Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis and Darrick Robertson
Overview and review of issues #28 - 30, by Tom Miller
Rating: 5/5
Overview and review of issues #28 - 30, by Tom Miller
Rating: 5/5
The first thing you ought to know is that I'm not going to
give anything away here. Not a
thing. I hate reading reviews that tell you the entire plot of the (insert
medium here ) that you're interested in, thus negating any reason to
bother with it. That's what I'm
going to try to do: give you a reason to bother with Transmetropolitan.
What you should know: Transmet has been going for 30 issues,
12 under the Helix
imprint, and the rest in Vertigo. At the outset we meet Spider Jerusalem, a
journalist of the
near future and apparently some great fame. He is called back from a self-imposed
exile on
a mountain under threat of contractual breach, just the first thing to piss him
off. And
therein lies the key to Transmet. Things piss Spider off. Lots of things.
However, unlike
the majority of human beings, he does not let them slide off his back like
water on a duck.
He says all the things you ever wished you could say, or thought of an hour after the fact, or were just too damned polite to utter aloud. And he says them better than you or I ever could. And he says them to all the people who've ever deserved it. The police, the government, the fanatically religious and just plain idiots. Along the way he manages to step on toes he perhaps shouldn't have, the ramifications of which are just now being felt. The early issues are collected in trade format. Back on the Street (issues #1 - 3) chronicles
a race riot in the city. Lust for Life (issues #4 - 12) is a series of stand-alones and one short multi-parter and includes my personal favourite issue, in which Spider spends the whole day watching television. Year of the Bastard (issues #13 - 18, Winter's Edge 2 story) is the beginning of a particularly ugly presidential campaign, and contains some truly chilling sequences. These books are followed by the six-part "The New Scum," the
ending(?) to the presidential arc, and a series of stand-alones that lead to .....
He says all the things you ever wished you could say, or thought of an hour after the fact, or were just too damned polite to utter aloud. And he says them better than you or I ever could. And he says them to all the people who've ever deserved it. The police, the government, the fanatically religious and just plain idiots. Along the way he manages to step on toes he perhaps shouldn't have, the ramifications of which are just now being felt. The early issues are collected in trade format. Back on the Street (issues #1 - 3) chronicles
a race riot in the city. Lust for Life (issues #4 - 12) is a series of stand-alones and one short multi-parter and includes my personal favourite issue, in which Spider spends the whole day watching television. Year of the Bastard (issues #13 - 18, Winter's Edge 2 story) is the beginning of a particularly ugly presidential campaign, and contains some truly chilling sequences. These books are followed by the six-part "The New Scum," the
ending(?) to the presidential arc, and a series of stand-alones that lead to .....
Lonely City: This story arc stands out for me as the best of
1999. I kid you not. I read a
lot of comics, too many perhaps. When I finished issue #30, the last part of
the story, I
had chills. The same goes for the previous two issues. #28 makes a perfect
jumping-on
point for a new reader as we are given brief introductions of the main players
in the series.
It shifts into high gear with the most savage beating this side of Preacher
that explodes into
another race-related story. Determined to find out why the police insist on
covering up this
crime, Spider and his assistants harass officers of the law and attend volatile demonstrations. Anyone familiar with Ellis' writing will
understand what kind of witty
banter this involves. And it's always a treat to see Spider pull out the old
Bowel Disrupter.
The arc in general is perhaps not quite as verbose as the majority of Transmet,
and has
plenty of action and intrigue, another reason it makes such a good place for a
new reader to
start. "Lonely City" is an overview itself, a taste of things that
have been and things to
come, a brief glimpse into the world of Spider Jerusalem and the madness that
surrounds
him.
A quick word on the art. In Vertigo books you can generally
count on some weird,
pseudo-surreal art in a story that sometimes doesn't make a lot of sense. And
that's what
we like about Vertigo, but it's not so in Transmet. Darrick Robertson's art is
deceptively
simple. The characters look like comic-book characters, in a style that could
easily fit into
The Flash or JLA. My opinion is that Robertson's true genius lies in his
backgrounds. I
spend hours (seriously) pouring over his city shots,just to see what he's
crammed onto the
billboards and ads. Amazing.
billboards and ads. Amazing.
So now you're thinking "Damn, if I'd wanted to read an
essay, I'd have stayed in school,"
but fear not, I'm done. If you're a fan of Warren Ellis and you're not reading
this book,
you should be, if only so you can gain a little more insight into the cool
character that Jack
Carter transformed into in Planetary #7. If you're not a fan, read the book
anyway. It
ranks as one of the most thought-provoking, touching and hilarious comics this
addict has
ever read.
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