Xenoholics #2

Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Seth Damoose

Where the first issue was kind of fun, and showed some good potential, this second issue really shifts into a higher gear, and proves that everyone comparing this title to Chew is probably correct.  Xenoholics is about an AA-style group for people who are alien abduction survivors.  In the first issue, we learned who the various members of the group are, and some of their secrets (one of them is a reporter looking to earn their trust for an article he's writing).  Things take a sudden turn though when crop circles appear in the pavement of Times Square, and the kindly professor who runs the group goes missing.

Now, with this second issue, the group members go to the Professor's apartment to investigate, and conclude from the hole in the wall, that he's been abducted.  Their investigation is quickly interrupted by the mysterious Agent Wax, who claims to be from the FBI (and is probably of no relation to the Agent Wax who was in Wildcats 3.0).

That meeting doesn't go well, and one of the group, a famous boxer, knocks him out.  Our heroes take refuge in a cosplay sci-fi sex fetish club that they discover the Professor frequents, and set about planning their next move.  The club scenes are really pretty funny, and have backgrounds worthy of study (although I don't want to know what that Yeti was doing).

I like the way Williamson has set up this story, with plenty of intrigue and shadowy cabals, coupled with the fact that just about every cast member in this book is lying about something.  Much like Chew, this looks to be a series with some legs, and enough story potential to last a while.  Damoose's art is really growing on me too.