Transmetropolitan: Lust for Life, Warren Ellis

"Outlaw journalist Spider Jerusalem attacks the injustices of his surreal 21st Century through black humor as an investigative reporter for the newspaper The Word in this critically-acclaimed graphic novel series written by comics' superstar Warren Ellis, the co-creator of PLANETARY and THE AUTHORITY.

In this volume, Jerusalem targets three of society's most worshipped and warped pillars: politics, religion, and television. When Spider tries to shed light on the atrocities of these institutions, he finds himself fleeing a group of hitmen/kidnappers in possession of his ex-wife's frozen head, a distorted creature alleging to be his son, and a vicious talking police dog."







I love Transmetropolitan with all my heart, because it's an incredible example of how far you can push mainstream comics. Much like Preacher, which shows how adult a comic for mature readers can be, without ever feeling too grown-up, Transmetropolitan is an absolutely wonderful idea taking storytelling and the medium to it's extremes.

An epic sci-fi tale, told through the eyes of Gonzo journalist Spider Jerusalem (basically future Hunter S. Thompson) as he navigates The City after five years absence. An excuse to explore future-tech, concepts as varied as pornography, advertising and religion, and whatever else seemed good that week, it eventually morphs into a scathing indictment of politics, politicians and the media in the form of the election and presidency of a man known only as the smiler.

It's hard to quantify quite why it's so good. In a lot of ways I think it simply keys into a few things I love; politics, journalism, sci-fi and comics. But beyond that it's got a rich sense of imagination - the varying issues of this collection look at people self-evolving into gaseous bodies, the psychological impact of a radically different future on those coming out of cryogenic freezing, public preserves of ancient culture which include all the accurate diseases and war of the historical context. It's stuff that's remarkably prescient - not to say that vaporous upgrades or cultural reserves are imminent, but they feed off contemporary questions and concerns in an exciting and interesting way.

Whilst this isn't anything like as good as it gets, and it's certainly worth starting at volume 1 to get the fuller picture of The City and Spider's life there, this is an excellent book and one that anyone interested in comics should make time to read.

Also Try:
Warren Ellis, The Authority
Warren Ellis, Global Frequency
Warren Ellis, Thunderbolts