I think I just hit the point in Xombi’s publication history when it got an editorial mandate. This issue does not contain the story promised at the end of the last issue. It does not feature David’s fiancée returning. It does not even mention her.

Instead, David’s hanging out with his nanotechnology expert friend. He’s helping her get ready for a science pavilion (it sounds like a World’s Fair type event) and some ancient computer wakes up and wants to get plugged in to the Internet and is going to suffocate them if they don’t help it.

Rozum doesn’t even explore if David can suffocate or not. The story’s just a nice done-in-one with them figuring out how to solve the problem. Rozum gets in a great 2001 reference as a laugh.

While it might be a bad sign for the series, it’s also a well-written comic.

I think this issue is Rozum’s best on Xombi, but it’s hard to say. It’s so unrelentingly, hostilely downbeat, it’s difficult to fully appreciate it.

The issue’s not about David. He appears at the bookends, consulting the Rabbi as to how to inform his fiancée about his… lifestyle change. The Rabbi tells David about his own experience, when his wife discovered the supernatural and the Rabbi’s place in that world.

The bulk of the issue is set in the 1930s, which is a far more interesting setting than the modern Milestone universe. There’s one plus. The second is Rozum’s attention to how he’s pacing this story and the perspective. It’s the Rabbi telling the story, but it’s really his wife’s story. Rozum does a great job with it along those lines.

It’s the first scary issue of Xombi. For all the supernatural stuff, there hasn’t been real peril.

It’s outstanding.

Rozum brings in David’s fiancée here—though only on the phone—but he doesn’t really need her. The issue, written from David’s perspective (which is good as it was the last time), is more about introducing David’s friends.

His regular friends… who don’t notice he looks twenty years younger.

Birch now draws David like a punk teenager (punk as in punk rock). It’s either an interesting choice or Birch is just rushing. I’m think it’s a little more the latter.

The regular friends are not particularly interesting characters; neither of the two who know David’s condition are impressed. There’s some shock and awe in the dialogue, but it’s muted. It’s like this kind of thing happens all the time.

Finally, David decides he’s going to have to be a freak and hang out with the freaks.

It reads like it should’ve been the second issue.

At least Rozum’s tone’s good.

So the big revelation this issue? David Kim is kind of an angel. The guest-starring angels, off panel, tell him so. And, just as Rozum has pushed the series as far away from tangible reality as possible, the back matter promises to bring it back. Next issue will feature David’s fiancée, who apparently hasn’t missed him in the last two months since he’s been fighting supernatural beasts.

I’ve been reading Xombi ever hopeful; Rozum had an excellent issue and the writing’s always technically good… he just doesn’t have a story. This issue, in terms of continuity, comes right before the zero issue. Maybe the book will have a creative upswing soon.

Maybe.

Notice I haven’t really talked about the content? It’s because there’s very little there. It’s a lot of action with supernatural monsters. Who cares? I miss the bigger—and funnier—supporting cast.

The book’s seriously downbeat now.

Rozum paces the issue somewhat well. He was some twists in the first few pages by the end, I thought they happened last issue as the hard cliffhanger. It lets him utilize a couple different tones to it.

Of course, Birch helps with the tone too. The end becomes this frantic chase sequence, usually comedic; when the issue ends on its own cliffhanger, it’s a surprise. It seemed like Rozum was going to wrap things up.

In fact, resolved events are turned back, left unresolved. Rozum finds a great deus ex machine and he brings it in and… well, maintains the series’s meandering nature.

One interesting thing at the beginning of this issue—Rozum decides it takes place two months after the first issue. One would think David Kim would have a very interesting life in those two months, but apparently not.

Xombi’s a good read… but nothing ever happens.

More mentions of Xombi‘s meaning—it’s pronounced zombie, notch—but nothing explaining how David became one (it’s not just a science thing, presumably, but also a magic thing) when he had his science-driven origin. His friends don’t talk much about it either.

Rozum does something very strange here, bringing another of the supporting cast into the issue for what seems to be no reason. Next issue might reveal his reasoning and I hope it does… otherwise, it’s pretty clear he’s padding these issues out.

Birch ends the issue on a rather hideous image. It’s easily the most hideous image in the issue, so it’s good he saved it for the last page.

Otherwise, not much happens. One of the supporting cast is doing magic to save the day. Magic takes a while.

Oh, and there’s an angel guest-starring, so I guess Heaven is in continuity.

It’s competently blah.

So apparently the title, Xombi, isn’t just a riff on zombie, but some way of describing David Kim. We learn about it from the latest bunch of new characters Rozum adds this issue. I don’t think he goes a single issue without introducing two new characters. Here it might be four.

Again, not much of the comic has really to do with David. He’s again moving through a situation he doesn’t belong in and, with all the new supernatural elements, one wonders if he’s even one of the more interesting characters anymore. The guy with the giant pet lion and the eyes all over his body seems a lot more engaging.

Birch handles all Rozum’s script throws at him—this time it’s a lot more physical than conceptual, but some of the compositions are particularly good. It’s got a real graphic sense to the narrative.

It’s just a tad meandering.

Just after I’ve gotten used to the supporting cast, Rozum gets rid of them for a new one. These people have more to do with David, I suppose, but they’re his regular friends. They’re nowhere near as interesting as the wacky, magical ones.

This issue starts a new arc and Rozum has returned to the regular narration. No more David Kim narrating, unfortunately.

Most of the issue hinges on how successful Birch is at drawing something really disturbing. it turns out he’s really good at it and makes someone with a hand for legs incredibly uncanny. It’s mostly an action issue. There’s some mood and talking heads, but it’s mostly action. Physical versus supernatural.

What’s particularly interesting is how Rozum uses David. He doesn’t use his powers and only gets into the story because he’s trying to help. He’s compelled to try.

It’s both a bridge issue and not one.

And so Rozum promised a lot, maybe without realizing it, from this issue and he delivers. He delivers more than I hoped.

He seems to get how important it is for Xombi to finally be about the protagonist. This issue, the supernatural oddness of the last four are almost forgotten; their brief mentions are all to remind they exist in an otherworldly realm David doesn’t primarily inhabit.

Rozum narrates it first person, from David’s point of view. It’s the first time he’s really gotten inside the character and he sends him on a tragic, but redemptive issue.

My cynical side says this issue should have been the second one, but the time in between this one and the first makes it all the more affecting. Birch is a lot more on target here too, without all the supernatural elements.

It’s a great comic book and sets Xombi’s bar rather high.

The soft cliffhanger implies Rozum is going to start dealing with David’s stuff next issue. I’m not holding my breath, but I am somewhat hopeful….

This issue is another mixed bag. The issue revolves around this giant monster—who Rozum just now introduces, even though he’s been sort of present a while—and the gang trying to defeat with it. It doesn’t taken them very long. In fact, it’s like Rozum and Birch don’t realize they’re not doing a movie. Giant monsters in comics don’t have a lot of dramatic effect.

One of the non-permanent supporting cast members exits here too. He’s last scene is one of the best scenes in a Xombi issue in a while. It’s very bittersweet and touching, even if Rozum abbreviated it a little too much.

Still, lots of good character moments and the plot does move.

And I’m hopeful for the next one.