Namiko here. I made a monumental purchase this week, at the behest of my son. A near-$150 book reprinting DC comic books printed 20 years before he was born (and about 6 years after I was). But Isamu was into these "Bronze Age" DC Comics, and especially DC's Who's Who encyclopedia series -- all because of Xum's love for them. So how could I say no?
And Xum expressed his love for Who's Who by creating his own "Xum's Who" book featuring characters who were not included in the original book, characters he sort of made up when he was doing his Line work for CBR, and characters based on real people (including himself and Isamu, which likely got him into Who's Who).
"Xum's Who" started as drawings he did for the CBR Line, and later for the Fire and Water Network's "Who's Who Podcast." Xum could explain it all better than I. Good thing he jotted down the origins of "Xum's Who" as part of his vanity art book project, "Does this Trade Dress Make Me Look Phat?"
I have discovered to my surprise that a lot of people were into what Xum was doing, as "Xum's Who" pages were popping up in lots of places on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, blog posts, message boards, what have you. It's just unbelievable how many people have been touched by his art, or his melding of other people's art.
While all of the printed copies of volume 1 of Xum's Who have been given out, Xum did want to offer a digital copy (which includes pieces from Xum's unfinished Volumes 2 and 3) to anyone who wanted to have it. So Isamu and Adrian Zet set it up for download at the Fire and Water Network's Who's Who podcast site here.
So if you are into Who's Who as Xum was and Isamu is, may you, as Xum would say, enjoy!
