Cojacaru the Skinner #1

Cojacaru the Skinner #1

Dark Horse Comics 2021

Written by Mike Mignola & Christopher Golden

Illustrated by Peter Bergting

Coloured by Michelle Madsen

Lettered by Clem Robins

Cojacaru the Skinner, the strange and enigmatic bane of Eastern European witches, has been dead many years. But from a bloodied French town in the throes of World War II, a plea for help carries across the winds of time. A desperate band of resistance soldiers and their white witch allies rest their fate in the hands of Cojacaru's ghost. And when she answers their call, it will be heard near and far.

A young girl who met a witch hunting Golem had her life changed in that encounter and she became Cojacaru. It is nice to see that Joe’s life still resonates even if he’s not present. This one starts off in such a dynamic way with a cadre of witches on a rampage as they search for one man. I tell ya what it certainly has a way of igniting the imagination and the interest factor within the reader making them want to learn and see more. Thankfully that’s just what the boys have in store for us as well and I gotta say being dropped into the middle of all this is a perfect way to start a story.

I am thoroughly enjoying the way that this story is being told. How we see the story & plot development through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The bloodshed and the creep factor and just the overall feeling of unease and chaos that we’re seeing is beyond comprehension in how well they’ve achieved these effects. The character development here is amazing and as it takes us through the page revealing more and more of the story there is so much to take in it’s impossible on one try.

How this is structured and how we see the layers within the story playing through from some unseen place while new ones emerge is pretty brilliant writing. There are so many interesting angles at play and plenty of them come from the most unexpected of places and that makes for some interesting reading. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is extremely well done.

I love the interiors here. These books are always so well thought out and that the worlds seem to coexist so perfectly, the world of words and visuals, as they compliment each other in ways that nearly defy logic. The linework wis spectacular and how we see the attention to detail through the varying weights and techniques being utilised is a complete wow factor. Plus that Peter understands how important backgrounds are and how to incorporate them into the composition within the panels to create this depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book is utterly marvellous. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a masterful eye for storytelling. The colour work we see is gorgeous! How the various hues and tones within the colours are utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows an expert eye for colour. Also that moment where she fades into the trees is by god one of the most amazing images i’ll ever see in comics.

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When these creators get together whatever they are going to to do is going to be extraordinary because that is just who they are and the kind of talent and skill they possess. This is a wild extravaganza of violence, vengeance and the desire to be free of that which plagues you and to hell with those that stand in your way. Until that is hell strikes back.