Ex Machina, Vol. 5: Smoke, Smoke

Ex Machina #5

by Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris

Set in the modern-day real world, Ex Machina tells the story of civil engineer Mitchell Hundred, who becomes America's first living, breathing superhero after a strange accident gives him amazing powers. Recommended for mature readers. Collects Ex Machina issue #21-25

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes

113 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Brian K. Vaughan is the writer and co-creator of comic-book series including SAGA, PAPER GIRLS, Y THE LAST MAN, RUNAWAYS, and most recently, BARRIER, a digital comic with artist Marcos Martin about immigration, available from their pay-what-you-want site www.PanelSyndicate.com

BKV's work has been recognized at the Eisner, Harvey, Hugo, Shuster, Eagle, and British Fantasy Awards. He sometimes writes for film and television in Los Angeles, where he lives with his family and their dogs Hamburger and Milkshake.

Reviews

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is killing it. Marijuana, terrorism, psychopathy, gay marriage, assassination, capital punishment. It's comic book violent while tackling serious issues. And wonderfully illustrated. A fantastic series.

[Punk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Graphic Novel. Mayor Hundred takes on marijuana. At this rate we'll be having a very special episode about abortion next. I just don't feel like Vaughan's saying anything with these hot button topics of his, though he did make a few nods to past events in the series, so there was a hint of continuity. Also some intrigue as he sets things up for the next big conflict. Still, Vaughan seems to be having trouble striking a balance between stories about being a mayor and stories about being a superhero, and he's really falling short in the areas they intersect. The things I loved about the first trade -- the consequences involved with being a superhero -- have mostly dribbled away. There are still consequences, but they're trivial to the story. They don't serve to advance anything but Hundred's manpain. This series is really suffering for having no cohesive mytharc. Bring back the mysterious chip-thingy, Vaughan! You got some splainin' to do.

Three stars. I'll keep reading, but the things that made this title special are slipping away, and we're left with a mayor with superpowers and no attempt to explain them. This trade was short on awesome women, too.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

All the chickens...

All the subplots are finally coming to a head. The weird one about some dirty secret, the Russian frenemy who wants Hundred to fly again, even the "what will he do after mayor?" will-he-or-won't-he silliness. And what happened to that ranting dude from an alternate timeline?

Doesn't matter. Good ending. Not great, but good. Like we went through something together, got a little dirty, maybe learned more than we wanted to about each other, and won't be able to look them in the eye squarely any more. Like it said, good.

There's a like somewhere in this last collection about superheroes and primary colours, and that the most respectable ones are dressed that way - that the Hulk wore purple and green.

And then I notice this cover and it clicks into place:



Vaughan didn't want to write about a "good" guy, a superficial Boy Scout.

Something about this reminds me of the anti-hero hero worship we got out of Preacher. A stand up guy who doesn't deserve to stand tall, exactly, but who we need to count among us because they seem a little more like us, flawed and puzzling hairless apes.

[Hamid Babayev · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is one important piece of this comics-series:
Vaughan touches every little sensitive topics in the world. Gay-marriage, marihuana smoke, politics, rassismus etc. The story is not the best alone. But the prespective of it is fair enough.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh, okay collection, this one: faux firefighter breaking into homes, legalization of marijuana stuff, a standalone on the deputy mayor… okay.

[Griffin Youngstrum · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series so much. It continues to impress me.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've finally accepted this series for what it is. Mostly a weekly political drama and pretty fun for what it is. But no massive overarching plots which is not my usual experience with BKV

[Chad Jordahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to like this title much more than I originally expected to. For a book with super-powered characters, it's very real, down-to-earth. The characters react believably to generally plausible situations. Smart dialog. The realistic art fits very well and is quite well done.

(Now that I think of it, I could say the same for Saga, BKV's current ongoing series. Although it's full-on Sci-Fi with all the crazy characters and settings that you could imagine, emotionally it's deeply real.)

[Jimmy Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grown man topics is something you gotta deal with, No matter how many super powers you love it ain’t gonna equal up to this real shit....

Let me just start by saying this is the best “Graphic Novel” I have ever read. I wouldn’t even call this a comic. I know that there is a difference between a comic and a graphic novel but I’ve also seen the terms use interchangeably but this piece of work is too great to be called anything else. I read “Y The Last Man” so I was a fan of Brian K Vaughn (Although Under The Dome is terrible). Ex Machina exceeded my expectations.

I love reading about super powers and the fight between good and evil and all that good shit but I also love seeing real issues discussed. Ex Machina does this perfectly. The parallel NYC was amazing and Mitchell Hundred is one of the most interesting characters I’ve seen.

Vol 5 was a little crazy with a criminal dressing up as a fireman and using the gas mask for something I didn’t know was possible. It also discusses how marijuana is criminalized. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just say that I highly recommend Ex Machina

FYI: I’ll leave a review for all ten volumes but only change the last paragraph because the first three paragraphs were so powerful that they are relevant to all ten volumes.. LOL

[Licha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Vol. 5 of 10

This one was all about weed, smoking it and making it legal.


Recap to remind me what this was about. ****Possible spoilers ahead****:


--Mayor Hundred is considering legalizing smoking weed.

--A mother of a criminal The Great Machine once helped put in jail, self-immolates on the steps of city hall.

--Journal's sister, January, joins the team but seems to have ulterior motives.

--There's an FDNY impostor going around the city knocking on people's doors and killing them when they open the door.

--Something is going haywire in Mitch's head and he's starts getting painfu headaches.

--A little glimpse of Bradbury's story but not much.


A bit of nudity going on in this one.

What hot isue will they tackle next volume? That's what this series has been so far and how I'm afraid it will continue.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian K. Vaughan, Ex Machina: Smoke, Smoke (DC Comics, 2007)

Vaughan continues to impress with everything he puts out. The most recent Ex Machina collection takes on the thorny (well, where legislators are concerned) topic of drug legalization. A new character pops up: January Moore, the departed Journal's sister, who Hundred appoints to step into Journal's shoes. As usual, there's a relatively dismissable mystery arc, but they're starting to tie in much better with the overarching themes found in each book. I wasn't entirely sure about this series to start, but it's getting better with each release. ****

[?0?0?0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayor Hundred tokes up, a colleague is working against him, and a man posing as a firefighter is slaughtering people and in all this is the theme, this go round, and that is drug legalization, in particular, marijuana - yes I am lucky to be a Canadian right now, for even doing drugs as light as weed when illegal still makes people feel like criminals when they are not and that, and many other points are brought up in the pages of Brian k. Vaughan's reliably consistent series "Ex Machina" and the artwork only improves as a bonus. Great work that can be consumed quickly but leaves a lasting impression and you will not regret reading it.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like this series, especially the art by Georgia's Tony Harris.
Rereading, thanks to Fulton County Public Library! It is easy to forget the occasional cast member or plot point as I leave long gaps between reading subsequent installments. However... this set of stories is worth rereading, for the great storytelling. Topical references are a mixed bag; Giuliani, for instance. But the political take on a big superhero story is wonderful, filled with Vaughan's humor and Harris's joyful art.
Recommended.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great volume in the Ex Machina series. This one felt a little less multi-dimensional. Mayor Hundred lets slip that he has, in his past, smoked pot once or twice. Then a woman immolates herself on City Hall steps. Then a guy dressed as a fireman is breaking, entering, assaulting, and robbing. In the midst of all this, a new team member appears, January (Journal's sister), and she may not have Mayor Hundred's best interests in mind. A lot of stuff is happening, but I didn't feel a lot of character growth or story progression in this book. And where is his mom?

[Brad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A woman self-immolates herself on City Hall's front steps. Hundred admits to prior marijuana use, which starts yet another media circus. Also, Journal's sister January comes to work for the team. Meanwhile, a man who impersonates a firefighter is going around killing people in their apartments. We learn that January is working with Kremlin to try and take down Hundred in some way. We learn that the woman who self-immolated herself was doing it because her son (a pot dealer) was caught by the Great Machine years ago and was just killed in prison.

[Shane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Vaughan has chosen to take on a different social issue in each story arc and I like it. This time, if you haven't guessed it, it's the devil's lettuce aka wacky tabbacky, wait are you saying it's not called that anymore? I'll have to blame being straight edge for 50+ years on my lack of knowledge.

Anyway, great stuff (again), and super relevant, especially when this came out. I just wish he would progress the superpower origin arch more, at this point I'm starting to wonder if Vaughan actually knows what the big reveal is going to be or if he's just writing until he thinks of something cool.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The retired superhero, Mitchell Hundred, once The Great machine but now mayor of New York City, contends with how to stop someone posing as a NYFD officer committing home invasions while also deciding whether to try and overturn the draconian drug laws in the city (and state) of New York. It also doesn't help when Mayor Hundred gets blindsided in a live radio interview and has to use his power to speak to electronic machines to stop the broadcast.

[Iona Sharma]

Okay by this point the series is getting weirder, and cynical in a way I don't love. Mitchell Hundred is a reasonably sweet-natured guy when he's a normal marine engineer for the city, and then he goes through a *lot* of strangeness and trauma, and it makes sense he would be harder and more cynical. I don't know if the narrative knows that, though, or just thinks Cynical Politician is a cool archetype so whatever. But I have five more trades to get through, so let's see what happens.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think I'll be continuing this series. I just find it quite dull and am very ambivalent about it. Usually within the first 5 volumes you can tell if a series is good and this just isn't it for me. Like my reviews of the previous volumes, there's a lot of potential here, but it never really gets developed. I'm quite disappointed.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun volume in this series. Maybe I liked it better than the last one? I don’t remember. I think I need to settle down and just read the series to get through it. I think it’s more enjoyable to read this in one setting instead of how I do it – whenever I randomly have time…

[Dustin Riedesel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little outdated in terms of progressive political ideas, but still relevant in grappling with real-world problems from the middle. Stories are interesting and the long arc has kept me reading through all the volumes I can find oncomixology.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mayor Hundred gets pulled into marijuana legalization and a person masquerading as a firefighter breaks into homes.

3.5 stars I liked this volume more than the last one but not as much as the first three. I'm still up for seeing what else Hundred tackles while he's in office.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent, if slightly underwhelming, volume. I suspect Vaughan is slightly toying with us before he overwhelms with the big plotty stuff - there’s a tantalising hint of where things might be going here and I’m kind of chomping at the bit to find out more

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The former hero turned politician that uses common sense and facts to do his new job and not just react to events. I like the interaction between the political team and appreciated the one off challenges that were presented. Another winner for the writer and artist, strong addition to the series.

[Jessie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am a HUGE Brian K. Vaughan fan, but... I don't know. I'm just not feeling this series so far. Still seeing it through to the end though.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first volume that I can safely say that I enjoyed. It's still disjointed at times, but the author does a fine job of showing how no decision can be absent of political consequences.

[Abigail Pankau · Rating 3 out of 5]

The continuation of super hero struggling with politics. In this volume, marijuana & fire fighters are the focus. Compared to previous volumes, it's a little bit dull.

[Neville Ridley-smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok but nothing special. That is all.

[Steven W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Always terrific!!

[Rania M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars