Review by Ian Keogh

Looking back with hindsight, Jim Zub and Edwin Huang came up with a decent idea and endowed it with enough spirit to see it through a patchy first collected edition. Whether experienced as the hardcover Skullkickers Treasure Trove or the Compact Attack Edition, what you got was two appealing characters, some fine comedy moments from a writer unable to compress a plot and an artist who was talented, but still learning the form. This is better, and by what was originally in paperback as Eighty Eyes on an Evil Island Zub and Huang have hit the form that sees the series out in the next volume.

Here we definitively learn our characters are Rex Maraud and Rolf Copperhead, Kusia the elf becomes a pivotal character, and there’s an origin for Rex’s guns and how they work. That’s cleverly incorporated into into a Western that transforms into Lovecraftian horror when the expectation is of seafaring adventure.

It’s down to the previous collection ending with all three of the main cast stowing away on a departing ship to avoid their troubles. There is a seafaring adventure in what was in slimmer paperback as Six Shooter on the Seven Seas, but lacking enough plot to occupy five chapters. What does become apparent over both main stories, though, is that Zub is either exceptionally adroit at pulling elements of Skullkickers together, or he’s plotted extremely well from the start.

Huang’s artistic progression is even more remarkable. There was never any doubt about the basic talent, but he’s learned so much about telling a story in such a short time. The panels are still packed with characters, but there’s room for them to breathe and what they’re doing is clear.

As before, assorted creators are let loose on short stories, and the difference between the largely unknown creators on the first few and those with a track record on the remainder is almost chalk and cheese. Joel Carroll’s excellent cartooning is an exception from the first batch, but letting loose creative teams from other Image titles (see recommendations) ups the overall quality.

Zub and Huang didn’t outstay their welcome, and a third collection completes the series.