I felt lucky to get in on the first issue of Skullkickers, the new series from Image, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The second was… not as good. I figured I need to come back for #3 (out today) just to see where it stands. Is it getting back the quality of the first book? Or was the first a fluke and it’s not going to be very good at all? The answer seems to be somewhere in between. Which, of course, means I’ll probably be back for issue #4. At the moment I’m thinking I’ll take on issue #5 as well. After five issues I should know whether this should be in the hold or not.

Once again, Edwin Huang and Misty Coats have teamed up well on the art and colors. But Jim Zubkavich just isn’t drawing me into the story. Issue #1 did a great job introducing characters and throwing me straight into the plot. Issue #2 moved from violent episode to violent episode with very little story. Both of them ended on a reasonable cliffhanger.

Now issue #3 resolved the last cliffhanger quickly and skipped the action, letting it happen off panel instead. I won’t complain that the fight scene was summarized in a word bubble instead of shown, simply because the back to back two page spreads of Shorty having a hallucinogenic vision that may or may not be prophecy looked so damn pretty.

Once again, the script just falls flat in the story department. The banter between the two mercenaries seems stilted. It’s not as bad as George Lucas dialogue but that doesn’t say much. The new cliffhanger was also predictable and sets up a predictable escape as well. I am still enjoying the oddly expositional sound effects. In a way, it almost seems like the writer’s notes describing the panel to the artist are still being incorporated. It’s unique, but not enough to save an otherwise lackluster product.

At this point I think it’s irresponsible to recommend (or not) this book to anyone. It just hasn’t been consistent enough. If you’ve already read the first two issues you might as well grab the third. If you haven’t read it, I’d suggest waiting for a few more issues being reviewed before you throw down your dollars. I’m starting to think this series might be better suited to reading in trades rather than individually.