Review by Ian Keogh

The comedy sword and sorcery of Skullkickers, at least in this earliest incarnation, features a mismatched pair of rogues, who at this point may or may not be Rex and Rolf. What’s definite is their being a dwarf with an axe and a brute with a small head and big gun.

It’s Jim Zub’s earliest published work, and truth be told, this collection’s opening half displays that, but it’s a game of two halves and the improvement for the second is considerable. The same can be said for artist Edwin Huang, who begins with basic talent evident, but with rudimentary storytelling skills, initially relying too much on close-ups of faces. He learns on the job, though, and for the second story the art shows greater variety and more imagination. The sample art features an early page and one from nearer the end with the improvement visible.

Well defined and engaging personalities see the Skullkickers through their first rather laboured story. The combination of a dwarf with one hell of a temper and a wiser voice of restraint works extremely well. Both are rogues living by their wits with no qualms about deceit and robbery and they make the most of whatever opportunities life throws their way.

It’s ‘Five Funerals and a Bucket of Blood’ where the feature really comes alive, though. Zub’s plotting considerably improves, evident in a story that would largely work as sword and sorcery without the humour. The Skullkickers are making the most of being brought to the city as heroes, but it inevitably all goes wrong. This is inventively plotted and the comedy moments are better paced and better staged, repeated sequences with a gun being a highlight. Zub introduces viable new characters, keeps a couple of mysteries on the boil and pulls everything together beautifully at the end. It transforms Skullkickers from a feature where there’s promise rather than skill into the real macoy setting up anticipation for what’s to follow.

This content was originally presented in paperback as 1000 Opas and a Dead Body and Five Funerals and a Bucket of Blood before being combined in hardback as the first Skullkickers Treasure Trove. Where that differs from this collection is via including four short stories by other creators, all of them diverting, but inessential.