Xombi #3

Written by John Rozum
Art by Frazer Irving

Xombi has become my favourite DC Universe comic, and could be my favourite superhero monthly.  John Rozum and Frazer Irving are doing an incredible job with this book, and while I'm not surprised, I am saddened that this title is not getting more acclaim.

I don't know anything about this character's previous run with the Milestone imprint, except that it was also written by Rozum, and doesn't appear to have ever been collected.  I gave this new series a try based solely on the strength of Frazer Irving's artwork, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing.

In this first arc, David Kim, the Xombi, has been called in to investigate the escape of a prisoner from a prison comprised of a miniaturized subdivision, run by an interfaith coalition of jailers.  Aiding him are Catholic Girl, and a pair of superpowered nuns named Nun of the Above and Nun the Less.  As the story unfolds, David and his friends, along with a couple of golem and a creature made up of the souls of wasps that have died on windowsills have to fight Marantha, a lion-like wrath of god creature.

There's more going on than this, but hopefully you can get the picture - this comic is crazy good.  In some ways, this book reminds me of Grant Morrison's run on Doom Patrol, but it has more of a heart to it than that legendary series.  Amid all the action of this issue, Rozum treats us to a monologue on living given by a ghost, and uses a few pages to set up his villain, Roland Finch, as very smart man who only makes mistakes by design.

Wonderful writing, beautiful art.  Please, go buy this book; I fear it's too good to survive in today's comic market unless people start to get the word out.