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Mitchell, Brian John & Gardner, Melissa Spence – XO #7

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XO #7

In the general chaos that is Brian’s comic empire (I think we can call it that after a few years of him averaging a comic or two per month), it might be a little tough to know where to start. And for people who wonder about that, might I suggest XO? It sure seems like these issues all stand alone, although I could be wrong about that and he actually has some master plan for this series. This issue starts off innocently enough, with a young man looking at a dating website and wondering if it isn’t time to start dating again. He then flashes back to his last relationship, and we see that he isn’t nearly as innocent as he appears. That Brian, he is a master of such ratfuckery (which, in case you’re dense, is a compliment of the highest order). This man had fallen into drugs, alcohol, and apparently everything else you could think of, so much so that he didn’t even notice that his new girlfriend was actually another assassin (oh, didn’t I mention that the young man was an assassin?) until he woke up tied to a chair, gagged, with a knife in his chest. Things seem bleak for our hero, but there’s always a way out of these situations. Still, his method of escape might have you thinking of him as significantly less than “our hero.” Melissa really stepped up her game as well, as that Breaking Bad-esque shot of the bloody broken chair and the debris around it was a thing of beauty. These comics just keep rolling along. If you’re looking for an alternative to the current BRAND! NEW! #1 comics that the big companies are putting out, how about going with series like these that you can actually afford? The fact that they tell much better stories than the big expensive comics should also help convince you. Or at least it should… $1

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

Mitchell, Brian John – XO #5 (with Melissa Spence Gardner)

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XO #5 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)

You know what I love most about this particular series ?  It’s the fact that the murders have all been, on some level or another, justifiable.  Granted, it’s been just barely justifiable in some cases (#3, for example, and this one) but there’s a case to be made for the fact that murderer was mostly trying to do the right thing.  In this issue a young drug dealer is confronted by the brother of a man to whom he’s dealing drugs.  He mentions this problem to his partner, who mentions it to the supplier, and is offered $5000 to take care of the problem along with assistance in getting rid of the body, but any action to be taken is purely up to the dealer.  The dealer confronts the brother, meaning only to talk, but he confronts him while the guy is working on his car and he ends up getting accidentally killed in a manner that’s familiar to anybody who has ever worked under a car hood who has an active imagination.  The comic ends a little abruptly, as we’re left to wonder exactly how this dealer is going to get rid of the body, but I still love all the ambiguity.  Brian is doing an excellent job of giving all of his series a distinct voice, and the contribution of Melissa with the art has to be at least mentioned.  That death shot was a particularly gruesome panel and she manages to make all of these deaths seem like they could be happening to somebody you know, no small feat.  $1

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Mitchell, Brian John – XO #4 (with Melissa Spence Gardner)

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XO #4 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)

Another issue of XO, another fun murder.  Actually, I suppose you could call this an “almost murder”, followed quickly by the steps necessary to make it an actual murder.  OK, I’m getting way ahead of the story.  Once again, everything is presented like it’s a true story, which only makes the whole thing creepier.  Brian comes home from grocery shopping to find his neighbor outside arguing with her boyfriend.  He decides to step in, asking her if she’d like the guy to leave, and things escalate to the point where the girl just walks away and the guy takes a swing at Brian, which leads to him getting punched in the face.  Trouble is that the punch was maybe a little too hard, as the guy doesn’t seem to be moving, and something has to be done about that body lying in the parking lot.  I’m really starting to love these tiny things (in case you haven’t read the other reviews, that cover sample is just about actual size), as they’re imaginative and creepy and (while Melissa is drawing anyway) artistically swell.  Not that the other ones are ugly, it’s just that Brian is more of a stick figure kind of guy.  This is probably right around $1, and every one of these I’ve seen so far has been worth checking out.

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Mitchell, Brian John – XO #3 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)

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XO #3 (art by Melissa Spence Gardner)

Here’s another tiny mini by Brian, as it looks like he enjoys sticking with that matchbox format. This is a fictional (I hope) tale about a young man’s first murder, as he sees another man with his girlfriend and snaps. Smashing a head in is generally a sure way to kill somebody, and the man spends the rest of the tiny issue methodically dealing with the body and the consequences, slight as they are. It’s a thoroughly creepy book and Melissa does a great job with very little space to convey a complex range of emotions on these characters. This is probably $1 like the other issue and you could still get all of these comics for a pittance, not to mention the ridiculously tiny envelope they could all fit in…