I Heart Skull-Crusher! #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeI Heart Skull-Crusher! #2 is a key chapter in Josie Campbell's debut creator-owned comic — a milestone for a writer whose prior comics work was entirely work-for-hire at DC — and it deepens the emotionally resonant, queer-led YA storytelling that made the series a BOOM! Box standout. The issue sold out at the distributor level in its release week, demonstrating unusual grassroots momentum for an original, non-licensed property, and prompted a second printing whose cover was supplied by acclaimed artist Simone Di Meo. By centering a young bisexual protagonist navigating grief, chosen family, and athletic ambition inside a post-apocalyptic world drawn with deliberate manga and anime influences, the series — and this issue in particular — helped push the BOOM! Box imprint's tradition of queer, genre-blending YA storytelling into new creative territory. Its success was significant enough to convert what had been planned as a five-issue miniseries into an ongoing run.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was announced in December 2023 and launched in March 2024 under BOOM! Studios' award-winning BOOM! Box imprint, with Campbell describing it as a long-gestating personal project drawing on queer characters, anime influences, and post-apocalyptic action. Issue #2 was edited by Dafna Pleban, with the full creative team of writer Josie Campbell, artist Alessio Zonno (a Turin-based cartoonist who studied and teaches at the International School of Comics), colorist Angel De Santiago, and letterer Jim Campbell; the same team would carry the book through its entirety. The distributor sellout of #2 — following a similar sellout of #1 — led BOOM! to greenlight a second story arc, beginning with issue #6 in October 2024, effectively expanding the book from a finite miniseries into an ongoing series.
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- Released April 17, 2024, by BOOM! Studios under the BOOM! Box imprint — the publisher's YA-focused line.
- Written by Josie Campbell (head writer of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power; writer/producer on My Adventures with Superman); art by Alessio Zonno; colors by Angel De Santiago; letters by Jim Campbell.
- Marks part of Josie Campbell's first creator-owned comic series; all her prior comics work had been DC Universe titles including Amazons Attack and The New Champion of Shazam!
- Issue #2 sold out at the distributor level during its week of release, leading to a second printing (available May 15, 2024) featuring a line-art version of the Simone Di Meo variant cover.
- Cover lineup for the first printing: Cover A (main) by Alessio Zonno; Cover B by Natacha Bustos; Cover C 1:10 virgin incentive by Alessio Zonno; Cover D 1:20 incentive by Rian Gonzales; Cover E by Simone Di Meo.
- Story: Trini and the Twins continue assembling a Screaming Pain Ball team for Queen Mob's tournament; a mutant attack complicates their journey, and Trini's unconventional recruiting tactics — including forcibly conscripting a coach — reflect the book's blend of dark comedy and emotional depth.
- Issue #2 further establishes Trini's backstory and grief: she carries fragments of her deceased parents' skulls, grounding the series' frenetic action in genuine pathos.
- The initial five-issue arc was collected in a trade paperback released to comic shops in late December 2024 and bookstores in early January 2025; the series' success prompted a second arc beginning with issue #6 in October 2024.
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