Wednesday, 2 April 2014

So I Read Transmetropolitan

A 250 word (or less) review of the complete series of Transmetropolitan,
By Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson; Vertigo Comics






Transmetropolitan is easily one of my all time favourite comics. Easily. The comic is about the power and importance of journalism particularly as an essential brake on the machinations of politicians. To explore this, Transmetropolitan uses the lens of Spider Jerusalem, an infamous journalist and mildly loathsome creature, as he returns to The City in a vulgar and shocking future. Jerusalem takes up a column and along with his Filthy Assistants explores the wondrous, the downtrodden, and the futuristic while fucking with the local authorities and generally running amok with a bowel disrupter. That is until the Presidential Election, where Spider delves into the disgusting truth of politics and makes a powerful new enemy. "Journalism is just a gun. It's only got one bullet in it, but if you aim right, that's all you need. Aim it right, and you can blow a kneecap off the world." Transmetropolitan is a comic chock full of brilliantly deep characters, imaginatively vulgar settings, high concept Sci-fi, holy shit tension, and ineffably beautiful observations of the human condition. It is by far one of the most complete long running comics you can read: from beginning to end it maintains a sterling level of writing and art and manages to be a perfect blend of gripping, funny, smart, and offensive. It's fucking fantastic comics. Read it, and it might just blow a kneecap off your world.

Word count: 230

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