John Rozum

For a book that collects a comic starting with issue #1, this really gets going in media res. It's full of exotic supporting characters who get defined on the fly. While the Xombi's powers are the result of hyper-technological "nanites," his friends and foes seem to be mostly supernaturally religious/occult in their origins and orientations. They seem to have some larger background, because they shared in an earlier series, but they are all sort of quirky and enigmatic anyway: the tone is closer to Bob Burden than Jack Kirby. Superpowered nuns and rabbis are funny, right? Although the original Xombi from the 1990s became involved with the larger DC superhero milieu, this reboot sequence (by the original writer) is more contained. The origin story is not rehashed, but rather dribbled out through incidental allusion.

I was motivated to pick this up to read because the art looked good: Frazer Irving provides expressive painted panels throughout, and there are a generous number of full-page tableaux. The six issues of the new series conclude a distinct plot arc "The Ninth Stronghold," and the 2009 re-debut of Xombi in The Brave and the Bold 26 is appended to these. Scott Hampton's art in the latter is looser and more expressionistic.… (mer)