Mitchell, Brian John – XO #6 (with Melissa Spence Gardner)

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XO #6

It feels like I haven’t reviewed an issue of XO in ages.  Granted, that certainly isn’t Brian’s fault, as he continues to crank out these minis at a ridiculous pace.  Luckily he’s more than smart enough to put a recap on the first page, so people with spotty memories like me have a chance to get caught up.  In the last issue there was the small matter of a murder and what to do with the body, so this issue takes care of all that.  It’s less suspenseful than you might think, as the main character is given an address to take the body and goes on his merry way.  Nobody seems to suspect anything, our hero gets cover at his work so nothing is out of the ordinary, and all he has to do is take a 12 hour drive down to Miami.  Oh, and did I mention that our hero is 16 and has never left the area?  After all the murders of the first few issues this one was downright serene, as the narrator contemplates the fact that he could now never become a writer (writers have to write what they know, and he can never risk news of the murder getting out) and wonders what other career he could come up with.  By the end of the issue he has a pretty good idea, but why spoil that for you?  In case people see the vast body of work that Brian has put out over the last couple of years and want to try something but don’t know where to start, I’m going to suggest going for a full series instead of getting one or two issues of everything.  In the mood for a fantastic western revenge story?  Get Just A Man.  Like to read about failed relationships, or at least relationships that left serious emotional scars?  Lost Kisses is for you.  How about creepy government paranoia and parasitical invasion?  Worms, my good chap (or chapette).  Or, if “in over his head but still preternaturally calm about it”, why not try XO?  $5 gets you pretty much any of the series I mentioned, and who doesn’t have $5 stashed away somewhere for good comics?  $1