Hunt For the Skinwalker #1 is a new sci-fi, horror, mystery book put out by Boom Studios. The book is written by Zac Thompson with art by Valeria Burzo. The story opens with a ranch in ’90s Utah that has just been bought by a family looking for a new start. Through a series of hard-to-follow flashbacks and clunky narration, the story attempts to set up an unnerving mystery to make the reader lose sleep in the vein of Cullen Bunn’s Harrow County or Wytches by Scott Snyder. Not only does it fail to hit the mark of its petrifying predecessors, Skinwalker fails to really bring any dread at all. At one point, there is even an opportunity to strike fear in the heart of the reader when it almost seemed the main character may have been replaced by the titular terror. Unfortunately, the script avoided even the most predictable scare and opted for bland safety.
The art plays it too safe as well. Burzo avoids taking any risks which, at best, makes the book look like a standard issue of the 90s. At worst, the images are indistinguishable. From the seemingly size-changing flying toaster to a scientifically impossible front seat to back seat car punch, the art can be confounding creating a mental mystery the script only wishes it could conjure up. The two things I can relate to the characters of this book in are my confusion and my desire to avoid THIS skinwalker at any cost.
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