Warren Ellis

“I have a cunning plan!” The sixth Transmetropolitan collection, like the previous volume, is a mixed bag. The main story, “Gouge Away,” is a strong investigative reporting tale and nicely ties together the Transmetropolitan, Vol. 5: Lonely City and Transmetropolitan, Vol. 4: The New Scum stories. Spider Jerusalem’s talents really get to shine and his articles make a huge impact after the media’s attempt to defang him with popularity. The…

“Life sucks, then you die.” The fifth Transmetropolitan collection is a bit of a hodgepodge. This volume certainly is not as strong as the first first four volumes (see my previous reviews for Lust for Life, Year of the Bastard, The New Scum). Without the presidential election the series loses a bit of steam. But digging into these six issues reveals some truly startling insights of the role journalism plays in our…

“I’m the only one who’s remotely fucking interested. You’re all fucking killing me!” The fourth Transmetropolitan collection continues Spider Jerusalem’s coverage of the presidential election with the six issue story “The New Scum.” We get to see Spider go one-on-one with both The Beast and The Smiler. Spider’s hate and venom for both candidates is in full bloom during these interviews. Some of the strongest dialogue and best food for…

“Just once, I’d like to get through the day without hating anyone.” The third Transmetropolitan collection kicks off Spider Jerusalem’s coverage of the presidential election with the six issue story “Year of the Bastard.” This is where the series truly takes off and becomes something special, and eerily predictive of the 2016 US presidential election campaign. That remains the tragic magic of this series: how well it can be applied…

Warren Ellis‘s Transmetropolitan series continues to ramp up in its second volume. While the first volume was focused on a single issue (the transients’ secession from The City) this volume is mostly episodic dives into different areas of The City’s culture. This serves to flesh out the series’ setting before the bigger story lines in subsequent volumes while still being invective and funny as hell. “You learn about a culture…