The CompleTe Skizz

Hopping sad

released 15 June Publisher rebellion

Writers alan Moore, Jim Baikie Artist Jim Baikie

collection The Ballad Of Halo Jones may be the jewel in the crown of Alan Moore’s 2000 AD work, but Skizz – the great mage’s 1983 twist on ET – is very nearly as beautiful. It’s collected in its entirety here, along with the two ’90s sequels, all drawn with elan by the great Jim Baikie.

Interpreter Zhcchz of the Tau-Ceti Imperium – a kangaroolike alien – is on his way to an intergalactic conference when his ship crashes on Earth. Injured, he hops from the wreckage and stumbles dazed through the streets of ’80s Birmingham. He’s rescued by teenager Roxy, who nicknames him Skizz. But government forces are on to them.

Moore’s politics are apparent from the off. The heroes of Skizz are unemployed manic depressive Cornelius; Roxy, whose relationship with her parents is strained at best; and Loz, a local hardman with a good heart – when Skizz looks at him with his alien eyes, he sees nobility. Counter to them are the sneery, dismissive forces of Thatcher’s Britain. But Skizz never falls into polemic – it’s often very funny, and at its heart is a deep-seated sadness. Skizz spends much of the book traumatised and afraid; a stranger in a strange land, albeit one that is familiar to us.

Books two and three are more overtly science fictional. Written by Baikie, they inevitably lack some of the sparkle of Moore’s original comic, but are a fine continuation, upping the cosmic aspects and splitting the action between Earth and space. Taken together, Skizz is a warm-hearted classic. Will Salmon

It’s often funny and at its heart is a deep-seated sadness

Balkie first drew Skizz as “an evolved tapir”, but Moore thought that the results looked too sinister.