TRANSMETROPOLITAN
Warren
Ellis, Darick Robertson & Rodney Ramos
DC/Vertigo Comics
Transmetropolitan is the
story of outlaw journalist Spider Jerusalem, a filthy, cynical, mercurial writer
who is drawn back to his old home, The City (it gets no more specific than
that), to fulfill a book contract. Needing a place to stay, and money for his
many and terrible drugs, Jerusalem signs on with The Word, a great
transmetropolitan newspaper, as an op-ed columnist.
Week
after week, Spider Jerusalem spits out column after bilious column, raging
against civic apathy, social brutality, and the Cruelty of Women, until he is
forced to confront The Beast: a sweaty, selfish, syphilitic man that some call
Mister President. A man now standing for re-reelection.
The
only real threat to The Beast is a man whom Jerusalem christens The Smiler.
Senator Gary Callahan shakes all the right hands, kisses the appropriate number
of babies, and has a staff of impeccable quality to back him up.
Unfortunately, as Spider Jerusalem soon discovers, The Smiler also has a
number of Very Important Screws missing.
Less
a reformer than a reviler, The Smiler soon proves himself to be the greater of
two evils, and only Spider Jerusalem (with the help of his Filthy Assistants)
has the freedom, and the ability, to wipe The Smiler off the face of The City.
Transmetropolitan
is street-level science fiction at its absolute best. As much a travelogue from
an unspecified future as a piece of social satire, or a treatise on what it
means To Write, Transmet both reflects our modern times and looks to the future
with a slightly tremulous eye.
Ellis
crafts a story that is both smart and affecting. Often self-righteous, but
always compelling, Spider Jerusalem is one of the most vividly realised
characters in modern comics. Iconic and powerful, Jerusalem is part Hunter S.
Thompson, part Bill Hicks, a whirling dervish of crusty disappointment. Veering
from frothing hyperbole to gentle plaintiveness, Ellis' scripts are superb, and
his dialogue sharp.
The
central theme of Transmetropolitan is that Truth = Good, and notTruth = Bad.
It’s a simple theme, but a timeless one. The Smiler is a bit of a cartoon
villain, perhaps: he’s a monomaniac who only wants to be in charge so that he
can really mess things up. Transmetropolitan reminds us to Watch People In
Power, for they may be Bastards.
Darick
Robertson and Rodney Ramos provide an all-too-real backdrop for Jerusalem and
his adventures. Crowded and cosmopolitan, The City is unlike any you may have
seen before: a bag lady beauty queen, it’s seamy, shitty and feels genuinely
lived in. The background characters range from ordinary kids to transgenomic
dolphingirls and clouds of sentient Mexican dust. No two people look exactly
alike. To the artists' credit, it all fits together seamlessly. Jerusalem
himself is a scrawny, hairless, heavily tattooed street preacher (imagine
getting Patrick Stewart drunk, spitting bleach in his eyes, kicking him up the
arse and throwing him at Edinburgh), and even he manages to stand out from the
crowd. As with the writing, there is both terrible beauty and familiar ugliness
in the world of Transmetropolitan
While
the main story is engrossing, to say the least, some of the more memorable
moments of the series come in the form of short stories – illustrated columns,
really – that consist of Spider Jerusalem telling us a story, or taking us on
a journey. Ellis and Robertson open up the emotional floodgates on these stories
of cryogenic preservation, child exploitation and lonely Christmases. The story
of Mary the photographer might have been enough for a short film award alone,
had it been made that way.
Transmetropolitan
is collected in eleven paperbacks (the ten volumes collecting the main story,
plus Tales of Human Waste, a collection of specially written and illustrated
column extracts) and is a powerful, funny, thought-provoking and above all, involving
series; a genuine comic book cornucopia.
Transcending
genre, and trashing expectations of the medium, Transmetropolitan is about as
fine a comic as you would ever want to read.
Review Text (C) Matthew Craig
Originally published in the pop culture magazine Robot Fist