Saturday, March 13, 2004
I hate Warren Ellis. I hope one day to relieve myself over his still warm corpse. It's what he would have wanted.
I started rereading Transmetropolitan a few weeks ago, the first years worth of comics to get me through boring lunchbreaks at The Greenhouse. I read the second and third year a fortnight ago when I was off ill from work. Today I read the fourth and fifth (and final) years. When I was collecting them as individual comics, it was in the middle of the fourth year that I began to get irritated with the story, I didn't like what Warren was writing, I thought it was predictable 'see Spider swear! See Spider make a humorous joke about drugs and/or bizarre sexual practices!' stuff. I reread it for the first time since it finished today. And Warren Bastard Ellis makes it all work. The last two years of Transmetropolitan, more than the preceeding issues, can only be read in one large chunk. You can't read the issues on an individual month-by-month basis because often the actual events of one issue aren't substantial enough, they can only be experienced running in to one another. Transmetropolitan isn't perfect, there's something we should see which Warren doesn't let us, which is a mistake, there are at least two strange inconsistencies about the world of the future that the story takes place in and at least one big plot hole. Read all together it doesn't matter, the force of the story carries us forward regardless.
The rest of this entry should only be read if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
Transmetropolitan is five years in the life of Spider Jerusalem, an old-school journalist in the brave-new-world of the future, several hundred years from now. He lives hard, plays hard, and holds everyone to impossibly high standards he never bothers to aim for himself. But when getting involved with covering the US Presidential elections in his second year leads to tragedy, Spider has to bring down the President of the USA before he is brought down himself. Very violent, a fair amount of nudity and large amount of profanity. Perfect for young children.
If you haven't got them, you can sell the kidneys of your family and friends to pay for them.
Book One: Amazon UK, Book Two: Amazon UK, Book Three: Amazon UK, Book Four: Amazon UK, Book Five: Amazon UK, Book Six: Amazon UK, Book Seven: Amazon UK, Book Eight: Amazon UK (with an incorrect write-up I might add!), Book Nine: Amazon UK, and by the time you've read all those you'll be ready for Book Ten, released in June: Amazon UK.
I have found though, that reading lots of Transmetropolitan while watching loads of The West Wing really does your head in. I don't recommend it. More Warren Ellis can be found at his weblog and rantspace.
I started rereading Transmetropolitan a few weeks ago, the first years worth of comics to get me through boring lunchbreaks at The Greenhouse. I read the second and third year a fortnight ago when I was off ill from work. Today I read the fourth and fifth (and final) years. When I was collecting them as individual comics, it was in the middle of the fourth year that I began to get irritated with the story, I didn't like what Warren was writing, I thought it was predictable 'see Spider swear! See Spider make a humorous joke about drugs and/or bizarre sexual practices!' stuff. I reread it for the first time since it finished today. And Warren Bastard Ellis makes it all work. The last two years of Transmetropolitan, more than the preceeding issues, can only be read in one large chunk. You can't read the issues on an individual month-by-month basis because often the actual events of one issue aren't substantial enough, they can only be experienced running in to one another. Transmetropolitan isn't perfect, there's something we should see which Warren doesn't let us, which is a mistake, there are at least two strange inconsistencies about the world of the future that the story takes place in and at least one big plot hole. Read all together it doesn't matter, the force of the story carries us forward regardless.
The rest of this entry should only be read if you have no idea what I'm talking about.
Transmetropolitan is five years in the life of Spider Jerusalem, an old-school journalist in the brave-new-world of the future, several hundred years from now. He lives hard, plays hard, and holds everyone to impossibly high standards he never bothers to aim for himself. But when getting involved with covering the US Presidential elections in his second year leads to tragedy, Spider has to bring down the President of the USA before he is brought down himself. Very violent, a fair amount of nudity and large amount of profanity. Perfect for young children.
If you haven't got them, you can sell the kidneys of your family and friends to pay for them.
Book One: Amazon UK, Book Two: Amazon UK, Book Three: Amazon UK, Book Four: Amazon UK, Book Five: Amazon UK, Book Six: Amazon UK, Book Seven: Amazon UK, Book Eight: Amazon UK (with an incorrect write-up I might add!), Book Nine: Amazon UK, and by the time you've read all those you'll be ready for Book Ten, released in June: Amazon UK.
I have found though, that reading lots of Transmetropolitan while watching loads of The West Wing really does your head in. I don't recommend it. More Warren Ellis can be found at his weblog and rantspace.
