Xenoholics #5

Written by Joshua Williamson
Art by Seth Damoose

Xenoholics has been a fun little series about people who have been abducted by aliens, and are perhaps now a little addicted to the experience.  At least, that's how it started out, but by the time this issue has finished (and the first volume of the story with it), we've moved squarely into X-Files territory, as the various characters uncover a couple of conspiracies, and an evil plot or two, but never the entire truth.

This started out being a series very much like Image's popular Chew, but by the end, Williamson has taken it someplace else.  To be honest, I'm not sure how I feel about the direction this series ended up taking.  When it appeared to be about a group of delusional people brought together by their twelve-step style support group, and about the reporter who wanted to write about them, I was into things.  Williamson did a great job establishing these characters very well from the beginning.

Even though the government agency conspiracy elements were with the story from the beginning, I found that some of the revelations of this issue lessened the work.  I don't want to give anything away, so I can't say much more than that.  There are still some good scenes in this comic, and Seth Damoose's art has grown on me, but I'm not sure I would return for a second mini-series, were one to be solicited.