‘I Heart Skull Crusher’ #1 is a Broken Joyride Which Decays in all the Right Places

I Heart Skull Crusher #1 Reaction and Review

I personally believe there’s a certain element of anime created for children that exists as an unsung hero within the medium. Existing as a masked vigilante that is two heart beats away from turning this fun, lovable, adventure story where the journey is more fun than the destination - into a nightmare fuelled odyssey where the protagonist is quite literally ripped from the bowels of an insane asylum and is unleashed onto the hordes of supporting characters. That’s what ‘I Heart Skull Crusher’ #1 is!

Written by Josie Campbell, illustrated by Alessio Zonno, colored by Angel De Santiago and lettered by Jim Campbell, ‘I Heart Skull Crusher’ is set against the post-apocalyptic backdrop of a world that borrows as much from The Hunger Games and Mad Max as it does contemporary children’s anime shows like One Piece or Yu Gi Oh!

In this future wasteland of sorrow and misery, the remaining towns that make up what’s left of the human race worship this death sport which seems to be MMA based, at least that’s what I’m getting from the limited panels which have shown it so far, a brutal bloodletting sports which artist Alessio Zonno is letting us wonder about after the first 5 or so pages.

But it’s the rest of the comic book which follows that transforms this “trying to be a brutal anime” comic book into this sad, exciting, anticipatory journey as the main character, Trini, almost breaks the fourth wall in her expression of just how clinically insane to be pretending that two skulls she talks to are actually her dead parents.

Josie Campbell does an incredible job maintaining the middle ground as this over complicated teenager struggles to navigate the post-apocalyptic wasteland, all in the name of achieving some greater goal, one day meeting her idol: Skull Crusher. Even going so far as forcing other waste-landers to join her team or recruiting raiders who would otherwise see her dead before joining her. Adding further to her insanity and one-tracked-mind that there can be no other resolution than achieving total victory. A victory linked to the fandom Trini has created in her head that Skull Crusher is godlike.

I Heart Skull Crusher is intrinsically bat-shit crazy. The coloring of Angel De Santiago could’ve gone down the route of completely outrageous but instead takes on this almost pastel coloring palette which strikes a balance the insane manner of Trini jumps from page to page. Just as Jim Campbell’s lettering seems to jump right out at you.

There’s an ongoing theme as I Heart Skull Crusher accepts the passionate deranged sensibilities of many anime characters. Protagonists unable to accept mediocrity. A theme that over accentuates just how those child-lunatics can react when faced living in a post-apocalyptic environment and how they traverse becoming just as popular as their idols. This first issue is a broken joyride that decays in all the right places. A suitable addition to BOOM! Studios' imprint, Boom Box.

I’m feeling a 10/10 on this one.

Have you read I Heart Skull Crusher?

What did you think of this manic post-apocalyptic thrillride?

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