Eskimo Kisses (Review)

ESKIMO KISSES

Writers: Randy Stone & Christopher Sebela 

Artists: Henry Poncino & Marina Krivenko

Letterer: Lucas Gattoni 

Pubisher: Scout Comics

Rating: 8/10

Zombie stories have been a popular plot for the last few years. While the fandom hysteria has died down a bit, the subgenre still remains and seems to be thriving. With titles like DCeased and Marvel Zombies, it’s clear that there is still room for the existence of this particular plot. Eskimo Kisses however is wholly unique in my opinion and combines a lot of Zombie tropes with some ancestral legends. 

Here we have a newly wed couple Carla and Jim, they’re expecting their first baby and they are stationed on  military outpost in Nanavut,Canada. It’s basically Greenland and this small town only has about 200 people in the middle of a frozen wasteland. When the Outpost gets overrun by these flesh eating monsters, and Jim is gravely injured, a very pregnant Carla sets out to find the town doctor to save Jim’s life. But if you’ve ever seen a zombie movie in your life, you already know Jim is either dead or turned a la 28 Days Later style, but I digress. 

Carla is searching everywhere to find help but at every turn the undead has ravaged all of the people she once knew. She finds the doctor but he is eventually overtaken by a horde whilst he is distracted. Carla is eventually saved by an Indigenous woman who tells her the legend of the people from this land. Here we learn that Eskimo really means “eater of Flesh” it was in reference to the monsters attacking the outpost but was incorrectly coined by settlers who thought that was the term for the indigenous people. This essentially feels like a call out to colonization, which I enjoy because it’s almost saying that you shouldn’t mess with land and cultures that you know nothing about because they will eventually come back to bite you in the ass. That’s pretty much what happens here and in the end no one is safe. 

I loved the art here, the very lowkey colors with pops of red to indicate the horror unfolding. That really added some stakes and depth to the story. I also like the way the undead were conceptualized here. They look more creature like than the standard, its unique and I don’t know if it’s based on lore or just thought up by the artist. Either way, I love it, they look 100% more terrifying than normal. 

In the end we see a forsaken outpost with very few indigenous people left over and a general arriving to start his command of the outpost. My main issue with this story is that it wasn’t wrapped up very well, there was kind of a call back to some things that happened in the first few panels but other than that I guess we are to assume that Carla has died by her husbands hand (or bite lol) since she ran to be with him even after he was turned, and was subsequently flanked by a larger zombie horde. 

All in all it was pretty good, a standard Zombie story with a legendary mythical twist. I recommend it if you’re looking for a one shot where you don’t have to think too much and just want to enjoy some story and cool art.