Writers: John Jackson Miller, James Mishler / Penciller: Christian Rosado / Colour Artist: Roshan Kurichiyanil / Letterer: Lucas Gattoni / Collects: Skull & Bones #1-#3 / HC / Dark Horse Comics
Review By Paul Dunne
15th January 2025 (Released: 21st February 2024)
The Pitch: A merchant vessel is besieged by a vicious crew of pirates, but the fighting is interrupted by a devastating typhoon. When the storm crashes in, it leaves predator and prey stranded on an island somewhere in the Indian Ocean. The merchant ship captain and his crew, lucky enough to have survived the savage storm, scramble to hide what is left of their precious cargo before the surviving pirates overtake them. When it seems the marauders have won the day, a powerful no-nonsense admiral and her crew step in to join the fray. She informs everyone that there is yet a more dangerous threat on the horizon; a murderous mercenary known across the seven seas as "The Wolf Hunter." Survival may require an unlikely and unsteady accord betwixt pirate crews. With a massive treasure on the table, the only question is who will double-cross who first?
Before comics really came into their own, before Superman streaked across the sky, or Spider-Man found a neighbourhood he could be friendly with, Pirates were a big deal. The first refuge for adventure-hungry boys, they blazed across the pages of novels and short stories, then in the flickering mesmerism of the cinema screen they found their final form. As a genre, it came and went as is the waxing and waning of the public taste. The boys grew up and found they had no sea legs. But in the last 20 years, the sea called to adventurous boys again, now grown up having had children and grandchildren, who also felt the call of the ocean and who could hear the creaking bow at night, when as they slept. They went forward, making films about their passion. Making films, putting themselves inside the swell with video games and then those games begat comics.
And so we find ourselves washed up here on this island. With two crews, mirrored. Both have obsessive Captains, both have female characters whom the Captains and First Mates rely on marking them as anomalies in Pirate stories. In fact, as the book moves at its blistering pace, more women enter the fray, making it one of the most progressive stories of its kind. But it isn't the most interesting thing about the book. No, what's more interesting is that for a pirate story, very little time is spent at sea. Instead, we stay trapped on the island, adding more captains, each one laying claim to the other’s treasure. Here, X doesn't mark the spot - It's the sign for the cross / double-cross world the characters find themselves in.
There is no pirate's code. Just a promise to oneself and crew and that is all that matters. Eventually, we have no less than four ships, with loyalties divided, then shared against one common enemy. The book uses what one imagines to be video-game layering to great effect for its plotting, something that shouldn't work but to my great surprise actually lends itself nicely to the page-turn reveals of comics. I'll admit that the mirroring of crews, and female crew members does cause a little confusion. But the story carries you through. Eventually, as the character’s underlying motivations become clear, you come to understand that this a story about the empowerment of the working classes, who want to live a free life, where they're governed by no one.
Miller and Mishler write well, keeping the book contained and concise. 3 issues burn past you quickly and their characters have solid definition in their reasons for being where they are. Although some aspects of the story may be considered revisionist, it doesn't pander to today's politics, except those of the aforementioned working classes. Everything feels consistent with the time and place you're in. Rosado's pencils are fast and active. You feel particulate in the air and the cold spray of the sea, making the panels lively and alive. His faces are worn and marked by their time on the oceans. Kurichiyanil's colours also embellish that feeling, creating dark spots on the island, and dirt and sand on the characters, further adding to that worn look they all have. Gattoni's letters successfully convey the throaty sound of orders barked over crashing waves and whispered conspiracies amongst crewmates. The ending leaves you wanting more, regardless of the medium it's presented in (games or comics), and that makes a sequel a welcome idea.
Skull and Bones: Savage Storm is available now.
