Written by John Rozum
Illustrated by Frazer IrvingYou can’t keep a good XOMBI down! The immortal David Kim — kept “alive” by nanotech enhancements — returns to the DC Universe in a new ongoing series! Creator John Rozum and hot BATMAN AND ROBIN artist Frazer Irving team up to deliver the finest in contemporary urban horror — with a Super Hero twist! As an undying, unchanging Xombi, David Kim must watch the world consume itself and burn while humanity grows more distant from each other due to the rise of technology. What would a Xombi do just to feel change again? And where will he ever be able to find a kindred soul?
Xombi is the first (according to reports) Milestone relaunch from DC, obviously coming rather unfortunately timed with the poor man’s passing. Of course, despite my history as a comic reader, I have really not read that much Milestone, and I certainly have never read Xombi before. However, I do love me some #1’s!
Click beyond the cut to see some thoughts on the issue.
With any #1 issue, there are a few things that you would assume would be present for any established character/franchise. Included in that list is the ability to jump in easily without having read anything before, as well as the books ability to catch new readers up to what we’ve missed in the past. It’s ultimately a simple request from a first issue for characters that have existed in any universe prior to their first #1, and you’d think the intro issue would now be a staple. In the case of Xombi, it manages to walk the line rather steadfast.
In the relaunched Xombi series, we meet David Kim, a man infused with thousands upon thousands of nanomachines that keep him readily healthy and at the peak of his possible physical performance. He lives in a world that’s going mad around him, as up slowly becomes down and black is apparently going to become white. At the center of this horror tale is a phone call, informing David that he needs to team up with a few “super” characters in order to stop a rather unique prison riot. To be quite frank, credit is given where credit is due and this comic is fairly creative. With humorous characters like Nun of the Above and a very unique premise, Xombi stands strong as one of the more original comics on shelves this week (or at the very least, one of the least stereotypical for a “super hero” take on a character). When describing the issue alone, it actually sounds rather incredibly fun, and if fun were the only thing we were judging this comic on, it would certainly get a few points for that alone.
Unfortunately, the biggest issue that Xombi has is that despite this creativity in premise, the execution is rather slow and a tad uninteresting. Rozum does his best to try and integrate people into Kim’s world, and the book does do a fairly good job of “explaining” the Xombi element without making the reader feel too dumb about it. Beyond that, though, the issue just reads incredibly slowly, with many moments feeling like they take far too long to get to their points. One noticeable element of the story is how often Rozum really allows Irving to take over the pages, with quite a few splash pages and most other pages not going above five panels with content. The pacing is set to be that of an eerie horror film, but it instead plays off kind of like an episode of Doctor Who (the Weeping Angels episodes particularly come to mind) in that it does have horror elements, but mostly just generally feels pretty campy.
That being said, it has been noted before that great art can lift a subpar story up, and that’s exactly what Frazer Irving’s art does. Many were given their first look at him recently with Batman and Robin, and you can probably bet that quite a few will follow to Xombi, and for those coming solely for the art you are quite rewarded. Irving handles all the art details here, offering wonderfully colored pages per story section that really enhance the moodiness of the tale. Irving has a great eye for the digital, and his panel usage and story angles – while sometimes to the minimum option – are rich and full enough in their visuals to truly bring the story out from it’s pacing flaws. If there is one definitive truth about the issue, it’s that Frazer Irving is an absolute art champ.
Continued belowI’m not really sure who exactly was clamoring for a Xombi relaunch, but I hope whoever they were they’re happy with this. As someone coming to the character fresh faced, I can’t say I’m overtly impressed with the title as it stands. Right now it’s a fairly intriguing horror title, but outside of Irving’s art there isn’t a huge reason to follow beyond this issue. Xombi isn’t necessarily bad, but it doesn’t outshine any other titles so far this week. This is the kind of issue that rather assuredly either hooks or it doesn’t, and while the first issue is definitely worth looking at to see Irving’s art, upon reading it’s unsure as to if this book will be worth following beyond or not.
Final Verdict: 7.3 – Browse/Buy
As an additional note, there is a tiny note at the end of the issue about Dwayne McDuffie’s passing, thanking the creator for his work. While it was obviously thrown in at the last second, it’s still nice to DC giving credit where credit is due.
