As an avid comic book reader since I was a little kid, Skin Police had me at the title. I honestly didn’t even need to know what this book was about. The title alone is worth the price of admission. However, I did read Skin Police #1 from Oni Press, written by Jordan Thomas and illustrated by Daniel Gete, and the story does, in fact, live up to the title of the book.
Set in a dystopian future of 2142 where the world has gone into a fertility pandemic, the black market has become the go-to spot to get your hands on an illegal clone baby, which is untraceable by the government. However, three out of every four clones will go berserk at some point, and sometimes they don’t even know they’re a clone to begin with. And who, you might ask, is burdened with the task of hunting down and bringing in each of these ticking time bomb clones? It’s the main protagonist, Agent Brisson Eckis, a member of DIC, the Duplicate Identification and Capture Division, better known as the Skin Police.
Picture Brisson as a cross between Robocop, Judge Dredd, John Spartan from Demolition Man, and Nick Nolte’s cop character from 48 Hours all rolled into one. And every trusty old seasoned cop needs a young partner to challenge and test everything Brisson believes in. That person comes in the form of Brisson’s new rookie, Junior Agent Sheen Corfer. Together, they embark on a journey to track down clones and try to figure out if a conspiracy about a medicine that can cure duplicates is real or not.
What I love most about this book is that it’s a love letter to every great sci-fi movie or TV show that paved the way for it. It’s got an indescribable nostalgic feel, like a million pop culture references crammed into one awesome package. Despite every page echoing the past, it still stands on its own as a totally fresh and original story.
Daniel Gete’s artwork is like stepping into a new section of this huge dystopian wonderland that’s just begging to be explored. It’s got grit, bullets flying everywhere, and clones losing their minds. It’s messy, chaotic, and it makes you feel like you’re right in the middle of it all. And we can’t forget about the colorist, Jason Wordie, who nails his color choices. The colors pop off the page, especially in moments when the duplicates start to freak out and realize they’re clones. You can feel their panic in each panel as they bleed from their noses and ears, their faces filled with anxiety. Then there’s Jeff Powell, the letterer, who makes every page a page-turner.
Thomas, Gete, Wordie, and Powell are off to a great start with Skin Police #1. The characters are interesting, the plot is intriguing, and it holds a lot to the imagination. A must-read for sci-fi fans, filled with intrigue, action, and a healthy dose of chaos.
