Skybound X is the top anthology on the shelves right now overflooded with bloody black & white stories.
I've skipped over The Walking Dead for years because of the hype and high issue count never made the franchise inviting. The Rick Grimes 2000 tale that bookends here is more than I could have asked for in my first trip into The Walking Dead.
Short, to the point, and accessible to readers unfamiliar with the mythos. Rick Grimes 2000 is a mature read with enough ridiculous factors (aliens, mechs, zombies, & lightsabers) to plaster a grin on your face & keep it there !
So since Rick Grimes 2000 wraps here, I decided to venture further into the anthology - something I neglected to do in past issues.
I ended up reading the whole thing.
Though the 2nd Kirkman tale in here featuring mechs & magick didn't really appeal to me (a little longwinded & clunky for a preview, though the character concepts were cool), I was able to get a taste of acclaimed books "Gasolina" & "6 Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton".
The latter looks goofy as hell, but the story was hard to read. It was like watching Dicaprio in "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood" fall to a new low by indulging in taking out his anger on a lower being in the animal kingdom. Not as uncommon in my reality as one would believe, but to see this act in comics heightened my disgust.
As was my passion in the former in "Gasolina". I felt like I was watching the stories of the couple told in Rodriguez' "Desperado" series : ridiculous & romantic. Something that action tales no matter the medium deliver better than any rom-com ever could.
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C.V.R. The Bard more

Rating for C.O.D.E. only

Rick Grimes 2000 ends very quickly, and it is fine. I don't have any real problems with it, but I'm glad this is where the concept concludes. Six Sidekicks of Trigger Keaton is a lot of fun. I never read the original series, but I liked Assassin Nation, so I'll probably have to check this series out. C.O.D.E. was not very good at all. Easily the worst story in this anthology. Super boring and filled with 90s hacker speak, but not ironically. That's like a pet peeve of mine that I can overlook when I'm not insanely bored, but alas that wasn't the case here. Really didn't like C.O.D.E. The Gasolina story was good. Again, I may have to check out the original series, as I also haven't read that. Really, C.O.D.E. is the major problem here.