Xenoholics #1

Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Seth Damoose

A more cynical comics reader would think that this book was designed to appeal to readers of Chew, Image's hit humour comic.  There are a ton of similarities - the first page shows a scene that won't be continued until the fifth issue, the book is populated with a bizarre cast of characters, and the tone of the humour is very similar.  You can almost hear the pitch - "It's like Chew, only with people who are addicted to being abducted by aliens."

The reality is, similarities aside, this is a pretty good comic.  As a first issue, it does its job, setting up characters and the general situation, and both begins and ends with a hook that makes the reader curious for what comes next.  A group of people meet on a weekly basis, in an Alcoholics Anonymous style session to discuss their experiences and interest in alien abduction.  Basically, they are xenoholics - abduction addicts.  It's a good hook for a comic, and Williamson makes sure we understand how terribly weird all the characters are, letting the art show one thing while the narration suggests another.

When crop circles (concrete circles?) appear in the middle of Times Square, the group is spurred into action.  The comic is a lot of fun, with a few genuine laughs.  Damoose's art is not really my thing - it looks a little like an early Steve Pugh, if he drew only stumpy dwarfs - but it does fit the story rather nicely.  I've been pre-ordering this book, and am not sure if it's a mini-series or an on-going, but I'm definitely on board for a few months to see how this title turns out.