Cover: Alessio Zonno

I Heart Skull-Crusher! #3

May 2024 · Boom! Studios · 4.99 USD

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About this Issue

I Heart Skull-Crusher! #3 (May 2024) is the narrative midpoint of one of the more creatively distinctive BOOM! Box debuts of the 2020s — a post-apocalyptic YA sports series that blends shōnen manga energy with a queer-centered underdog story in a way that had no true precedent in the American mainstream. The issue deepens both the ensemble and the world-building by introducing David the Mutant Bear as the team's outrageous new goalie and pulling back the curtain on Coach Blood-Bone's alcoholism and his entangled past with rival Arsenic True, grounding what might have read as pure absurdist comedy in genuine emotional stakes. Critically, #3 also marks the point at which Queen Mob's autocratic sports state — a society where attending matches and standing for a national anthem is compulsory — begins to take a direct, menacing interest in the Podunk Lil' Team, elevating the series from scrappy sports romp to something with political texture. Coming on the heels of two consecutive distributor-level sellouts for the preceding issues, #3 arrived as proof that the series had earned a devoted readership — momentum that ultimately persuaded BOOM! Studios to expand what had been planned as a five-issue miniseries into an ongoing.

artist, inker, colorist Alessio Zonno · cover Alessio Zonno

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History

Writer Josie Campbell — previously known for DC's Amazons Attack event and as a writer/producer on the Adult Swim animated series My Adventures With Superman and as Head Writer on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power — has described the series as her first wholly original comics property, one she had been developing for years before pitching it to BOOM!. Her stated inspirations were Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and sports anime, particularly Prince of Tennis and Haikyuu!!, with the core creative question being what an uplifting sports story would look like set inside a genuinely broken apocalyptic world. Artist Alessio Zonno, a Turin-based cartoonist who trained at the International School of Comics (where he also teaches) and who brought prior BOOM!/IDW work on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the table, drew on shōnen anime touchstones such as Gurren Lagann and Inazuma Eleven for his kinetic visual approach. The book was edited by Dafna Pleban and published under BOOM!'s YA-focused BOOM! Box imprint, home to prior fan-favorite series including Lumberjanes and Giant Days.

Trivia · 8 facts

Published May 15, 2024 by BOOM! Studios under the BOOM! Box imprint; written by Josie Campbell, art by Alessio Zonno, colors by Angel De Santiago, letters by Jim Campbell.
Issue #3 is the middle chapter of the original five-issue miniseries arc, which was later expanded into an ongoing series (issues #6–10 and beyond) due to fan and retailer demand announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2024.
First full appearance and introduction of David the Mutant Bear as the Podunk Lil' Team's new goalie — a character whose addition completes the team's roster and drives the issue's central team-building conflict.
Coach Blood-Bone's backstory is developed in depth for the first time: the issue reveals his years-long struggle with alcoholism and his history with antagonist Arsenic True, captain of the opposing Plague Town Masks.
Queen Mob takes her first direct, sustained interest in the Podunk Lil' Team in this issue, escalating the series' overarching antagonist threat beyond the immediate tournament.
The issue features multiple cover editions: a main cover (Cover A) and Cover B by Johanna the Mad, plus 1:10 and 1:20 incentive virgin variants and trading-card variants — all by Alessio Zonno.
Both issues #1 and #2 sold out at the distributor level before #3 shipped, with second printings announced for each; this sustained early momentum was the commercial foundation for the series' expansion into an ongoing.
The series is collected in trade paperback as I Heart Skull-Crusher! Vol. 1 (collecting issues #1–5) and Vol. 2 (collecting issues #6–10), both published by BOOM! Studios / Penguin Random House.