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On a quest for well written comics, I was turned on to this series and never looked back. Imagine Hunter S. Thompson finding a time machine and traveling to future and you have Transmetropolitan.
Originally released as a 60-issue miniseries, since collected in a 10-volume series of trade paperbacks.
Originally released as a 60-issue miniseries, since collected in a 10-volume series of trade paperbacks.
1680 pages, Comic
First published January 1, 2007
22 people are currently reading
835 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,972 books5,772 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 101 reviews
August 26, 2011
Comics have been going through a very public struggle with maturity for some time now. They were well on their way until they were hit with the 'Comics Code' in the fifties. The code was an outgrowth of reactionary postwar witch-hunting a la McCarthyism, and succeeded in limiting the content of an entire medium for thirty years.
For example, all crime had to be portrayed as sordid, and no criminals could be sympathetic. There goes any comic book retellings of Robin Hood. Good always had to triumph over evil and seduction could never be shown or suggested. In trying to write around these and other rules, it's not surprising that code era books got a little weird in their search for original plots.
When they finally did shake off the yoke, following trailblazers like Steve Gerber and Alan Moore, authors were a bit over-enthusiastic, full as they were of pent-up stories and themes. What followed is colloquially known as the 'Dark Ages', where all heroes were bad dudes, everyone had guns, and Wolverine guest-starred in twelve comics a month.
The release of all that pent-up violence and sexuality hit the industry like a ton of bricks, and soon, anyone who was anyone was penning stories of decapitation and prostitution. They seemed to assume that the inclusion of mature themes made for mature stories, when in reality, they were about as mature as a high schooler's marginalia.
And this struggle is still going on, to one degree or another. At the low end, Liefeld is still out there writing the same action plots, and somewhat better is Ennis, whose Preacher is a love letter to swearing, gross-outs, and bromance. Transmet (for brevity) also has its share of sex, violence, and puerile humor, but for Ellis, this is more than just an exploitation romp, it's a means to an end.
Though underground comics were rife with subversion and political satire, mainstream comics have shown up rather late to the party. Moore's comics are often political, especially his early works, Watchmen and V for Vendetta, but these were rather serious takes, coming from the school of post-modern realism.
In Transmet, Ellis is coming at the issue from a later vantage, that of subversive culture-jamming, most evident in his nods to Hunter S. Thompson's 'Gonzo Journalism'. In the sixties, writers of varying stripes adopted this style in rejection of the repressive fifties, but it took longer to spread to comics.
We can see the same form in action in Transmet, in Ellis' protagonist, Spider Jerusalem, a post-cyberpunk stand-in for Thompson. Most of the time, Spider is following a spiral of madcap self-destruction, doing ridiculous, violent, amoral, childish things in order to break people out of their daily ruts. The first step of this kind of subversion is always to break through assumptions, refusing to play within the system because house rules favor the house.
There is a good deal of humor and adventure in these romps, and their childish unsophistication is part of their charm, and their power. He's an unpredictable, moving target, and though all his actions are focused on specific goals, he makes sure that he is dangerous and entertaining enough to make his mark.
This is where the second step comes in. Once you have grabbed their attention and torn down their expectations, your audience is primed to listen to you with fresh ears. This is the whole point of bombast, wit, and humor. Comedians and Court Jesters are funny because it command attention and allows them to approach issues obliquely, sidestepping the usual thought-terminating cliches.
When Ellis gets these moments, he doesn't put them to waste. As a writer, he is capable of a biting vibrancy that few other authors can match, in comics or sci fi. He hits some of the high points of his impressive career in this book, but then, perhaps that's not so surprising.
This book is relying on two very powerful writing traditions: Gonzo and Cyberpunk, which both use similar methods of witty, idiomatic information overload to communicate their message. What saves this book from the cartoonish violence of a book like Preacher is what always saves cyberpunk: the pure strength of writing.
Both styles share an obsession with synthesis: creating a complex mix of disparate social elements and theories without growing too focused on any particular element. That is why the baroque high-water mark of revolutionary psychadelic writing shares the same location as the birthplace of cyberpunk: Philip K. Dick and Illuminatus!
Gibson really blew everything else out of the water with Neuromancer, and the attempt to pick up the pieces is called 'post-cyberpunk'. It's a collectio of disparate writings sharing a theme and a setting, but widely disagreeing on most everything else. Gibson's book was so prescient (and still is), that everyone else is trying to prove themselves the next technological and social prophet.
There have been a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon, but Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash stands out as one of the most interesting, complex, and purely enjoyable of the lot. Consequently, I spent a lot of time trying (and failing) to find another book that could match it, but with little luck. Not even Stephenson's been able to live up to it.
But there is a lot in Transmet that meets that desire for another Snow Crash, and maybe that shouldn't be so surprising, since Snow Crash was originally scripted to be a comic. It's almost as full of ideas, it's as unpredictable and enjoyable, and the writing has that precise mixture of intellectual and pulp action.
That being said, sci fi is not Ellis' strong suit. This is a soft sci fi if there ever was one, and Ellis' society doesn't hold up to the originality and perverse plausibility of Stephenson's. Ellis gives us sentient nanoclouds next to still frame cameras activated by button. It's not as bad as Star Trek, where you can disintegrate and remotely reintegrate people but can't fix a broken back, but it's not a hard sci fi built around the changes technology brings.
Ellis is more concerned with his characters and his politics, but luckily, he tends to hit his mark with them. Spider, like most of Ellis' protagonists, is a black-hearted, cynical bastard who lives by his own code and leaves a swathe of destruction behind, but as usual, he still manages to make him sympathetic. At his best, Ellis manages to remember that Spider's flaws are flaws, though sometimes, and particularly as he wraps the story up, Spider gets to be too much 'crotchety hero' and too little 'amoral force of nature'.
But it's a good comic, and more than that, it's a good piece of sci fi, though more on the 'Speculative Fiction' end, since it's more concerned with exploring the question of 'what makes us human?' rather than 'what makes travel above c possible?' It's sad and unfair that it never got an Eisner; it surely deserved it.
In fact, it's a crime that this great sci fi series ended in 2002, and that same year, the Nebula and Clarke awards went to a rewrite of 'Flowers for Algernon' whose sci fi elements were superfluous to the story. But then, it's usually too much to hope that a book will both be well written and get accolades.
Robertson's art is also solid, though I'm hard-pressed to think of any interior artist who could match Darrow's covers, but Robertson does admirably. His vision of the future is amusingly detailed and unusual enough to transport us away, and his sense of pacing is strong.
It's worth noting that it took the world twenty years to catch up with Neuromancer, with the premiere of the first Matrix, and that this series predates that landmark social event by several years. As we move closer to The Singularity, and technologies are developed more and more quickly, predicting the future will become more and more difficult. Already, sci fi is shifting to predicting next year instead of next century.
But Transmet looks further than that, because like all great thinkers, Ellis recognizes that to look forward, we must look back. His update of the dystopia to revolutionary politics post WWII is inspired, especially as it is twisted with Gonzo Journalism and Post-Cyberpunk. The best ideas are never one idea, and though Spider's politics sometimes grow to dominate the series, Ellis still contrasts them with a multitude of concepts, leaving us with a pleasing depth of insight.
I can only hope that more comic authors will realize that sex and violence--even at their most over-the-top--can be vital, complex parts of a story, but only if they have a point. There is no story element too outrageous for the arsenal of a talented, driven author.
As usual, it's a joy to see Ellis' madcap style, as he plugs the dangling cords from the cyberpunk machine into the rusty dystopian engine until the whole thing lights up like a 500-channel cold-fission laser-guided Christmas tree. You could do worse.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
For example, all crime had to be portrayed as sordid, and no criminals could be sympathetic. There goes any comic book retellings of Robin Hood. Good always had to triumph over evil and seduction could never be shown or suggested. In trying to write around these and other rules, it's not surprising that code era books got a little weird in their search for original plots.
When they finally did shake off the yoke, following trailblazers like Steve Gerber and Alan Moore, authors were a bit over-enthusiastic, full as they were of pent-up stories and themes. What followed is colloquially known as the 'Dark Ages', where all heroes were bad dudes, everyone had guns, and Wolverine guest-starred in twelve comics a month.
The release of all that pent-up violence and sexuality hit the industry like a ton of bricks, and soon, anyone who was anyone was penning stories of decapitation and prostitution. They seemed to assume that the inclusion of mature themes made for mature stories, when in reality, they were about as mature as a high schooler's marginalia.
And this struggle is still going on, to one degree or another. At the low end, Liefeld is still out there writing the same action plots, and somewhat better is Ennis, whose Preacher is a love letter to swearing, gross-outs, and bromance. Transmet (for brevity) also has its share of sex, violence, and puerile humor, but for Ellis, this is more than just an exploitation romp, it's a means to an end.
Though underground comics were rife with subversion and political satire, mainstream comics have shown up rather late to the party. Moore's comics are often political, especially his early works, Watchmen and V for Vendetta, but these were rather serious takes, coming from the school of post-modern realism.
In Transmet, Ellis is coming at the issue from a later vantage, that of subversive culture-jamming, most evident in his nods to Hunter S. Thompson's 'Gonzo Journalism'. In the sixties, writers of varying stripes adopted this style in rejection of the repressive fifties, but it took longer to spread to comics.
We can see the same form in action in Transmet, in Ellis' protagonist, Spider Jerusalem, a post-cyberpunk stand-in for Thompson. Most of the time, Spider is following a spiral of madcap self-destruction, doing ridiculous, violent, amoral, childish things in order to break people out of their daily ruts. The first step of this kind of subversion is always to break through assumptions, refusing to play within the system because house rules favor the house.
There is a good deal of humor and adventure in these romps, and their childish unsophistication is part of their charm, and their power. He's an unpredictable, moving target, and though all his actions are focused on specific goals, he makes sure that he is dangerous and entertaining enough to make his mark.
This is where the second step comes in. Once you have grabbed their attention and torn down their expectations, your audience is primed to listen to you with fresh ears. This is the whole point of bombast, wit, and humor. Comedians and Court Jesters are funny because it command attention and allows them to approach issues obliquely, sidestepping the usual thought-terminating cliches.
When Ellis gets these moments, he doesn't put them to waste. As a writer, he is capable of a biting vibrancy that few other authors can match, in comics or sci fi. He hits some of the high points of his impressive career in this book, but then, perhaps that's not so surprising.
This book is relying on two very powerful writing traditions: Gonzo and Cyberpunk, which both use similar methods of witty, idiomatic information overload to communicate their message. What saves this book from the cartoonish violence of a book like Preacher is what always saves cyberpunk: the pure strength of writing.
Both styles share an obsession with synthesis: creating a complex mix of disparate social elements and theories without growing too focused on any particular element. That is why the baroque high-water mark of revolutionary psychadelic writing shares the same location as the birthplace of cyberpunk: Philip K. Dick and Illuminatus!
Gibson really blew everything else out of the water with Neuromancer, and the attempt to pick up the pieces is called 'post-cyberpunk'. It's a collectio of disparate writings sharing a theme and a setting, but widely disagreeing on most everything else. Gibson's book was so prescient (and still is), that everyone else is trying to prove themselves the next technological and social prophet.
There have been a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon, but Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash stands out as one of the most interesting, complex, and purely enjoyable of the lot. Consequently, I spent a lot of time trying (and failing) to find another book that could match it, but with little luck. Not even Stephenson's been able to live up to it.
But there is a lot in Transmet that meets that desire for another Snow Crash, and maybe that shouldn't be so surprising, since Snow Crash was originally scripted to be a comic. It's almost as full of ideas, it's as unpredictable and enjoyable, and the writing has that precise mixture of intellectual and pulp action.
That being said, sci fi is not Ellis' strong suit. This is a soft sci fi if there ever was one, and Ellis' society doesn't hold up to the originality and perverse plausibility of Stephenson's. Ellis gives us sentient nanoclouds next to still frame cameras activated by button. It's not as bad as Star Trek, where you can disintegrate and remotely reintegrate people but can't fix a broken back, but it's not a hard sci fi built around the changes technology brings.
Ellis is more concerned with his characters and his politics, but luckily, he tends to hit his mark with them. Spider, like most of Ellis' protagonists, is a black-hearted, cynical bastard who lives by his own code and leaves a swathe of destruction behind, but as usual, he still manages to make him sympathetic. At his best, Ellis manages to remember that Spider's flaws are flaws, though sometimes, and particularly as he wraps the story up, Spider gets to be too much 'crotchety hero' and too little 'amoral force of nature'.
But it's a good comic, and more than that, it's a good piece of sci fi, though more on the 'Speculative Fiction' end, since it's more concerned with exploring the question of 'what makes us human?' rather than 'what makes travel above c possible?' It's sad and unfair that it never got an Eisner; it surely deserved it.
In fact, it's a crime that this great sci fi series ended in 2002, and that same year, the Nebula and Clarke awards went to a rewrite of 'Flowers for Algernon' whose sci fi elements were superfluous to the story. But then, it's usually too much to hope that a book will both be well written and get accolades.
Robertson's art is also solid, though I'm hard-pressed to think of any interior artist who could match Darrow's covers, but Robertson does admirably. His vision of the future is amusingly detailed and unusual enough to transport us away, and his sense of pacing is strong.
It's worth noting that it took the world twenty years to catch up with Neuromancer, with the premiere of the first Matrix, and that this series predates that landmark social event by several years. As we move closer to The Singularity, and technologies are developed more and more quickly, predicting the future will become more and more difficult. Already, sci fi is shifting to predicting next year instead of next century.
But Transmet looks further than that, because like all great thinkers, Ellis recognizes that to look forward, we must look back. His update of the dystopia to revolutionary politics post WWII is inspired, especially as it is twisted with Gonzo Journalism and Post-Cyberpunk. The best ideas are never one idea, and though Spider's politics sometimes grow to dominate the series, Ellis still contrasts them with a multitude of concepts, leaving us with a pleasing depth of insight.
I can only hope that more comic authors will realize that sex and violence--even at their most over-the-top--can be vital, complex parts of a story, but only if they have a point. There is no story element too outrageous for the arsenal of a talented, driven author.
As usual, it's a joy to see Ellis' madcap style, as he plugs the dangling cords from the cyberpunk machine into the rusty dystopian engine until the whole thing lights up like a 500-channel cold-fission laser-guided Christmas tree. You could do worse.
My Suggested Reading In Comics
June 2, 2012
my favourite cover from the series:
I've been reading this on and off for the past year. I've had my issues with Spider Jerusalem and his penchant for violence, f-bombs and self-indulgement, but when he lays his soul bare in his editorials, it's hard to disagree with his tough love for the Big City and its exotic population of drifters, drug addicts, pimps and dreamers. Plus, I often wish, while I'm watching the current political circus in my country and in the world in general, that I could get my hands on a Bowell Disruptor and give politicians proof that they're so full of it.
Rage master extraordinaire, Spider declares loud and clear : I HATE IT HERE ! , but it's not life or the people that he hates, its the predators, the two-faced profiteers, the rigged political games, the callousness, indifference and denial of a zombie like future humanity that shares enough disturbing traits with our present days woes to make me think we are already living in the dystopian future described in the comic. Spider Jerusalem's verbal lashings, his boots stomping on our faces are meant to shake us free of our apathy and do something with our lives, because the world will not be changed by wishfull thinking. I'm not familiar with Hunter S Thomson and "gonzo journalism" , but I guess I should check him out after so many reviewers here compare Transmetropolitan with him. Of particular interest is Ellis/Spider position on the role of investigative journalism in a present age where newspapers and television stations have become subservient to the governemnt or to Big Money donors.
My issues with Warren Ellis script were mostly due to the rambling nature of the middle to late albums, where he forgets the overall story arc and where I lost the urgency to continue with the series, putting it aside for other comic strips. I only got my groove back in volume 10.
The one thing that didn't dissapoint from issue one to issue 60 was Darrick Robertson : I love his art, the carefull depiction of people's faces, the urban details of his future civilization and the daring angles he has chosen to deploy in his strips. All of his covers could serve well as wall posters to my room.
I'm not sure what I will read next, but Transmetropolitan has given me a clear preference for adult material, as opposed to superheroes in spandex. I'm considering Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
I've been reading this on and off for the past year. I've had my issues with Spider Jerusalem and his penchant for violence, f-bombs and self-indulgement, but when he lays his soul bare in his editorials, it's hard to disagree with his tough love for the Big City and its exotic population of drifters, drug addicts, pimps and dreamers. Plus, I often wish, while I'm watching the current political circus in my country and in the world in general, that I could get my hands on a Bowell Disruptor and give politicians proof that they're so full of it.
Rage master extraordinaire, Spider declares loud and clear : I HATE IT HERE ! , but it's not life or the people that he hates, its the predators, the two-faced profiteers, the rigged political games, the callousness, indifference and denial of a zombie like future humanity that shares enough disturbing traits with our present days woes to make me think we are already living in the dystopian future described in the comic. Spider Jerusalem's verbal lashings, his boots stomping on our faces are meant to shake us free of our apathy and do something with our lives, because the world will not be changed by wishfull thinking. I'm not familiar with Hunter S Thomson and "gonzo journalism" , but I guess I should check him out after so many reviewers here compare Transmetropolitan with him. Of particular interest is Ellis/Spider position on the role of investigative journalism in a present age where newspapers and television stations have become subservient to the governemnt or to Big Money donors.
My issues with Warren Ellis script were mostly due to the rambling nature of the middle to late albums, where he forgets the overall story arc and where I lost the urgency to continue with the series, putting it aside for other comic strips. I only got my groove back in volume 10.
The one thing that didn't dissapoint from issue one to issue 60 was Darrick Robertson : I love his art, the carefull depiction of people's faces, the urban details of his future civilization and the daring angles he has chosen to deploy in his strips. All of his covers could serve well as wall posters to my room.
I'm not sure what I will read next, but Transmetropolitan has given me a clear preference for adult material, as opposed to superheroes in spandex. I'm considering Sandman by Neil Gaiman.
March 24, 2014
Transmetropolitan is a comic book, and anyone remotely interested in dystopias needs to immediately stop what she is doing, go buy all these books, and read them before continuing with life. Yes, it's that good.
This is a review for ALL 10 collected volumes. I'm going to write the review in the style of the comics, so if you're ridiculously sensitive to explicit language, you'd better stop reading now. (But it's really your loss.)
To say Spider Jerusalem is a muckraking journalist is to put it lightly. No--Spider does not just rake muck; he wallows in it while tripping on sixteen kinds of heroine pumped directly into his veins through the City's sewers while he ejaculates into the ensuing muck. He is dirty, foul, horrible--and the only goddamn person left in the entire City who has the balls to take on the corrupt government and the injustices of a city of the future.
He is a despicable, low-down uncaring asshole because he cares too much to let the city (and the country) destroy itself through ignorance and petty distractions.
So: Transmetropolitan follows journalist Spider Jerusalem as he gets reacquainted with the City, a (not far enough) far-future metropolis swarming with all the problems of real cities, if the problems were turned to 11 and injected with a form of swarming AIDS. In the style of many brilliant authors before him, Ellis is working with hyper-exaggerated features of the real world to show us the many problems with our own--and it's unnerving.
First, be impressed with the level of deranged thought Ellis has put into his City: of course there is porn for children! And people commonly eat the meat of endangered animals--or heck, try out some food from Long Pig (don't worry, they're only clones!). "Maker" technology allows you to create pretty much anything at home, and journalists sometimes employ "source gas" to record info from unwitting sources while still managing to make it past security. While you're enjoying the future, make sure you get one of the many DNA splices--try the one that allows you to take massive doses of drugs and alcohol without dying. Or maybe you're totally past the human experience--why not join the Transients and splice with alien DNA? Or really embrace the cloud and become nothing more than a bunch of floating molecules. Groovy.
It's amazing, and immersive, and simultaneously plausible and disgustingly far-fetched.
Much like Spider Jerusalem. It's like the Deadpool of journalists, seemingly throwing normal tactics out the window. But really, he's just good. In fact, I know journalists like him. Spider is, if anything, alarmingly realistic. He's devoted in a time when many reporters seem like shills. He's dogged and willing to take risks. He has a gift for it, something that can't really be taught and must come from some burning fuel within. He's addicted to the thrill of the chase--and sometimes that puts people he talks to in the line of danger. But mostly, that makes people want to open up to him. Because he loves them, even while he hates them to the core.
In other words, Spider Jerusalem is my hero. I want to give Warren Ellis a hug for writing something so transgressive, so daring and truly sickening, and I want to make this series required reading for EVERYONE. The world would be better for it if more people paid as much attention to goings-on as Spider does.
Go buy these books. You may find it hard to read them sometimes, but don't you dare fucking stop. You need to take your medicine, world.
This is a review for ALL 10 collected volumes. I'm going to write the review in the style of the comics, so if you're ridiculously sensitive to explicit language, you'd better stop reading now. (But it's really your loss.)
To say Spider Jerusalem is a muckraking journalist is to put it lightly. No--Spider does not just rake muck; he wallows in it while tripping on sixteen kinds of heroine pumped directly into his veins through the City's sewers while he ejaculates into the ensuing muck. He is dirty, foul, horrible--and the only goddamn person left in the entire City who has the balls to take on the corrupt government and the injustices of a city of the future.
He is a despicable, low-down uncaring asshole because he cares too much to let the city (and the country) destroy itself through ignorance and petty distractions.
So: Transmetropolitan follows journalist Spider Jerusalem as he gets reacquainted with the City, a (not far enough) far-future metropolis swarming with all the problems of real cities, if the problems were turned to 11 and injected with a form of swarming AIDS. In the style of many brilliant authors before him, Ellis is working with hyper-exaggerated features of the real world to show us the many problems with our own--and it's unnerving.
First, be impressed with the level of deranged thought Ellis has put into his City: of course there is porn for children! And people commonly eat the meat of endangered animals--or heck, try out some food from Long Pig (don't worry, they're only clones!). "Maker" technology allows you to create pretty much anything at home, and journalists sometimes employ "source gas" to record info from unwitting sources while still managing to make it past security. While you're enjoying the future, make sure you get one of the many DNA splices--try the one that allows you to take massive doses of drugs and alcohol without dying. Or maybe you're totally past the human experience--why not join the Transients and splice with alien DNA? Or really embrace the cloud and become nothing more than a bunch of floating molecules. Groovy.
It's amazing, and immersive, and simultaneously plausible and disgustingly far-fetched.
Much like Spider Jerusalem. It's like the Deadpool of journalists, seemingly throwing normal tactics out the window. But really, he's just good. In fact, I know journalists like him. Spider is, if anything, alarmingly realistic. He's devoted in a time when many reporters seem like shills. He's dogged and willing to take risks. He has a gift for it, something that can't really be taught and must come from some burning fuel within. He's addicted to the thrill of the chase--and sometimes that puts people he talks to in the line of danger. But mostly, that makes people want to open up to him. Because he loves them, even while he hates them to the core.
In other words, Spider Jerusalem is my hero. I want to give Warren Ellis a hug for writing something so transgressive, so daring and truly sickening, and I want to make this series required reading for EVERYONE. The world would be better for it if more people paid as much attention to goings-on as Spider does.
Go buy these books. You may find it hard to read them sometimes, but don't you dare fucking stop. You need to take your medicine, world.
March 25, 2013
If you were ever pissed of by your local politician, useless and socially insensitive government, unjust justice system and all of the other terrible post-neo-liberal-capitalism paradoxes that are going to be the end of human race, if you ever wanted to climb on top of a soap box and just hurl obscenities, judgement and truth as loud as you can into the face of inert crowds hoping something would change, pick up this book. You will love it from the first page to the last, as it is an exercise in radical honesty, sorely needed in todays media bent society, where there is no place for real human values. It is the Judge Dredd version of journalism, where journalists are hard and honest, hate the corporations and want to stick it to the man. Love you Warren Ellis for writing this.
October 24, 2012
Transmetropoliten od mene glatko dobija pet zvezdica a da mogu dao bih mu i svih deset. Jedan od najboljih stripova koje sam ikad čitao iz prostog razloga što je uspeo da me nasmeje, zabavi, podstakne na razmišljanje i drži u neizvesnosti šta će se sledeće dogoditi, dakle sve to kombinovano u jedinstven ugođaj prilikom čitanja.
Jedan od glavnih kvaliteta je pisanje Vorena Elisa koji ovde nedvosmisleno pokazuje kako se mržnja, strast i pjur faking venom mogu konstruktivno upotrebiti da bi se dobila dinamična priča prožeta ogromnom energijom i vrcavim humorom. Bilo da se bavi temama transhumanosti i ispitivanjem granica ljudskog bića, uticajem tehnologije na ljudski život i društvo ili dobrim starim problemima američke demokratije (freedom of the press, abuse of power etc.) ovde je pisanje uvek veoma inspirisano i nikad nema otaljavanja. Posebno skidam kapu za veliki broj sjajnih rečenica koje su me oduševile svojom sočnošću i naterale da ih nakon burnog smehotresa ponovo iščitavam diveći se njihovoj lucidnosti.
Ništa manje kvalitetan je i prepoznatljiv crtež Derika Robertsona koji nepogrešivo hvata duh šašavosti i quirkinessa futurističkog sveta koji je Elis ovde stvorio.
Da sumiram, kapitalno delo devete umetnosti koje svaki ljubitelj stripa duguje sebi da pročita.
Jedan od glavnih kvaliteta je pisanje Vorena Elisa koji ovde nedvosmisleno pokazuje kako se mržnja, strast i pjur faking venom mogu konstruktivno upotrebiti da bi se dobila dinamična priča prožeta ogromnom energijom i vrcavim humorom. Bilo da se bavi temama transhumanosti i ispitivanjem granica ljudskog bića, uticajem tehnologije na ljudski život i društvo ili dobrim starim problemima američke demokratije (freedom of the press, abuse of power etc.) ovde je pisanje uvek veoma inspirisano i nikad nema otaljavanja. Posebno skidam kapu za veliki broj sjajnih rečenica koje su me oduševile svojom sočnošću i naterale da ih nakon burnog smehotresa ponovo iščitavam diveći se njihovoj lucidnosti.
Ništa manje kvalitetan je i prepoznatljiv crtež Derika Robertsona koji nepogrešivo hvata duh šašavosti i quirkinessa futurističkog sveta koji je Elis ovde stvorio.
Da sumiram, kapitalno delo devete umetnosti koje svaki ljubitelj stripa duguje sebi da pročita.
March 7, 2011
This series got me through one of the darker periods of my young-adulthood. I remember continually insisting to myself that it wasn't all that great while I read it, even as I compulsively scooped up the trades from Forbidden Planet with a speed and fervor that I've never matched since in all my years of reading comics. And I absolutely do not most closely identify with a character named Spider freaking Jerusalem, who wears mismatched sunglasses and is covered with cheesy tribal tattoos to show that he's more "real" than other people. Because that would be silly, and I am not silly. I am a big grownup adult who doesn't need Transmetropolitan to remind me how to be brave, and who doesn't need Spider Jerusalem to show me how to be a badass who isn't afraid to take the world on.
July 11, 2020
Можливо, це тупо – комікс, який показує вади нашого суспільства через призму майбутнього. Хтось скаже, що таких книг чи навіть коміксів – тисячі. Але якщо мене зачепило, то що я можу вдіяти?
Колись Спайдер Джерусалем був відомим журналістом, але на п’ять років зник з Міста, втік від слави, від якої йому було бридко. Проте і без огидного йому Міста він жити не може, тому повертається і влаштовується в газету. Щотижня він пише статті на теми, які завжди були йому до душі – насилля, несправедливість, бруд. Це – його журналістська територія і тут він незрівнянний.
Повернення Джерусалема збігається з початком передвиборної президентської кампанії.
Мене найбільше ранять у серце такі абсурдні ситуації, коли героїв заганяють у глухий кут, в якесь сюрреалістичне жахіття, з якого вони хочуть прокинутись, але не можуть. В дистопічному світі, яким є «Трансметрополітен», все одно якось вдається підвищувати градус абсурду. Але іронія полягає в тому, що це лише гіперболізована реальність. Головний персонаж тут журналіст і особлива увага приділяється поступовому обмеженню свободи слова. Правду просто забороняють, замість новин на екранах – програми для отупіння і задурення. Натомість президент виправдовує введення військ у Місто так: «Очевидно, я не хочу, щоб хтось постраждав». Це просто доказ, що Воррену Еллісу не треба було нічого вигадувати.
Присутня ненормативна лексика, сцени сексуального характеру, вживання наркотиків тощо. Автори не стримували себе ні в чому, тому читати варто на свій страх і ризик.
Колись Спайдер Джерусалем був відомим журналістом, але на п’ять років зник з Міста, втік від слави, від якої йому було бридко. Проте і без огидного йому Міста він жити не може, тому повертається і влаштовується в газету. Щотижня він пише статті на теми, які завжди були йому до душі – насилля, несправедливість, бруд. Це – його журналістська територія і тут він незрівнянний.
Повернення Джерусалема збігається з початком передвиборної президентської кампанії.
Мене найбільше ранять у серце такі абсурдні ситуації, коли героїв заганяють у глухий кут, в якесь сюрреалістичне жахіття, з якого вони хочуть прокинутись, але не можуть. В дистопічному світі, яким є «Трансметрополітен», все одно якось вдається підвищувати градус абсурду. Але іронія полягає в тому, що це лише гіперболізована реальність. Головний персонаж тут журналіст і особлива увага приділяється поступовому обмеженню свободи слова. Правду просто забороняють, замість новин на екранах – програми для отупіння і задурення. Натомість президент виправдовує введення військ у Місто так: «Очевидно, я не хочу, щоб хтось постраждав». Це просто доказ, що Воррену Еллісу не треба було нічого вигадувати.
Присутня ненормативна лексика, сцени сексуального характеру, вживання наркотиків тощо. Автори не стримували себе ні в чому, тому читати варто на свій страх і ризик.
May 3, 2024
Un comic (para adultos) de finales de los 90 a inicio de los 2000 lleno de lenguaje malsonante y violencia tanto verbal como física de la mano de nuestro periodista favorito Spider Jerusalem, quien vive en un mundo postcyberpunk tratando temas sensibles que van desde la religión, la política hasta el transhumanismo, la discriminación, intolerancia, abuso de drogas y la explotación sexual de menores (temas muuuuuy sensibles).
Spider Jerusalem es un personaje que sin duda queda para la historia, un periodista mal hablado y violento que va en busca de una sola cosa: LA VERDAD
Y la va a sacar cueste lo que cueste.
Me sorprende enormemente que trate temas "futuristas" con mucha precisión, ya que podemos verlos hechos realidad en nuestra sociedad actual 25 años después de la publicación de la obra.
Debo confesar que la historia no me atrapó mucho al principio pero a medida que va avanzando y los personajes se van desarrollando se vuelve muy interesante (tanto como para leerme más de 700 páginas de una sentada)
"Hay una cosa que no se debe olvidar nunca: La historia siempre está en la calle."
Spider Jerusalem es un personaje que sin duda queda para la historia, un periodista mal hablado y violento que va en busca de una sola cosa: LA VERDAD
Y la va a sacar cueste lo que cueste.
Me sorprende enormemente que trate temas "futuristas" con mucha precisión, ya que podemos verlos hechos realidad en nuestra sociedad actual 25 años después de la publicación de la obra.
Debo confesar que la historia no me atrapó mucho al principio pero a medida que va avanzando y los personajes se van desarrollando se vuelve muy interesante (tanto como para leerme más de 700 páginas de una sentada)
"Hay una cosa que no se debe olvidar nunca: La historia siempre está en la calle."
January 12, 2020
One of the grimiest, filthiest, foulest, most disgusting, and absolutely brilliant pieces of political commentary. Absolutely fantastic series that deserves to be read now more than ever.
May 1, 2021
I haven't read a lot of Warren Ellis, although I rather quite like what I have read so far. This was the first long running series that I finished earlier this year when my love affair with comic books started. My local library somehow had all ten TPB's on hand, and so I voraciously consumed them, and have since bought books 1,2,3 and am awaiting 4 and 5 upon release. That is about as big of an endorsement as I can provide, going out and purchasing a series of books that I have already read. The only downside is that DC comics is releasing them in softcover larger trades, rather than in a hardcover omnibus, which is of course what they should be doing. Although DC comics is a cesspool of apathy and illogical decisions of late, so I'm disappointed, although hardly surprised.
Transmetropolitan (don't let the name fool you, this is about as far from a modern PC tale as you could get). It tells the tale of Spider Jerusalem, which may just be one of the coolest character names ever. A former journalist who fled New York City years ago for a secluded life in the wilderness, is dragged back into the neon vibrance and soul shattering dystopia of his former life. Over the course of the 60 issues, we follow Spider's exploits as he tirelessly works to expose the embedded corruption within the political system, and indeed every aspect of life. Dozens pf pages could be filled, dissecting the hideous and hilarious world that Ellis created over the course of the run, although I'll endeavour not to tumble down that rabbit hole and keep things as brief as possible. Spider is a mixed bag of a character. one minute championing the plight of the forgotten and downtrodden as he tears down the establishment in his own, enigmatic style, yet the next minute, will be stomping on a puppy in the street, or cursing humanity as a whole, and wanting to damn the whole fetid lot of them into some dark abyss so he can finally have some peace. It should be noted here, that although the book deals with some very serious and relevant issues we still face nowadays, the entire story is done with tongue cemented firmly in cheek. so the idea of stomping dogs in the street (cause Spider Jerusalem is a cat person) is no reason at all to turn away from this title. This book tries ridiculously hard to upset every single person who picks it up, yet you are so busy being entertained by it, that you'll likely never be bothered by it. It is a sad indictment on the modern comic industry, and society as a whole, that this book would never get published these days. This makes it even more precious and important. Something that should be savoured. this is how artists used to be able to create. Freely and liberally.
Darick Robertson, who does the art for the majority of the run was the first artist that I fell in love with since picking up a comic book. His detailed yet deranged style suits the series down to the ground, and is perhaps even more a part of the series than Ellis' writing, which is mostly very strong throughout. Ellis manages to blend the continuous, irreverent humour of the series with some at times, very meaningful revelations and character twists. Whilst the fairly simple premise and narrative can become a tad jumbled or repetitive at times, for the most part, Ellis has created an amazingly detailed world, that will have you shaking your head and smiling all at once.
Spider is followed by a small yet wonderful cast of characters, the stars of which is his two 'filthy' assistants. Two complex, engaging and attractive (Oh no!) women, whom admire and despise Spider in equal measure. Several slimy political figures feature as the main antagonists throughout the run, which were obviously needed as something to ground the story and give Spider something to work towards, though Transmetropolitan for me, was at its strongest when Spider was simply opining the world he sees around him. Looking at it all through his grimy rose tinted glasses, and wondering where it all went wrong.
In closing, you definitely should read Transmetropolitan. You really should. Not only is it a fantastically written and drawn comic book, but it is also a signpost for what the medium used to be. When content creators were given free reign, without fear or reproach or reprisal from any minority source, which Ellis recently became the unfortunate victim of himself. Seriously, go out there and read this book and reminisce at the former beauty of this medium. 4.5/5
OmniBen.
Transmetropolitan (don't let the name fool you, this is about as far from a modern PC tale as you could get). It tells the tale of Spider Jerusalem, which may just be one of the coolest character names ever. A former journalist who fled New York City years ago for a secluded life in the wilderness, is dragged back into the neon vibrance and soul shattering dystopia of his former life. Over the course of the 60 issues, we follow Spider's exploits as he tirelessly works to expose the embedded corruption within the political system, and indeed every aspect of life. Dozens pf pages could be filled, dissecting the hideous and hilarious world that Ellis created over the course of the run, although I'll endeavour not to tumble down that rabbit hole and keep things as brief as possible. Spider is a mixed bag of a character. one minute championing the plight of the forgotten and downtrodden as he tears down the establishment in his own, enigmatic style, yet the next minute, will be stomping on a puppy in the street, or cursing humanity as a whole, and wanting to damn the whole fetid lot of them into some dark abyss so he can finally have some peace. It should be noted here, that although the book deals with some very serious and relevant issues we still face nowadays, the entire story is done with tongue cemented firmly in cheek. so the idea of stomping dogs in the street (cause Spider Jerusalem is a cat person) is no reason at all to turn away from this title. This book tries ridiculously hard to upset every single person who picks it up, yet you are so busy being entertained by it, that you'll likely never be bothered by it. It is a sad indictment on the modern comic industry, and society as a whole, that this book would never get published these days. This makes it even more precious and important. Something that should be savoured. this is how artists used to be able to create. Freely and liberally.
Darick Robertson, who does the art for the majority of the run was the first artist that I fell in love with since picking up a comic book. His detailed yet deranged style suits the series down to the ground, and is perhaps even more a part of the series than Ellis' writing, which is mostly very strong throughout. Ellis manages to blend the continuous, irreverent humour of the series with some at times, very meaningful revelations and character twists. Whilst the fairly simple premise and narrative can become a tad jumbled or repetitive at times, for the most part, Ellis has created an amazingly detailed world, that will have you shaking your head and smiling all at once.
Spider is followed by a small yet wonderful cast of characters, the stars of which is his two 'filthy' assistants. Two complex, engaging and attractive (Oh no!) women, whom admire and despise Spider in equal measure. Several slimy political figures feature as the main antagonists throughout the run, which were obviously needed as something to ground the story and give Spider something to work towards, though Transmetropolitan for me, was at its strongest when Spider was simply opining the world he sees around him. Looking at it all through his grimy rose tinted glasses, and wondering where it all went wrong.
In closing, you definitely should read Transmetropolitan. You really should. Not only is it a fantastically written and drawn comic book, but it is also a signpost for what the medium used to be. When content creators were given free reign, without fear or reproach or reprisal from any minority source, which Ellis recently became the unfortunate victim of himself. Seriously, go out there and read this book and reminisce at the former beauty of this medium. 4.5/5
OmniBen.
Read
April 5, 2016So as expected I finished the last volumes of this series very quickly. Now I have had some time to think and I know why I like this series so much: it reminds me of myself and how I cope with my studies (and life in general). With this I do not mean coping in a practical sense that the study load is too much, because that has always been manageable. I mean in a psychological way because of the subjects my studies touch upon.
My study is 'international development studies' meaning I learn a lot about aid that is giving to poor countries and especially about the social consequences of that aid. I chose this study because I wanted to make the world better, but before doing that I wanted to know how exactly to make the world a better place. Well, as it turned out, that that question does not have an answer. Instead aid is a very dubious practise full of politics, hidden interests good intentions gone bad and plain bad intentions. No one agrees with each other over what's best and aiding one party often seems to mean negative consequences for another party. This is often caused by misinformation or missing information which makes it often impossible to make a decisions you are sure is beneficial for most.
This frustrated me to no end, but I also realised something else that is much more important: there are many cases where aid works and that happens more often than you think (good aid is never on the news). So I decided to hold on to a part of my naiveté to keep hoping that a better world is actually possible, but also changed a part of my initial naiveté for cynicism and black humour to cope with the negative side of aid, because as long as I can laugh about it, I still have power to go on with striving for something better.
And in that way, how fangirly that might sounds, I want to aspire to become a Spider like person in spirit. Because he seems to embody in his own way also that duality in spirit between hope and black cynicism with a refusal to accept the world as it is because that one is stupid and could be so much more.
In the book Spiders cynicism and anti-social behaviour is for me a clear example that he is continuously on the brink of losing faith in having an impact in the world with his work. More often than not Spider gets disappointed by people's stupidity and pliability and refusal to see the world as the shithole Spider knows it is.
At the other side he keeps trying. Deep down he has the urge to not give up telling people what's wrong with the world, efforts which cumulate in the effort to bring down the president, the Smiler.
For me this hope was especially visible with the colour scheme of the comic. The colour scheme is very bright and on the whole drawn with a lot of colours. The use of many colours does not diminish the forlorn portrayal of the city, but rather adds the element of hope to the decaying surroundings. For me colours are a materialization of hope and positive feelings. I can not explain why, but as long as my life and surroundings have some proper colours, nothing feels truly lost. Just as in Transmetropolitan I never got the feelings that the city was a total pit of despair and unhappiness
This nuance in the comic made it a very realistic series, especially because it talked about the struggle between hope and hopelessness and seeing not only one of the two, but the complete picture. No situation is ever wholly either good or bad, but always something in between with the opportunity to go both ways depending on actions taken by people.
My study is 'international development studies' meaning I learn a lot about aid that is giving to poor countries and especially about the social consequences of that aid. I chose this study because I wanted to make the world better, but before doing that I wanted to know how exactly to make the world a better place. Well, as it turned out, that that question does not have an answer. Instead aid is a very dubious practise full of politics, hidden interests good intentions gone bad and plain bad intentions. No one agrees with each other over what's best and aiding one party often seems to mean negative consequences for another party. This is often caused by misinformation or missing information which makes it often impossible to make a decisions you are sure is beneficial for most.
This frustrated me to no end, but I also realised something else that is much more important: there are many cases where aid works and that happens more often than you think (good aid is never on the news). So I decided to hold on to a part of my naiveté to keep hoping that a better world is actually possible, but also changed a part of my initial naiveté for cynicism and black humour to cope with the negative side of aid, because as long as I can laugh about it, I still have power to go on with striving for something better.
And in that way, how fangirly that might sounds, I want to aspire to become a Spider like person in spirit. Because he seems to embody in his own way also that duality in spirit between hope and black cynicism with a refusal to accept the world as it is because that one is stupid and could be so much more.
In the book Spiders cynicism and anti-social behaviour is for me a clear example that he is continuously on the brink of losing faith in having an impact in the world with his work. More often than not Spider gets disappointed by people's stupidity and pliability and refusal to see the world as the shithole Spider knows it is.
At the other side he keeps trying. Deep down he has the urge to not give up telling people what's wrong with the world, efforts which cumulate in the effort to bring down the president, the Smiler.
For me this hope was especially visible with the colour scheme of the comic. The colour scheme is very bright and on the whole drawn with a lot of colours. The use of many colours does not diminish the forlorn portrayal of the city, but rather adds the element of hope to the decaying surroundings. For me colours are a materialization of hope and positive feelings. I can not explain why, but as long as my life and surroundings have some proper colours, nothing feels truly lost. Just as in Transmetropolitan I never got the feelings that the city was a total pit of despair and unhappiness
This nuance in the comic made it a very realistic series, especially because it talked about the struggle between hope and hopelessness and seeing not only one of the two, but the complete picture. No situation is ever wholly either good or bad, but always something in between with the opportunity to go both ways depending on actions taken by people.
August 13, 2016
Transmetropolitan is, in short, singularly fantastic. It has completely and (almost) single-handedly changed the way I think about graphic novels. Warren Ellis ought be placed on the same pedestal as Alan Moore. In fact, build him a new pedestal.
I cannot spoil the end for you, but I will say that it is a fitting end for the series. I really cannot recommend this highly enough -- both for those of you who are Graphic Novel Regulars, and those who have never before picked one up because they're, "Too Childish." Trust me: it isn't. They aren't. This is a view of the future that Vonnegut and Orwell would admire.
Read it.
I cannot spoil the end for you, but I will say that it is a fitting end for the series. I really cannot recommend this highly enough -- both for those of you who are Graphic Novel Regulars, and those who have never before picked one up because they're, "Too Childish." Trust me: it isn't. They aren't. This is a view of the future that Vonnegut and Orwell would admire.
Read it.
August 21, 2012
Spider Jerusalen is the badass Hunter S. Thompson of the future, and he totally derails another American presidential election on superdrugs. It's got everything!
February 4, 2024
One of my favorite comics that also regularly pissed me off.
I've been reading this on and off for over a year So I can't remember every detail of the first few story arcs. I do remember them being good enough that I wanted to continue reading.
I have for years wanted to read a story like this about journalism. This is a great story of the power of journalism in a (fictional) world.
Spider Jerusalem, the main protagonist, is a muck-raking, gonzo(esqe), journalist who is a disgustingly vile, violent, self important manchild. He also loves his city (accept for the myriad of things that he hates about it) and hates corruption and those in power only for themselves.
The story follows him as he seeks to expose and take down corrupt politician.
The social, political, and economic problems of the city are all fantastical versions of issues humans have faced for ever. Ellis does a great job at boiling down these issues and (graphically) showing them to the reader.
The art is disgustingly great. It really is amazing and pulls you in (too far) to the story. The art is also what regularly pissed me off. The subject matter is often gross in the extreme. it is absurd like i've never seen before. I loved so much of it, but sometimes it was just too much.
“I can't solve any problems. All I can do is try to make sure people can't avoid noticing them.” -Spider
I've been reading this on and off for over a year So I can't remember every detail of the first few story arcs. I do remember them being good enough that I wanted to continue reading.
I have for years wanted to read a story like this about journalism. This is a great story of the power of journalism in a (fictional) world.
Spider Jerusalem, the main protagonist, is a muck-raking, gonzo(esqe), journalist who is a disgustingly vile, violent, self important manchild. He also loves his city (accept for the myriad of things that he hates about it) and hates corruption and those in power only for themselves.
The story follows him as he seeks to expose and take down corrupt politician.
The social, political, and economic problems of the city are all fantastical versions of issues humans have faced for ever. Ellis does a great job at boiling down these issues and (graphically) showing them to the reader.
The art is disgustingly great. It really is amazing and pulls you in (too far) to the story. The art is also what regularly pissed me off. The subject matter is often gross in the extreme. it is absurd like i've never seen before. I loved so much of it, but sometimes it was just too much.
“I can't solve any problems. All I can do is try to make sure people can't avoid noticing them.” -Spider
February 24, 2021
Sadly a little bigoted - I have rated it without taking that into account, because I think it rises above it. I guess to an extent, it feels important to the character, but is also present in an authorial sense. The world painted is fascinating, hilariously over-the-top but with a political story that is insanely grounded. Fundamentally, it is a story about how politicians and cops are evil incarnate and need to be stopped. I enjoyed the fact that the character develops and we see that, while he is an absurd misanthropic caricature, he also struggles with his constant anger borne out of what is ultimately compassion for the common man, the "new scum" that he writes to and is part of. Also, it's stylish and campy in that sci-fi comic book way. Read it if you like Judge Dredd for the depiction of the megacity future but wish policing were portrayed as utterly irredeemable.
July 19, 2017
I didn't think I'd enjoy this because I've never been drawn to Hunter S. Thompson's work from which Transmetropolitan takes its character and style cues. Not only did I appreciate the perspective and characters, but the commentary feels even more appropriate now than for the time it was written 15-20 years ago.
June 22, 2017
hands down, one of the best series, graphic or not, i've ever read. creative, zany, obnoxious, vile and downright accurate ideals/details that parallel QUITE WELL to the times we live in now. fucking hats off.
June 13, 2020
Transmetropolitan is Warren Ellis at his absolute best. Gonzo Journalism meets the technological singularity with a dash of conspiracy. Read each comic cover to cover in a blistering speed. 100% recommend!
August 13, 2021
One of my favourite comic series of all time. Seriously, I can't think of many that I loved as much of this. A brilliant cyberpunk setting, with plenty of political commentary that has only gotten more relevant over time
June 13, 2019
Amazing, the transhumanist themes and styles were an amazing backdrop to some truly important modern political statements.
November 11, 2019
Tales of Human Waste 2
Back on the Street 4
Lust for Life 5
Year of the Bastard 3
The New Scum 2
Lonely City 3
Gouge Away 3
Dirge 4
Spider's Thrash 4
The Cure 4
One More Time 5
Back on the Street 4
Lust for Life 5
Year of the Bastard 3
The New Scum 2
Lonely City 3
Gouge Away 3
Dirge 4
Spider's Thrash 4
The Cure 4
One More Time 5
April 12, 2020
Spider Jerusalem kraldır.
March 5, 2021
A must read if you want to look beyond the superhero-genre.
December 2, 2022
That’s why he’s the goat. THE GOATTT!!!
January 3, 2023
A phenomenal series, with striking similarities to modern-day problems (both subtle and less so) that plague society.
current-manga-comics
January 21, 2025Transmetropolitan comic series
Volume 1 in 2023, 4 stars
Currently reading: volume 2
Volume 1 in 2023, 4 stars
Currently reading: volume 2
August 26, 2025
Anyone else hear angry Dale Gribble when they read Spider?
Starts out Good, quickly transcends Great.
Starts out Good, quickly transcends Great.
April 4, 2017
I read this so long ago. I can't remember if it was amazing or only ok.
January 29, 2015
Transmetropolitan is a graphic novel series about a gonzo journalist in a future society not so much dystopian as utterly disinterested in social advancement. It reminds me most of the society in search of continual distraction seen in Brave New World, except there’s no attempt at conformity. Instead there’s so much as raging personal satisfaction that individuals become impotent. The lead character, Spider, is one of the few investigative journalists left: the media is dominated by people who merely observe, acting as living platforms for cameras. Spider wants The Truth.
Spider does not care who he needs to punch in the face to get it.
It’s important to read this series in order. Many graphic novels don’t much care where you check in, but I started in volume 3, Year of the Bastard, and almost didn’t come back. You really need to have accepted the main character, and understood where he is coming from, before you see him interact with his world. Read on its own, the third volume makes him look juvenile and homophobic, and that’s a mischaracterisation. His society really is as shallow and terrible as he makes it out to be, and his resistance which just looks like him being self-aggrandizing and tiresome at the beginning, is slowly driving him insane.
Satire is tricky: you do sometimes get the sensation that Spider’s society has been built specifically for him to have things to shout at. Sometimes these are epic set-pieces, like when Spider acts as a tinfoil Jesus at a religious convention, turning over the tables and desperately wishing he had a whip. Sometimes they fall a bit flat, possibly because as a reader in another country and decade, I don’t see the cultural context behind what the writer is doing.
It’s one of those graphic novels which stretches the boundaries of the format in interesting ways. It’s a simple read, on a textual level. It uses profanity and graphic, casual violence rather than eloquence to make its points. On a thematic level, it’s a rich series. It’s deliberately brash, in the cyberpunk way, but that looks kind of quaint and dated now, which adds some appeal to a genre which seemed to adolescent when it was new. Personally, it reminds me more of Noir novels. Spider is not a perfect man, even his friends call him an evil bastard, but he’s as good as this world he’s in allows. In that he reminds me of many of the Gumshoe detectives.
So, recommended for fans of the genre, for people who like the graphic novel as a form and want to see how it can be used, for those who like Noir, and for those who enjoyed the work of Hunter S. Thompson.
Actually, no, that’s kind of a cheap and easy comparison. You can see Thompson’s genetics in Spider, but Thompson’s written self always seemed to me quite a simple sort of guy. I think perhaps it owes something to the exposees of poverty, like Orwell’s Down and Out in London and Paris or Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor. Spider’s articles on child prostitution, or about Care in the Community, could be lifted from these sorts of books. Don’t let the added tattoos and sci-fi jargon fool you: the social justice story runs right through all of these books.
This review was first posted on book coasters
Spider does not care who he needs to punch in the face to get it.
It’s important to read this series in order. Many graphic novels don’t much care where you check in, but I started in volume 3, Year of the Bastard, and almost didn’t come back. You really need to have accepted the main character, and understood where he is coming from, before you see him interact with his world. Read on its own, the third volume makes him look juvenile and homophobic, and that’s a mischaracterisation. His society really is as shallow and terrible as he makes it out to be, and his resistance which just looks like him being self-aggrandizing and tiresome at the beginning, is slowly driving him insane.
Satire is tricky: you do sometimes get the sensation that Spider’s society has been built specifically for him to have things to shout at. Sometimes these are epic set-pieces, like when Spider acts as a tinfoil Jesus at a religious convention, turning over the tables and desperately wishing he had a whip. Sometimes they fall a bit flat, possibly because as a reader in another country and decade, I don’t see the cultural context behind what the writer is doing.
It’s one of those graphic novels which stretches the boundaries of the format in interesting ways. It’s a simple read, on a textual level. It uses profanity and graphic, casual violence rather than eloquence to make its points. On a thematic level, it’s a rich series. It’s deliberately brash, in the cyberpunk way, but that looks kind of quaint and dated now, which adds some appeal to a genre which seemed to adolescent when it was new. Personally, it reminds me more of Noir novels. Spider is not a perfect man, even his friends call him an evil bastard, but he’s as good as this world he’s in allows. In that he reminds me of many of the Gumshoe detectives.
So, recommended for fans of the genre, for people who like the graphic novel as a form and want to see how it can be used, for those who like Noir, and for those who enjoyed the work of Hunter S. Thompson.
Actually, no, that’s kind of a cheap and easy comparison. You can see Thompson’s genetics in Spider, but Thompson’s written self always seemed to me quite a simple sort of guy. I think perhaps it owes something to the exposees of poverty, like Orwell’s Down and Out in London and Paris or Mayhew’s London Labour and the London Poor. Spider’s articles on child prostitution, or about Care in the Community, could be lifted from these sorts of books. Don’t let the added tattoos and sci-fi jargon fool you: the social justice story runs right through all of these books.
This review was first posted on book coasters
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