Steve Niles and IDW venture into the super-hero genre with this new title, but they don't abandon the genre that's helped them cement their reputations in the comic-book industry: horror. This is a quirky mix of the two, and it's a surprising bit of fun given the more gruesome plot elements and visuals that pop up throughout the issue. The Punisher meets Dawn of the Dead in this book, but what sets the title character here apart from Marvel's angry vigilante is an odd sense of playfulness. The art here is strong as well. Chuck BB's style is in keeping with a trend toward a simpler approach in darker, more mature storytelling.
It's been 2 1/2 years since they started turning up dead. The worst the city has to offer in the way of scumbags have been slaughtered and drained of blood, one after the other, and the man responsible is the cape-clad, masked figure known as the Secret Skull. Captain William Brooks is determined to bring the Skull to justice, despite just about every cop on the force welcoming his actions against the criminal underworld. Speaking of the underworld, Brooks's daughter has been having visions of flesh-eating zombies. What she wouldn't give for one of those run-of-the-mill falling dreams.
Chuck BB's style is reminiscent of those of Human Target artists Cliff Chiang and Javier Pulido, and even of Alex Toth's. The design for the title character is a striking one, and I love how hard-edged Capt. Brooks looks. He reminds me of Darwyn Cooke's take on Slam Bradley from Catwoman. BB envlopes the entire book in a dark, dusty pall, reinforcing the macabre mood nicely. That's what enables bright colors (basically, blood reds) in key sequences to real pop out and grab the eye.
The narration, look and dialogue for the Secret Skull really add a great deal of personality to what is essentially a morbid and twisted protagonist. He's oddly playful, and that quality extends to other characters as well. The exchange between the mob boss and the peon he beats is wonderfully goofy, mocking mobster cliches and bucking them at the same time. Brooks is a stereotypically tough-cop character, but Niles balances that cliched aspect of the character with an unusual home life. Brooks is in control on the street, but life at home is chaotic.
What really sets this book apart is the odd role the zombies have to play. They don't seem to be villains, but what their role is to be isn't clear yet. Niles adds a deliciously mysterious tone to the story with the zombies' ambiguous behavior.
