Upon their return from the Middle East, Doctor Leight and the Xenobrood go into hiding while they try to figure out how to get the government off their back. Leight enters into a secret deal with a television producer who is willing to pay Leight a million dollars for exclusive footage and interviews with the Xenobrood. More than enough to find a new hidden base of operations.
But once he actually meets the producer, Leight gets uncomfortable with the level of exploitation he's agreeing to put the Xenobrood through for money and calls off the deal. As they leave the studio, Leight is unaware that one of the crew has alerted the authorities and Leight and the Xenobrood are ambushed and captured by the mysterious heavily-armed government agency that has been hunting them!
Leight finds himself at Area 51, in the hands of "Project Aquarius". The Xenobrood are prisoners, Lorna is nowhere to be found, and he is being interrogated. In exchange for his life, Leight tells the government interrogator everything he knows about the Xenobrood. . .their powers, their prehistoric alien origin, the implications of their very existence on human history!
Unknown to Leight or Project Aquarius, the Xenobrood's capture was witnessed by agents of Vimana, who dispatches a strike team to Area 51 to release the Xenobrood and capture them for his slaves.
As alarms blare through Area 51 and Vimana's strike team penetrate security, the Xenobrood manage to free themselves and rescue Doctor Leight and Lorna. Astra takes over the mind of the pilot of the strike team's aircraft and discovers that the ship has an autopilot that will take them back to it's home base.
Leight and the Xenobrood decide to escape in the craft and find out who their TRUE enemy is.
To be continued. . .
Surprisingly, this was actually one of the better issues of the run. We get more of the Ancient Alien/ Annunaki background of the Xenobrood from Doug Moench, and I can also see a definite improvement in Chris Hunter's art, compared to the last issue.
It's still not great. You can easily tell Moench is pretty much phoning it in and spinning the wheels waiting for the finale, despite a healthy dose of the concept that made this team at least a bit different than your average "X" team (Oops. . .sorry. They're strictly aliens now). It's too little, too late. . .and honestly, it's a rehash of small bits from other issues compiled into one place.
Still, with the overwhelming mediocrity of this series as a whole, I'll take a halfway decent issue when I get one and give credit where credit is due.
And FINALLY. . .
SCRIPT: Doug Moench
PENCILS: Chris Hunter
INKS: John Lowe
THE STORY:
Continuing directly from the previous issue, Doctor Leight, Lorna, and the Xenobrood manage to capture the ship used by Vimana's strike force and they use it to escape the hidden government "Project Aquarius" laboratory at Area 51.
They are shocked to discover the ship's autopilot takes them deep under the sea to a high-tech hidden base. Immediately after docking, and before they can even get their bearings, the base's guards attack!
As Doctor Leight and the Xenobrood fight their way through the alien base, they discover the lab where the rest of the crystals from the archeological dig in the ancient Sumerian temple are stored.
There is a debate over whether or not they should destroy them, but the renewed attacks of the undersea base's guards decide it for them when a stray shot destroys the container the rest of the crystals are held in.
When the crystals are destroyed, Vimana himself finally steps in. But instead of fighting, he uses his mental powers to open the minds of the Xenobrood and show them the fantastic, highly-advanced civilization of their homeworld. As the Xenobrood marvel at the sights, Vimana offers them the chance to join him and leave Earth behind.
But the Xenobrood know from Leight's research that they were created as slaves and breeders, and that they would be used as such on their homeworld. They would rather be free outcasts than slaves in a gilded cage. They refuse Vimana's offer.
And with the Xenobrood's refusal, Vimana flies into a rage and an epic battle to the finish ensues!
Ha-Ha. . .just kidding.
Vimana gets depressed and decides that life in exile isn't worth living any longer. He triggers the base's destruct sequence and tells Doctor Leight and the Xenobrood to get out before it explodes.
And so, while Vimana patiently waits for death, Doctor Leight, Lorna, and the Xenobrood run for the craft that brought them, barely escaping with their lives as the base explodes behind them!
After their craft also self-destructs, Leight, Lorna, and the Xenobrood find themselves washed ashore outside of New York City. Now that the threat of Vimana is gone, and in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, Leight tells the Xenobrood that they are free. It's not right for him to be their "master" any more than it was for Vimana.
As the Xenobrood leave for parts unknown, Lorna tells Leight that she's rediscovered her feelings for him and wants to give their relationship another chance. All's well that ends well.
EPILOGUE:
In the months following Leight freeing the Xenobrood, he and Lorna move in together. They have made a deal with a television producer, revealing the government's secret Project Aquarius in exchange for public protection for both them and the Xenobrood.
And then, one night, unexpected visitors arrive. . .the Xenobrood! They have decided to remain with Doctor Leight of their own free will. What will the future hold? Who knows. But for now. . .a happy ending.
THE REVIEW:
And there it is, folks. . .the big ending to the short-lived adventures of the Xenobrood!
The end of Vimana's threat actually came as a big surprise to me. Doug Moench shows that he wasn't entirely phoning it in with a most unusual end for the main villain. Just giving up and killing himself was something I was NOT expecting. It's either one of the laziest final boss battles I've seen in comics, or one of the most brilliant. I don't even know what to think! Thumbs up to Mr. Moench for taking this last issue down a most unexpected path.
Other than that, this final issue was. . .well, it was okay. Not bad, not great. Just like every other issue in the series. Except for the unusual end for the villain, pretty much forgettable. The sort of thing you don't even really remember the next day. . .or maybe even the next hour.
Everything is wrapped up nicely, with the only loose end being the Xenobrood themselves, who are never seen again or even mentioned beyond one single lousy sentence in JLA #4 a few years later in 1997. All's well that ends well? I guess so.
CONCLUSION
After reading and reviewing the seven issues of this forgotten attempt by DC to jump on the mutant bandwagon, I think I can sum it up in two words: Wasted Potential.
There WAS potential here. Doug Moench is a good comic writer, and the "Ancient alien/ Annunaki" hook for the team's origin set it apart a little bit. This SHOULD have been better than it was. Doug Moench ALONE should have been the key here.
But no.
What we GOT was an utterly forgettable and borderline bad comic series that flopped so hard that it's practically forgotten today. How did this happen? As I said above, in MY humble opinion this series was doomed from the start. . .just like almost anything else written for a specific purpose or to fill a specific pigeonhole.
DC wanted in on that sweet, SWEET mutant money. So instead of letting Doug Moench write in his usual introspective style, we got a pretty weak attempt at an X-Treme Action comic. Kind reader, if you know anything about Moench's writing, it's pretty plain to see that he's not really an X-Treme Action writer.
He's not my favorite comic writer, but he's a modern comic legend. When you think of Doug Moench, you think of Moon Knight. . .Batman. . .Master of Kung Fu. . .brooding, introspective character pieces crafted in a unique style. NOT what we find here in Xenobrood.
A lot of what I'm writing here is just my OWN speculation (because there is amazingly little information to be found on this series), but it seems to me like DC took a good writer with a good idea and interfered enough trying to grab a piece of the mutant comic pie to make it fail.
Consider this. . .A dark series about an archeologist who discovers a shattering secret, hidden for thousands of years. A secret that redefines human history itself. Part of the secret is a group of human-like creatures from another world. . . powerful, but childlike and obedient. Created as slaves and breeders for an alien race, they have the potential to become heroes or to become dangerous. Hunted by a secret government agency, they are forced into hiding while they try to make sense of the world around them.
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