The Final ’90s Countdown: Part Seventeen.

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I apologize, it’s been a while since I’ve done an entry in the Final ’90s Countdown series, in which you voted for your favorite comics that began in the 1990s! I’m still in the titles that received one vote apiece…and again, that’s not a comment on the quality of the book, but rather on the breadth of excellent material that decade was producing.

Skeleton Key (Slave Labor Graphics, 1995-1998)

Andi Watson’s fantasy adventure series about a high schooler named Tamsin, who gains possession of the titular skeleton key, a magical item that can open any door and turn it into a path to other realities. Along the way she encounters Kitsune, a fox spirit, who becomes her partner in Skeleton Key-ness and adventures through all these other worlds with her.

Like Scott McCloud’s Zot!, which became slightly more grounded as it entered the back section of its run, Skeleton Key‘s focus on fantasy adventure diminished to some extent in favor of more emphasis on Tamsin’s adventures as a young woman. You can really see the difference if you were to compare the cover to the first issue I posted above with, say, the cover to issue #20. It really does look like a whole new book, and if you were to look at the full cover gallery you can really see how quickly the book and art style evolved.

I wasn’t much of a reader of Skeleton Key as it was coming out, though I’d flip through the new issues when unboxing them for the shelves and admire the art. Especially on those later issues, where the design work is just immensely appealing.

There were additional comics outside that initial 30 issue run, such as a couple of one-shots and a four issue mini in 1999. Some short color stories ran in the 2000s-era Dark Horse Presents that were collected into the 2012 Skeleton Key Color Special.

There are five trade paperbacks that reprint the first 30 issues series and the second 4 issue series, plus a short from the ’90s era black and white Dark Horse Presents. The volumes all appear to be out of print, but may be available on the secondary market.

Anyway, nice series with some appealing art and really deserves to still be in print. Maybe some enterprising publisher can put together a Skeleton Key Omnibus at some point.

8 thoughts on “The Final ’90s Countdown: Part Seventeen.”

  1. This was my pick! Mike is right in saying that the series really developed as it went along into more of a bw era Zot! title and Watson’s artwork got better and more polished. There is a definite manga influence to it, it’s unfortunate that the collections are out of print as I imagine it would appeal to a young female demographic. Andi continues to produce mainly all ages comics, Gum Girl and Punycorn are well worth reading.
    He did a little bit of writing for mainstream titles like Buffy and Namor as well.

  2. Well, I’m 70 years old. I have WAY too many not-yet-read comics to try to get to before THE END. And yet, you tell me about a title that seems like just my kind of book (doesn’t hurt to mention Zot!), and my “No More Old (but new to me) Titles” policy crumbles into dust. Just purchased both series, the special, the color special, and the Skeleton Key Sugar Kat Special. Thanks a lot Mike and Chris!

  3. It’s also worth mentioning a number of Watson’s slice-of-life comics: Breakfast After Noon, Dumped, Slow News Day. That’s the type of story I know Watson best, and they are all also great reads. If he didn’t start working with that technique starting in 2000, I’d have expected to see at least one of those make this list.

  4. Fascinating to look at the covers and see just how much Watson’s art style evolved over two and a half years. And also fascinating that even people bought it to make it financially viable to come out monthly for two and a half years. Hard to imagine that happening now unfortunately. Anyone have any idea how well it was selling?

  5. I bought these at the time, and really enjoyed them, and enjoyed watching it change. I don’t know if I got to the end of the series, but probably. It was on my pull list, and my store was pretty good about things like that. I should dig them out of whatever box they’re in.

  6. I haven’t read Skeleton Key yet, but I echo Chris V’s recommendations; Watson’s slice of life comics are great. I also enjoyed Geisha, his grounded sci-fi miniseries about a robot. Slow News Day, about a reporter for a small town newspaper, was my favorite

  7. I haven’t read Skeleton Key, but I read the real-life stuff – Breakfast After Noon, Dumped, Slow News Day – and interviewed him when I worked for a local newspaper in Stoke-on-Trent where the former is set. He was a lovely guy and sent me an advance of Little Star. I admit I’ve lost track of his work since. His daughter, who was present throughout the interview and perhaps four, is no doubt an adult by now.

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