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Xombi: A Surprising Find From An Age Of Mediocrity


Recently DC breathed new life into an oddball comic that debuted in the mid 90s. Xombi was originally a part of the Milestone comics Imprint, which was most notable for being the home of the character Static Shock, based on the ads for other Milestone comics in the issues of Xombi I read, most of the comics under the imprint had pretty poor art, and some ridiculous character concepts. (To be fair, this was the mid 90s, and pretty much every comic was like that).

The art in the original run of Xombi is pretty awful, a problem which has been remedied by the work of Frazer Irving. The characters are all simply fabulous though.

The opening premise is that David Kim, a researcher into nanotechnology, is mortally wounded by occult creatures trying to steal his work. As a last ditch effort, he injects himself with his nanomachines, which miraculously heal him, while using his close friend and research assistant for raw materials.

This puts David in a rare classification of being, a Xombi, a Xombi is immortal, through unnatural means, there are a handful of Xombies running around, although there's usually only a couple alive at once.

So, being a Xombi is rather sciencey, but just about everything else at play in the story involves the occult, the creatures that killed David were Rustling Husks, artificial creatures made from the ghosts of insects that died trapped between the glass panes of windows. They're freaky skeletal creatures with wasp hives for their heads. His principal allies are members of the Catholic church's monster hunting squad, Nun of the Above can see the actions of anyone within 30 miles, and Catholic girl can create force fields, fire energy bolts, and create force fields, all with the power of her faith. He also spends time with a rabbi who commands clay golems, and a shady individual whose been a member of several agencies and terrorist groups.

This book really shines brightest when they are creating their own brand of mythology, blending existing myths with fresh ideas, like sidewalk piranha devouring locked up bicycles.

You can read the new series on it's own, but you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't catch on the 21 issues of the old Milestone stuff.

Again, I highly recommend it.
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