Skinwalker is giving me much the same feeling I had when I first read Whiteout from Oni, that I was seeing the early work of a creator who would soon be among my favorites. Except that in this case, it's a whole bunch of creators who I'll be following to whatever their next projects are. Skinwalker is a story with many facets, including elements of horror, tribal mythology, buddy movie and police procedural. I'm as fascinated by the interplay between officer Adakai and agent Haworth as I am by the skinwalking ritual and the criminal behind it.
DeFilippis and Weir are really using the comics format to its fullest effect. The ability to get inside the heads of both main characters, sometimes at the same time, is unique to comics, and while the story has a cinematic pacing and feel to it, this is a story that wouldn't work the same outside of comics. There's also a lot of information being imparted to the reader without overwhelming them, from the personal histories and personalities of Adakai and Haworth to the politics of the FBI and tribal police. And I appreciated the sense of overlapping speech and chaos when the FBI arrived, which is not a new thing but was done very well.
Part of the credit must go to Dela Cruz, who has created different lettering styles for each protagonist and who keeps a lot of text from overlapping except when it is meant to for effect. Dela Cruz also provides an interesting gray wash finish over Hurtt's pencils, and the result is some beautiful artwork. The storytelling has the simplicity that I associate with animation, but there is plenty of detail in the backgrounds and the expressive characters. Despite some of the characters, particularly the FBI, having identical wardrobes, I have no trouble telling the agents apart.
Leaving aside fascinating characters and solid craft, we've got a fantastic premise for the story as well. The secret to a good suspense story is to make the killings seem horrific, to put the reader into the role of the victim, and its hard not to be creeped out by the idea of being skinned alive. DeFilippis and Weir do a very nice job with the slow reveal, giving tidbits of information via forensic evidence and profiling so that we slowly learn about the victims, the method of death and even a bit of a twist about the killer. I also had no trouble believing the FBI reaction to this killing, which was to send in a bunch of bureaucrats who don't really know what they're doing, and having this push Adakai and Haworth together made perfect sense.
Skinwalker is spooky and involving, an ideal mix of criminal investigation and suspense/horror. It has its roots in films like Seven and Silence of the Lambs, mixed with a touch of the X-Files, but I use those only to give context, because the story and the creative style is unusual and distinctive.
