I’ve made no secret of the fact that I love Jim Zub’s Skullkickers series.  It’s a tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure book, or as I’ve heard him pitch it at cons a million times: “A buddy cop movie meets Conan.”  It’s true!  Skullkickers is just a blast and a half. Don’t take my word for it, though – read it yourself for free online over at http://skullkickers.keenspot.com.  Be warned, though – you’ll get hooked quickly.

The series is just about to finish up its third arc with Issue 18 (a notable achievement for any comic these days), and the team is continuing with a tradition they’ve upheld since back at Issue 6.   As you may know, sticking to a monthly schedule on a book can be murder for the artists.  Churning out 22 pages of high-level pencils, inks and colors every month is nigh impossible, even for super-talented and speedy folks like Edwin Huang, Misty Coats and the rest of the team.  So, most series use fill-in artists here or there, either on single issues or entire arcs, depending on what’s required.  Skullkickers has handled the schedule conundrum in an interesting way: every sixth issue they do an anthology issue, with stories and art contributed by people who aren’t members of the regular team.  It’s been a really fun way to see how others play in the SK sandbox.  Skullkickers 18 is the next one to get the anthology treatment, and I am absolutely thrilled to be able to say that Jim asked me to contribute a story.

Mine’s called “The Corran’s Tears,” and the art was spectactularly drawn by Michael Mayne, of Bonnie Lass fame and others.  The story’s sort of a funny little thing that I think fits nicely into the Skullkickers world, but ultimately it’ll be up to you guys to decide.  It revolves around beer, for one thing, so that should help.  If my participation alone doesn’t sway you to pick this one up, I bet the murderer’s row of additional talent on the book certainly will.  We’re talking: Rob Guillory and John Layman, Justin Jordan and Tradd Moore, Blair Butler, J. Torres and many more.

The book will be out on SEPTEMBER 26 in comic shops everywhere.  If you want to pre-order it, use Diamond order code JUL120516.

Here’s the awesome cover:

Available everywhere September 26 – don’t miss it!