#579-#582 = SKIN POLICE #1-#4 of 4 by Jordan Thomas and Daniel Gete (Oni Press, October 2024-January 2025)
This is a futuristic sci-fi comic with a wild concept by Thomas and incredible art from Gete. The only downside is that this is a continued story, and while the first mini-series ends with Issue #4 — it ends on a cliffhanger. However, since I waited this long to read the complete first volume, I picked up Issue #1 of SKIN POLICE II last week.
SKIN POLICE reminds me of JUDGE DREDD and BLADE RUNNER, taking place in the teeming cityscapes of 2176 in Madrid,Spain. In prior years 2142 through 2156 a fertility pandemic occurred, which produced a black market for illegal cloned babies. These “duplicates” (or “dupes”) are not traceable and also do not realize that they were cloned. However, their genetics are unstable and 75% of them will “POP”, turning into homicidal maniacs.
The United Nations of Europe created a special government division to hunt down and remove these “deadly ticking time bombs”. The task force is called the Duplicate Identification and Capture Division, or DIC.
Agent Brisson Eckis is the top enforcement agent, and we get to see him in action as a dupe POPS onboard an airline flight and proceeds to attack and kill passengers and pilots. He is later assigned to mentor a new DIC recruit, and they work together on an investigation. Meanwhile a suspicious citizen reports her step-daughter (Lacy) as a dupe, and a chase ensues until she is rescued by a masked vigilante who offers to take her to sanctuary.
The following issues follow two separate storylines that don’t cross until the middle of Issue #4. In addition to identifying and neutralizing “dupes”, Agent Eckis has his hands full as two separate terrorist anti-DIC groups spring up and cause havoc. Meanwhile, the group that rescued Lacy and promised her sanctuary soon enlists her into their anti-skin-police efforts.
Lots of tight panels and explosive action, plenty of dialogue - this is a book that deserves multiple readings in order to take it all in. The art reveals elaborate cityscapes and the world designs show a Möbius influence. There are traces of Paul Gulacy and Paul Chadwick in Gete’s style.
I had previously rated Issue #1 a 4.25 Star reading experience, with the hope that future issues would elevate it even higher. Sadly, this didn’t quite meet those expectations as too many issues and conflicts are brought up that aren’t thoroughly explained or resolved. However, this remains a FOUR STAR read, and anyone looking for a science fiction story with a good amount of action will not be disappointed.
#583-#584 = HELLO DARKNESS #14 by various creators (Boom! Studios, September 2025) While Issue #14 showcases one of my favorite covers, I wasn’t as satisfied with the contents as much as prior releases. Still, if you have an interest in horror comics anthologies this is one to follow.
The opening story is the shortest (aside from Robert Hack’s cartoon page) and also my favorite this issue. In “Making Faces” by Zac Thompson and John J. Pearson two bored middle-schoolers on a lonely beach take turns making grotesque faces at each other by rolling their eyes, pinching their noses, exposing their gums in a grimace, etc. Until a dead body that has decomposed washes up on the beach and the boys find enough props to continue making even grosser faces (to their regret).
The most interesting story this time is “My Iron” by Casey Gilly and Rye Hickman, the story of a novice young maiden fleeing witch-hunting pursuers as she visits various eccentric shops trying to find the right ingredients to provide a sanctuary for herself and her three witch sisters.
“Marian Heretic” by Tini Howard and Joe Jaro is a preview of a new series coming in October featuring a Catholic nun fending off vampires and having to deal with a disrespectful Trinity of Cardinals who hold the holy gifts she needs to complete her purpose. This has interesting art and reminds me of various Warrior Nun series from Avatar and Antarctic Press. Not something that interests me.
“Collywobbles” by Pat McHale and Brandon Melvin with art by Gavin Fullerton tells of a lonely woods-dwelling recluse who makes a habit of killing wildlife with his car until one roadkill meal too many gets the best of him. A predictable twisty ending.
The final story is the beginning of a serial by noted writer R.L. Stine and Francisco Francavilla. The art is great to see, obviously, but the story didn’t grab me in “The Life And Death of Lucas Dreamwalker, Part 1”. It begins in the Wild West where Dreamwalker and his partner try to thwart a stagecoach robbery and ends with him walking into a fortune-teller in 1922 to find out what his dreams are telling him.
Overall, THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
#585-#588 = CRYPTOLOGY MAGAZINE #1 (TwoMorrows Publishing, November 2024) Pop Culture Fans, rejoice. This taps all my nostalgia buttons in a good way. The extensive article on Bernie Wrightson with plenty of cover illustrations he did for various horror comics is the cream of the crop this issue. FOUR STARS.
But, there is so much more. I’m just going to let the synopsis on the TwoMorrows web page do all the heavy lifting for me:
Greetings, creep culturists! For my debut issue, I, the Cryptologist (with the help of From The Tomb editor Peter Normanton), have exhumed the worst Horror Comics excesses of the 1950s, Killer “B” movies to die for, and the creepiest, kookiest toys that crossed your boney little fingers as a child!
But wait... do you dare enter the House of Usher, or choose sides in the skirmish between the Addams Family and The Munsters?! Can you stand to gaze at Warren magazine frontispieces by this issue’s cover artist Bernie Wrightson, or spend some Hammer Time with that studio’s most frightening films?
And if Atlas pre-code covers or terrifying science-fiction are more than you can take, stay away! All this, and more, is lurching toward you in TwoMorrows Publishing’s latest, and most decrepit, magazine—just for retro horror fans, and featuring my henchmen Will Murray, Mark Voger, Barry Forshaw, Tim Leese, Pete von Sholly, and Steve and Michael Kronenberg!”
#589-#590 = EYRIE MAGAZINE #3 (Mike Hoffman September 2025) It would be too easy (and also wrong) to dismiss this title as a second-rate effort. The prolific Mike “Von” Hoffman has published horror comics anthologies before, and EYRIE reprints a lot of that material. Why not, since he owns it? It doesn’t help the cause when little slip-ups occur, like on the contents page - - dated March 2021.
What is different this time is the stories are longer, only five of them, and I believe three of those are being published for the first time. How I can guess at that is the three stories are introduced by the new horror hosts (the henchman and the gothic woman). Also, the only story that doesn’t bear the Hoffman stamp on either story, art, or both is a reprint of a story originally published in Spanish.
That story, “Witches Storm” ends up being the most interesting this time. It’s a gothic tale with added supernatural elements in the presence of two witches (formerly sisters-in-law) who battle over an estate and the legacy of a young boy who is a spawn of a demon and one of the witches. Incredibly detailed and evocative art from Santos Zaballos with an intriguing story from Juan Luis Iglesias.
In my prior review of EYRIE #1 I noted that while not perfect, the title showed some promise - especially in the stories that attempted to deviate from traditional horror tropes. EYRIE #2 seemed to regress, and was mostly disappointing. I’m happy to say that EYRIE #3 is the best issue so far.
Mike Hoffman runs the gamut of styles with a story about an Inuit shaman who wants to destroy his own tribe (“The Ice Shaman”), some well-intentioned alien visitors to Earth whose visit is not appreciated and so they leave, but not before marking their presence (“Om”), a geeky pop-culture collector who finds a wild VHS tape at a yard sale and ends up paying a price for his obsession (“Red Tape”), and ending with “Triple Hex Curse” where a trio of delinquents believe they have finally found a release valve for their sexual fantasies only to end up in hot water. OVERALL, THREE AND ONE-HALF STARS.
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