Skrull Kill Krew #1 - “Skrull Meat”

Original Release Date: September 1996
Writers: Grant Morrison & Mark Millar
Penciler: Steve Yeowell
Inker: Chris Ivy
Colors: Chia-Chi Wang
Letterer: Richard Starkings and COMICRAFT
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Editor-in-Chief: Bobbie Chase

It’s a nightmare! You’re sitting in your classroom, listening to your teacher talk about Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” when two thugs bust in and mow her down with a couple of pistols. If that weren’t bad enough, they turn around and take down a classmate, one of your best friends!

Well, it doesn’t get any better from there when you suddenly realize that your teacher and friend are aliens!

That’s what these two killers explain to you right before they dismiss the class.

The two? They’re Ryder and Moonstomp.

So here’s another scenario: you’re at the beach, surfing the waves, and your girlfriend is laid out on the sand, reading a book. Suddenly you get a mental shock that knocks you right off your board and into the water. Images of far-off worlds are flowing left and right through your brain and while you’re trying to make sense of them, you’re also trying real hard not to drown.

Eventually, you sprout gills and get to the surface… gills!? You make it onto the beach and your loving girlfriend--we’ll call her Tobi--runs to see what the matter is. You’re irritated, after all, you’ve got a huge headache, so you’re not too interested in giving the rundown of what’s going on inside that noggin’ of yours.

That’s a hell of a way to act before someone blows your girlfriend’s head off!

Oh, that’s right, your girlfriend? A green shape-shifting alien-maybe you’ve heard of her race: the Skrulls? Well, it doesn’t much matter now, ‘cause she’s dead.

So who’s responsible for killing your woman? A black guy named Ryder and a white supremacist skinhead named Moonstomp. How’d these two get together… and why the hell are they killing people?

In a fit of panic you run off, jump in your vehicle and try to get the hell away. Your name’s Dice and you’re not having a very good day-but let’s not complain, as you’re speeding down the highway, ‘cause you’ve got more trouble: somehow Ryder has showed up in front of your vehicle… and the next events get a little hazy.

You wake up with Ryder telling you that somewhere, down the line, you’ve ingested a virus from a really bad hamburger. It’s slowly killing you. But hey, there’s always a good side to eating a virus-infected burger, right? Yeah! The virus has given you the ability to shape-shift (ahem, remember the gills?)!

Yeah, well these two have the same problem and they’re forming a little gang (btw, why does he keep calling you cowboy?). They’re out to take down all these green mothers… and they want your help. So what do you do? Sign up? Sure you do.

Soon you find yourself in New York, helping out a little lady that apparently has the same problem as you-the whole shape-shifting virus thing, ya know? Yeah, but she’s also got another problem: she’s surrounded by the green freaks and needs a little help.

So what the hell? You jump right in and start taking these guys out… well, you try anyway. Eventually, things come to an end and now you’ve gotta help explain to the girl you just saved what the hell is going on.

But really, it’s all still new to you.


That’s the premise of the first issue of Skrull Kill Krew, done in something of a new form of summary for me… I’ll call it, uh… “Imagine that!” (This will probably be the last time I use it too, ‘cause it’s all crap-like!)

I remember when this book originally came out, back in ’96, and the ad campaign for it was kind of gruesome. It showed a dead Skrull up against a wall in a dirty back alley. This picture, along with the title of the book, didn’t leave much for the imagination in terms of what the book was about.

But was it any good?

Yeah, it was.

This came from the minds of two of today’s hottest writers, DC and Marvel’s “golden boys,” Grant Morrison and Mark Millar! It’s a bit primitive compared to the stuff they’re putting out now, but it’s still got their style written all over it. You can especially tell that Grant Morrison had a hand in this-it’s so over the top and satirical (especially the characterization of Captain America in issue #2).

Story-wise, it’s cool, because if you’re a fan of Marvel’s continuity you might be able to see where this story’s roots come from. Since I’m only covering the first issue here (incentive to buy it and the rest), I’ll leave it at that.

Skrull Kill Krew was part of Marvel’s “Edge” line, which allowed for, well, edginess. You can call it a precursor to their Marvel Knight line. This means they had a little bit of breathing room for the content, so they ran with it. It was ultra violent without being too graphic about it; amazingly enough, it works for the overall feel of the book.

This comic reminded me of the movie They Live (w/ Roddy Piper and Keith David). If you’ve never seen the movie, the premise is that aliens are on Earth and disguised as humans. The only way for humans to identify the aliens is through the use of some special sunglasses. In this comic, the SKK can identify which people are Skrulls as a side effect of the virus.

Overall it’s a pretty fun book that involves very little use of your brain to read. It is straightforward kill, kill, and kill. It deserved its own little notch in the DBNO belt because of who wrote it. Also, it’s so unlike other stuff Marvel was putting out in ’96 that it really holds its own as being unique in the Marvel U. But honestly, it’s not a must-buy, unless you’re a diehard Morrison or Millar fan.

If you wanna pick this up, Marvel’s re-releasing this comic in the form of a trade paperback pretty soon (I don’t have a date on hand). Otherwise, the issues aren’t too terribly hard to find.