Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden’s Outerverse continues to expand with the ‘Tales from the Outervese.’ It’s almost strange seeing this banner along the top of a new comic, proclaiming it’s part of a shared universe when for so long “Baltimore” and “Joe Golem: Occult Detective” were extremely subtle about it, almost to the point that it was like an Easter egg that only the most attentive readers knew about. With “Cojacaru the Skinner,” those days are clearly gone. . .
Written by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden
Illustrated by Peter Bergting
Colored by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem RobinsCojacaru the Skinner, the strange and enigmatic bane of Eastern European witches, has been dead many years. But from a bloodied French town in the throes of World War II, a plea for help carries across the winds of time. A desperate band of resistance soldiers and their white witch allies rest their fate in the hands of Cojacaru’s ghost. And when she answers their call, it will be heard near and far.
Celebrated horror writers Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden return to tell the story of Cojacaru the Skinner, once a small girl named Crina who befriended a witch-hunting golem. Rejoined by artist Peter Bergting (Baltimore and Joe Golem: Occult Detective) and colorist Michelle Madsen, the tale they spin will be one of horror, desperation, and ultimately hope.
It’s an Outerverse double feature this week with “Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens” #1 (which I reviewed earlier today) and “Cojacaru the Skinner” #1, the first in a series of ‘Tales from the Outerverse’ stories. While both stories take place in the Outerverse, the approach to each one is markedly different. Where “Lady Baltimore” is a sequel, and heavy with references to past stories, “Cojacaru the Skinner” is much more of a standalone experience. If a reader hasn’t read any of the Outerverse stories before, the barrier for entry here is very low. It isn’t going to explain everything, but you’ll get a sense of all you’ll need to understand the story from context.
The titular Cojacaru the Skinner is a character we’ve met before, back in 2019’s “Joe Golem: Occult Detective—The Conjurors,” but anything you need to know about her appearance in that story is covered here. You’ll get more nuance if you’ve read both, but it’s far from necessary. That said, this story is far from insular. There’s connective tissue to other stories everywhere, which is great because Peter Bergting is on art duties. Having worked on both “Baltimore” and “Joe Golem: Occult Detective,” Bergting’s art is kind of connective tissue itself, especially when he’s referencing stories he had previously drawn.
This story picks up four months after the events of “Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens,” so we’re very much still in the lead-up to World War II in the wake of the Hexenkorps witches joining the Axis Alliance. While the witches were a major part of the “Baltimore” series, for the most part we learnt very little about them in that title. “Joe Golem: Occult Detective” revealed a little more, but here we get to explore them so much more. They cease functioning as a homogenous body, and instead we start to see how they’re made of cobbled-together covens. Most importantly we see that witches are not simply evil. This isn’t just a story exploring the Hexenkorps witches, but also the followers of the Wyrding Way. Even as “Coracaju the Skinner” tells a standalone tale, it’s using it as a way to build the world. What we learn here we can apply to “Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens” and to the upcoming “Imogen of the Wyrding Way.”
While “Cojacaru the Skinner” is not directly tied into “Lady Baltimore: The Witch Queens,” it’s definitely a different experience to read these two books in tandem than independently. In my reviews of “Lady Baltimore,” I’ve mentioned how that title packs so much into its pages. As a counterpoint, “Coracaju the Skinner” becomes a way to slow down and explore things “Lady Baltimore” can’t. But these two titles affect each other in more subtle ways too. In “Lady Baltimore,” there have been rumors that Lord Baltimore has been seen, that he is perhaps still alive or a ghost. When it came up in the story, the characters quickly dismiss this idea as wishful thinking.
Continued belowBut in “Coracaju the Skinner,” there’s a deliberate parallel drawn between Crina Coracaju and Lord Henry Baltimore—both drew the attention of some greater power that forged them into weapons to fight against the Outer Dark. Both fought for the rest of their lives, until they finally fell.
And now Crina is back as a ghost. Suddenly Baltimore coming back doesn’t just seem like wishful thinking anymore. The notion has some grain of validity. Do I think Lord Baltimore will come back? No. But this issue casts some doubt. Maybe there’s more to this plotline than first appears.
This interplay is the fun of a shared universe, and it’s good to see ‘Tales from the Outerverse’ indulging in this aspect right from its first issue.
Final Verdict: 8 – As you’d expect from a title that’s the first ‘Tales from the Outerverse’–branded story, “Cojacaru the Skinner” serves as a great way for new readers to sample what the Outerverse is like, while also focusing on building the universe.
