By Matt Vroom

XENOGLYPHS: THE COMPLETE SERIES is a comic book series written by Omar Spahi with art by PJ Catacutan. It is currently on Kickstarter, and you have until March 1, 2018, to back this incredible independent series. (Check out the interview we did with Spahi this past Wednesday on the podcast here.)

There are a lot of things that I want to say about this indie series and its creators. Omar has been writing this series for a while now, and it hit its first stride back in 2012 when it started its publication with Omar’s publishing company, OSSM Comics.

They have had an incredible journey since then and continue to dip into other facets of entertainment with talks of an animated series, film, and more to come soon. Omar has even teamed up with Image Comics to produce their titles Sons of the Devil and Hadrian’s Wall. Omar has had a career in comics that most independent creators can only dream of. What impresses me the most about Omar is his willingness to help others along the road to success. He seems pretty genuine with his desire for others the achieve the things that he was able to for himself.

I have read the first volume of Xenoglyphs, and at first it looked like a typical indie project. At first glance, I was overwhelmed by the ambitions of this project. The motivation for the Kickstarter is to raise enough funds so that all 30 issues of this story would be made available for free. The $10,000 goal seemed outrageous to me because the most I have ever seen in a indie project has been a few grand at most. However, I began to understand the importance of this project when I became more familiar with who Omar was, and the amount of effort he has been putting in to this series.

Omar shares a personal story in his campaign launch video. In the video he states that it is important for him to write characters in his stories about people that have had a profound impact on his life. One of those people his is own mother who had passed away from cancer a few years ago. I think it was when I saw that I saw the importance of this series for Omar, and as a independent creator myself.

Xenoglyphs is a fast-paced, action packed, science fiction adventure. The story is solid. “Xenoglyphs follows Steven James and his best friend Dom Jenkins as they try to stop Anubis, the master of evil, from collecting all nine Xenoglyphs,” as read on the Kickstarter’s plot synopsis. “Xenoglyphs are stones that each control a different elemental power, and if a person holds a stone they control that element.”

I definitely think you should read this series. It is very exciting to see something like this project happen. It is not everyday you come across a project that makes big promises and actually meets expectations. Since the series has already so much material available you can see the art of PJ Catacutan evolve. I really enjoyed the blurred action sequences within the panels of this story. Imagine the bullet time sequences in most big budget films, but put that on paper. It actually works for this art style.

The story doesn’t drag and there does appear to be a direction for this series. I can’t imagine how this series ends, but I am not worried about it. There is a great team behind the scenes, and only good things can come out of that.

Follow Omar Spahi on Twitter (@xenoglyphs) for more updates on his Kickstarter and other projects that he has down the pipeline.

If you have a comic that you would like me to review, then please feel free to email me at matt@superherospeak.com, or Dave at dave@superherospeak.com.

Matt Vroom – Content Creator and Comic Reviewer for SuperHeroSpeak.com.

Follow Matt on Twitter: @vroomatt

See Matt’s Comic Book Work: www.vroomation.com

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