Review: ‘Skinbreaker’ #8 Wraps Up The Series With An Extended Denouement

From its start, Skinbreaker has been a series that has relied on more on great visuals than on a great story.

The story, written by Robert Kirkman, has been good. David Finch’s primitive aliens, intricately grotesque monsters, and jungle backgrounds have been superb. So it shouldn’t be much of a surprise when the time came to end the great limited series, there would be a bit of a letdown.

Rivals Anok and Paca have finally joined forces to battle the monsters threatening their village. While the creative team makes the final battle one to remember, it ends a bit too quickly, leaving readers with an extended denouement. In and of itself, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. But it goes on for too long — and worse, deprives us of Finch’s trademark splash pages and double-page spreads.

Perhaps the overlong ending works better when reading the entire eight-part series at the same time, instead of as a single issue. In any case, Finch does come up with a few spreads at the end that remind us why he is a modern comics master.

While the story has taken a back seat, it’s actually a credit to Kirkman’s restraint. Instead of throwing in one of his trademark quips, Kirkman keeps all these primitive warriors in character. He is also trying to show the balance between tradition and innovation. In a world where artificial intelligence threatens to disrupt every industry — as well as the arts — it’s an interesting choice.

While this issue wasn’t the strongest, not having Skinbreaker on the monthly reading list will take some getting used to. It was a visually stunning series, despite featuring unfamiliar characters.

Skinbreaker #8 — written by Robert Kirkman, illustrated by David Finch, colored by Annalisa Leoni, and lettered by Rus Wooton — is now available from Image Comics.