Only Skin #6
One thing I’ve never managed to figure out in ten years of doing this site is how much information to relate in a review. Sure, it’s good for people who have also read the issue to be able to read along and nod their heads at various points (or curse loudly, depending on the point). And for a series like this, you’ve either already picked it up and gotten hooked or you’re never going to give it a chance. But that’s not entirely accurate, is it? Somebody who reads small press comics sparingly and comes here once every few years might stumble across this review today, be intrigued and not want anything spoiled. Then again, I read the whole series before reviewing #5, so I gave plenty of information away in that review, which somebody might check out if they were intrigued by this issue. Maybe the answer is that I worry far too much about stuff like this when the vast majority of people coming here just want to find out about a few new comics with a minimum of bullshit coming from me? I’ll admit, that does sound plausible, so I’ll try to walk a fine line here. In this issue we do find out the identity of the main ghost, we learn how he became that ghost, the other ghosts play a much bigger role (and I didn’t notice last time around that these ghosts have arms and legs while the original one does not), it turns out that Jordan knows a whole lot about what’s been going on, there’s more violence than in probably every other issue combined, we get a reunion that was a long time coming, and the shit seems to be very definitely hitting the fan. There, that seems vague enough to not give everything away. I’m not sure how much longer this series is going to go, as it seems to be heading towards a conclusion, but Sean deserves all the credit in the world for coming up with this idea and sticking with it. It’s way too easy to see things logically and financially and give up on comics when you’re halfway through a story; it happens all the time. But that’s not how genuine artistic achievements get done, and I think Sean is well on his way to pulling that off. Well, unless we learn that it was all a dream in the end…. $5
