I Heart Skull-Crusher! #7
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeI Heart Skull-Crusher! #7 is a pivotal chapter in one of the more creatively distinctive BOOM! Box releases of 2024: a post-apocalyptic YA sports series that centers a queer teenage protagonist at a time when such leads remain comparatively rare in action-adventure comics aimed at younger readers. The issue deepens the series' central relationship by revealing unexpected facets of Skull-Crusher's character that are directly tied to her and Trini's shared backstory, giving the romance-and-rivalry dynamic an emotional payoff the prior six issues were building toward. As the second arc's second installment, #7 also represents the moment the series fully transitioned from the planned five-issue miniseries it launched as into the ongoing expansion that reader demand made possible, cementing it as one of the BOOM! Box imprint's genuine audience-driven growth stories.
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The series was announced in December 2023 as the debut creator-owned comic for writer Josie Campbell — previously known for DC work on Amazons Attack and The New Champion of Shazam, and as a writer-producer on the animated series My Adventures With Superman and head writer on She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Campbell has stated explicitly that the concept draws on her love of Mad Max: Thunderdome and sports anime, describing it as a personal 'love letter' to her own teenage experience. Artist Alessio Zonno, who trained at the International School of Comics in Turin (where he also teaches) and previously worked in European comics before his American debut on the BOOM!/IDW Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/TMNT crossover, noted that this series was his first creator collaboration in the US market. The series was edited by Dafna Pleban for issues in the first arc; the full creative team throughout includes colorist Angel De Santiago and letterer Jim Campbell. Issue #1 sold out at the distributor level and received a second printing in April 2024, after which BOOM! announced the continuation — beginning with #6 in October 2024 — at San Diego Comic-Con, officially reclassifying the title from miniseries to ongoing.
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- Published November 13, 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 #7 is the second chapter of the series' second story arc, which began with #6 in October 2024 after the title was upgraded from a five-issue miniseries to an ongoing series.
- The issue's plot centers on the Queen Mob's heir succession conflict, with all competitors targeting Trini and Skull-Crusher's team, while a new Bubble City setting introduces a 'nautical tyrant' as the latest regional antagonist.
- A key narrative beat in #7 involves Trini witnessing unexpected behavior from Skull-Crusher that 'ties a bow' on the origins the two characters share — one of the series' most direct moments of backstory revelation for its title character.
- The series is Josie Campbell's first creator-owned comic; all of her prior comics work was for DC Comics. She has cited sports anime (including Haikyuu!! and Prince of Tennis) and Mad Max: Thunderdome as primary inspirations.
- Alessio Zonno has noted that manga and anime from the early 2000s — particularly Gurren Lagann for mood and Inazuma Eleven for match-scene dynamism — shaped his visual approach to the series.
- Issue #7 shipped with at least five cover variants: Cover A (Zonno), Cover B (Karen S. Darboe), Cover C (1:10 Alessio Zonno virgin variant), Cover D (FOC reveal variant), and Cover E (one-per-store Alessio Zonno virgin variant).
- A trade paperback collecting the first five-issue arc was solicited for comic shop release December 25, 2024, and bookstore release December 31, 2024, bringing the story to a broader YA readership beyond the direct market.
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