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Issue #1 Click here to see the digital version or watch it at IFC Medialab or YouTube
Issue #2 Click here to see the digital version or watch it at IFC Medialab or YouTube
Issue #3 Click here to see the digital version or watch it at IFC Medialab or YouTube
Brian did an interview about xo at Jazma Online

order a physical copy of #1 for $1 ($1.75 international)
order a physical copy of #2 for $1 ($1.75 international)
order a physical copy of #3 for $1 ($1.75 international)
order physical copies of #1-#3 for $2 ($2.75 international)

Reviews:
In XO, we have violence and some good artwork by Melissa Spence Gardner. The story is about a so-called hit man, who kills his co-worker's girlfriend and then winds up killing his co-worker. The artwork is pretty good and the story is horrifically scary!
~ Paul Dale Roberts, jazmaonline

I've always been a big fan of mini-comics. Spending time in the early 90s in Boston meant that every record shop, comic shop, penthouse and outhouse in a 5 mile radius carried tons of them, usually for a price so low you wouldn't blink to pay it, and get tons of reading value out of them. More to the point, with these comics you really could "see the brushstrokes" and get some real kicks out of seeing the work in progress, and know that someone out there had your own brand of odd humor. However, I never imagined that I'd see mini-comics as small as this output from Silber media.
Looking to be about the size of a large business card, and fitting exactly one panel to a page, these 22-page beauties fit just about anywhere, and are a blast to read. All three were written by Brian John Mitchell, with Mitchell, doing the art on Lost Kisses, Gardner the work on XO and Traub on Worms. That's the cover to Worms #1 on the top left.
The books cover different genres, even in only 22-26 panels. Worms is a horror/thriller, about a girl whose home is invaded by people she really doesn't expect, XO is about a guy who can't stop killing people, and an opportunity gets served up to him, and Lost Kisses is a sad kind of love story. Lost kisses alone is worth the price of the package, as it's this alternately bitter, sometimes biting, sometimes regretful look at a guy who has a lost love die at an early age. They've both moved on, and years have passed, but he hasn't figured out who to blame/hate for her death. He goes through lots of stages in a pretty short time.
~ Bart Gerardi, Paperback Reader

There is one eerily real scenario played out in this comic. The story starts off calm as we are introduced to a man who is watching after his grandmother when an intruder breaks in. From there the tables turn rather quickly and a much darker plot is revealed.
The artwork is decent, though there are some basic elements that could be better.
The writing again is decent but struggles a little. But overall, for the premise alone, this one gets a stronger nod. If developed in full this could turn out to be a very interesting story.
~ Brant W. Fowler, Silver Bullet Comics

XO has strong human interactions and incredible drama.  Lost Kisses #4 is a lot of philosophical insight of the world around us.  Worms #1 contains a lot of mystery.  It entices you to keep flipping the pages to see what is actually going on with the story.  These cute little books are enjoyable to carry around in your back pocket and when boredom sits in, pull one out and ENJOY!
~ Paul Dale Roberts, Jazma Online

A young man struggles with the vagaries of life in Lost Kisses, a sociopathic assassin tries to change his life in XO, and a young woman experiences a dream world in Worms.
Independent writer Brian John Mitchell crafts three very off-beat mini-comics – each one only about the size of a book of matches. The results are surprisingly deep and fascinating stories told in a minimum amount of prose and space.
In Lost Kisses a 20-something, directionless young man learns that a former girlfriend died of cancer two years ago. The story follows his reactions as he deals with guilt, the randomness of life, his own self-centeredness, and the future. XO moves in a totally opposite direction as a sociopathic hitman tries to retire from his life of death and develop a heart and conscience. In this outing he does so by agreeing to stay with his elderly grandmother while his parents go on vacation. An unexpected event, however, could set his plans for redemption back. Finally, in the last mini-comic, Worms, a young woman finds herself wrapped up in a nightmare involving strange things, shadowy conspiracies, and a fight for her life.
Mitchell proves to be an able and capable writer, perfectly capturing voices and spirits with just a few words. His protagonist in Lost Kisses is someone readers have either known or been ourselves – a young person trying to make sense of an insane world that seems to ask much of us and ask nothing of us by turns. The ruminations are silly, funny, sad and serious – just like life itself. With Worms, Mitchell’s writing style changes drastically and here he perfectly captures the voice and logic of the dream world. Things happen, things that make no logical sense but, as with any dream or nightmare, the sleeping mind simply accepts it. The reader travels along with the unnamed protagonist, wrapped up in a story that, while the details are different, feels like a place many sleepers have been in their own dreams. The third of these mini-comics is also in many ways the weakest of the three. While XO strives for black humor and dark satire it still feels a bit hollow. The unnamed protagonist remains distant throughout the story and so takes some of the bite out of both the irony and satire.
The art is as diverse as the titles themselves. Lost Kisses is penciled and inked by Mitchell himself and consists of a series of stick figures. Despite the limitation one might think this would impose, Mitchell manages to make the simple figures quite expressive and subversively fun. XO features the work of Melissa Spence Gardner and is, perhaps, more what most readers are used to. Her work has a cartoonish quality with a bit of an amateurish gloss still to it but it works for the feel of these home-grown comics. Besides that, Gardner manages to create effective figures that move well within the story. The final artist is Kimberlee Traub for Worms. Kimberlee’s style is very abstract – some pages put one in mind of a Picasso print. While, to a certain extent, this is perfect for the nightmare world of the comic, the panels do, occasionally, get a little too abstract, making it difficult to understand what is supposed to be going on in the panel.
For a flavor of something a little different, any of these three comics would be worth the purchase price. Be forewarned, the little books can easily slip out of your hands but on the other hand they are immensely portable and can go anywhere with you.
~ Tonya Crawford, Broken Fontier

While we’re on the subject of people who were nice enough to send me comics, I really ought to mention Brian John Mitchell, who contacted me a while back about sending me a few of his mini-comics.
I’m not really what you’d consider a mini-comics guy–unless of course said mini-comics involve the One-Man Army Corps–but I’m always interested in seeing new stuff, so I asked for a few and he sent them over.
And the first thing I noticed, of course, was how tiny they are.
About 2 postage stamps, I'd say.
I imagine that’s the first thing everyone notices when they see them, since Mitchell’s putting the mini back in mini-comics with his work, and it’s a novel format that I found utterly charming when I sat down to read them. Each of the three he sent me (one issue each of XO, Worms, and Lost Kisses), is around 44 pages, with each page as a single panel, and while they’re not really my thing, they’re pretty enjoyable.
Pictured above is Lost Kisses, which, coincidenally enough, probably best fits my stereotypical definition of “mini-comic,” seeing as it’s an autobiographical tale done in the fine art of stick figures, where Mitchell deals with finding out an ex-girlfriend of his recently died of cancer. And it’s the best by far, mostly because of jokes like this:
"Stick with me & you won't get cancer!" "I think I'd prefer the cancer."
[If I had a nickel for every time this happened to me...]
In another novel concept, all of Mitchell’s comics can all be viewed as videos or purchased as physical copies on the website, so if you’re curious, check it out.
~ Chris Sims, Invincible Super Blog

With digital editions of his comics available for free on his website, writer (and sometimes artist) Brian John Mitchell is obviously more intent on telling his stories than making a profit. A few of them arrived in the mail a couple days ago, and they’re presented in an unexpected medium; black-and-white, laser-printed, two-inch square pamphlets with a two-staple binding. It makes an impression.
XO #2 is the continuing story (and I don’t really mean continuing; you don’t actually have to have read the first one) of an extremely troubled and seemingly gentle man who deals with a dangerous confrontation in an ultra-violent manner. I was both entertained and disturbed at this vicious story, the artistry of which kept making me feel like I was sneaking a peek into the notebook of a demented high school kid.
~ Squashua, Ain't It Cool News

artist bios:
Melissa Spence Gardner draws comics. She does other stuff occasionally, but mostly she draws comics. Did I mention that she draws comics?  Melissa was born in San Francisco.  Her first memory is of the pink blanket that she was industriously swaddled in and thinking, “Have they invented Hello Kitty yet?”
As a young child Melissa dreamed of the day that she could use the word summer as a verb.  Her doodles were unremarkable.  By the age of nine all that she had contributed to modern society was a piece of yarn that she would demand that her mother tie through the belt loop at the back of her pants.  She called this innovation a “tail.”
Melissa claims to have been the first college student in Wisconsin to have both a tattoo and an eye-brow piercing.  She enjoyed strolling through the mall and watching mothers grip the hands of their small children and eye her warily.
When she lost a bet with Bobcat Goldthwait in a bar in Thailand, she suddenly found herself spending a year abroad, studying in Scottland.  Oddly, she has never drawn a strip that has incorporated either plaid or kilts.  She has however drawn cheap bastards.
In Washington, DC she met the man of her dreams.  He’s a corporate shill who pens semi-humorous biographies for back rubs.
Melissa is the artist behind Strange Snow.  In her Gaithersburg, Maryland home she is never far from a pen and a stack of paper.  Drawing comics is her passion.  Observing life and displaying it for you is  her dream.

Brian John Mitchell wanted to be a writer as a child, but it didn't work out because he lost interest when he found out it wouldn't come easily for him.  He had short stories & poetry  published a few times when he was 17.   At  19 he started a music zine called QRD which still continues online.  At 21 he self-produced a hand stitched book of short stories called Subhorrea which was followed by the yet to be printed 4 Hours Old.  At 22 he started the now defunct business-card-sized zine Random Kisses, a poetry zine with an edge towards swearing & violence.  At 23 he started Zombie Kisses, a zine about life after a zombie plague & personal responsibilities.  At 29 he started his first on-going comic, Lost Kisses which is 50% Lad-Lit & 50% Charlie Brown.  He is best known as the head of Silber Records & for his musical works under the names Remora & Small Life Form.  xo is his first comic collaboration & a first attempt at a clear power fantasy story.