he doesn’t have to see whats become of the hunting expeditions. Things just aren’t what they once were. Still..there IS hope. Thul’s son is a promising, young hunter with a great deal of potential. Things could. really turn around. Thul’s age of usefulness may be behind him.. He’s going to have some difficulty knowing exactly how to relate to himself and his place in the community. The old man may have an opportunity to prove himself yet. There’s a great beast that’s about to attack.
Kirkman is clearly trying to render some sort of conflict that draws directly from the dawn of human culture. So little is known about the old hunter/gatherer cultures. The concerns of life and death are simple and easy to render in a strikingly simple way on the page that might draw itself right. from the heart of human connection. The problem is that Kirkman doesn’t find enough personality in what he’s doing. It feels pretty bland. three issues in and he still hasn’t quite found a hook that could give the series the kind of personality it needs to really make a distinctive presence on the page.
FInch’s art has a raw animalism about it that serves the setting quite well. The heavy detail that he’s scratching into the page gives the brutal pre-modern era its own depth and savagery. The power of brutality hits the page with some rather impressive power even if the overall design of the world doesn’t feel very inspired. The art may have a personality that the script lacks, but it’s not a terribly original one. That really isn’t a huge problem, though, as the brutality of the aggression on the page is powerful enough to carry everything else.
There’s still time for the series to gain some level of personality as the momentum of the animalistic brutality continues to propel the series forward. It’s all quite well-rendered on a whole bunch of different levels. It just doesn’t have a whole lot of unique impact. It needs something distinctive energy. It just needs a bit more work in order to get where it’s going. Time will tell how it develops as things progress. Kirkman’s not an idiot. He knows how to tell a story. It’s just a matter of finding the right hook.
