Graphic Novel Review - Skrull Kill Krew

I had picked up the trade paperback of Skrull Kill Krew a few months ago because I've been trying read anything I can with Grant Morrison's name attached to it. This mini-series was a collaboration he did with fellow Scotsman Mark Millar.

It's obvious that the concept is pure Grant Morrison insanity, in which he reaches into the far depths of Marvel Comics history to the first appearance of the shape-shifting alien Skrulls in the Fantastic Four when a few of them got turned into cows. These cows eventually get turned into hamburger. When some poor saps eat the Skrull hamburger they get a Skrull variation of 'mad cow disease' and are they ticked off about it and go on a rampage to kill any Skrull living on the earth since apparently a side effect is to be able to see through the shape-changing disguises.

The idea is pretty novel, considering the silly 60's premise of the original Fantastic Four issue. Unfortunately, the execution seems more owed to Mark Millar, which to me lacks the snappy dialogue and characterization I was hoping for. Yes, with a title like Skrull Kill Krew perhaps I shouldn't have expected much more than a two-dimensional biker action flick, but everything about the book seems pedestrian. There is absolutely no character development whatsoever. This is a group of characters that feel they are about to die, yet there is zero sympathy from the reader for them because all we are exposed to is the endless rampaging. Even Steve Yeowell's art which I've enjoyed on many earlier occasions, such as Zenith and Sebastian O, seems flat and lifeless here.

I know the era in which the book was written in is not Marvel Comics at their best, in which they experimented, trying to find new formulas and recapture an audience that was vastly dwindling. Even the imprint this particular title was printed under (Marvel Edge) was short lived. The series itself was almost never finished.

Perhaps not all is lost. Considering this book is several years old maybe it'll find some life in cult status with the recent Secret Invasion event Marvel Comics was pushing that was Skrull-centric and the Skrull Kill Krew can redeem themselves in their more recent mini-series, now on shelves.