XOMBI #6

Review by: TheNextChampion

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Written by JOHN ROZUM
Art and cover by FRAZER IRVING

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

The only title that I’m gonna miss with the DCU reboot is Xombi. It’s the little title that could in that I had literally no expectations for this thing when it was announced. Hell I didn’t even know it was considered a continuation of a previous story until an interview the day before the release. It also puzzles me that this was never considered to be a Vertigo title. Maybe the previous volume had ties to the DCU but with literally no connection with the heroes of today, there seems to be no reason to not start (or continue) the series as a Vertigo print. But as it stands this is the final issue of Xombi vol.2 with John Rozum and having some of the best work of Frazier Irving to date. How does this final issue fair out?

Overall this issue does end the series on a high note even though it’s clear the story had to be rushed a bit. But Rozum handles it in a way where the ending feels natural and not forced. Maybe this story wasn’t destined to end after only six issues but Rozum makes it feel like this was a one and done series. There’s also a ton of crazy ideas thrown in for the finale. We got ‘blood mummies’ wrapped in spider silk, flying demons with eyes for heads, and ‘Dental Phantoms’ that use ticker tape to talk. It’s stuff like that that made this series for what it is: Crazy as hell but a lot of fun. There’s also a ton of action in this that balances the obvious (and massive) amount of exposition to finish the story. But again Rozum is able to make it work in the end and I am pretty much satisfied on how it ended.

I said it before but I’ll say it again: Frazier Irving did his best work with this series. He’s able to handle all the craziness with the script and makes it look so beautiful. You got the obvious, and bizarre, coloring style Irving uses that makes this issue a highlight. Again I doubt any sane artist would use pinks, blues, or reds the way Irving does. But the creatures look great, the effects like explosions look really good, and overall Irving makes everything visually interesting without making it just a lot of boring exposition panels. Although to give one sort of nitpick in this pretty fantastic look issue; it’s clear Irving reused the first page of the first issue in the ending and did nothing to change it. It’s a bit of a cheat that I couldn’t really let it slide.

So while I hope that one day we’ll see these two guys work on Xombi again in the future, I’m not gonna hold my breath. Even still, this final issue sums up everything about this entire run. It’s fun, gorgeous to look at, and it was one of the most creative comics on the stands today. Maybe it’ll be more likely to see Rozum and Irving work on ‘a’ title and not this series ever again. Either way you need to do yourself a favor and grab these six issues or get the trade when it comes out. If you don’t you’ll be missing out what could be one of the top five comics of 2011. (Well at least in my opinion anyways)

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. Great review TNC. I agree with all your points. I especially liked the eastern philosophy vs. western phil. speech given. The analogy of standing by a river with westerners looking towards the “future” and easterners studying the “past” is phenomenal! That kind of storytelling can be found in a few select books, and this is one of them.

    • I forgot to mention that in the review, but yeah a great little philosophy speech at the end is pretty good.

      Also, I’m honored to be praised by a man with the name ‘TurdSandwich’. 🙂

  2. amazing book that will be missed. Much praise to the Spider avatar.

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