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Ted McKeever Library #1
Transit
Spud, a self-proclaimed urban rebel, finds that when he inadvertently becomes involved in a political nightmare of power and corruption, he's going to need a lot more than half a can of spray-paint and a pair of worn out roller blades to survive. That is, if the entire city itself doesn't self-destruct before it's all over!
Featuring political and social drama from one of the most celebrated masters of the comics medium, this collection contains all five original issues of Ted McKeever's Transit , as well as the never-before-published final chapter. Includes a full gallery of unpublished art, character designs, ads, and more!
Featuring political and social drama from one of the most celebrated masters of the comics medium, this collection contains all five original issues of Ted McKeever's Transit , as well as the never-before-published final chapter. Includes a full gallery of unpublished art, character designs, ads, and more!
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
156 pages, Paperback
First published October 29, 2008
2 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Ted McKeever
203 books31 followersTheodore Paul McKeever is an American artist known for his work in several comic book companies. McKeever has written and also fully painted many comics. He is known for his distinct graphic style.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 6, 2014
Picked this up as a purchase on free comic book day 2014. My first experience with Ted McKeever (comics in '87, republished in 2008). My first impression- plot kind of reminds me of Transmet/Ellis and I like the dirty, underground, black/white art style.
Story-wise, it was only like Transmet on the surface. There was a bit of the social commentary but much more urban punk/film noir story. The style took a little getting used to but the language was great, it was a roller-coaster of grim humor, violence, and corruption-filled drama. Spud is your protagonist and he's got this seemingly undeserved yet humorous self-confidence. He winds up in the middle of this political corruption and he's not really out there to solve it or expose it, he's just trying to survive it.
Meanwhile, at the same time you have this other fellow who's released from jail and trying to get back in the game. And he's likable too but overall his story kind of feels disjointed with Spud's.
Overall, it's not for everyone just because of the gritty nature and the violence. Expect creative characters, destruction, oddly placed bible verses, fast, blunt violence, and witty humor that wavers between dark and slapstick.
Story-wise, it was only like Transmet on the surface. There was a bit of the social commentary but much more urban punk/film noir story. The style took a little getting used to but the language was great, it was a roller-coaster of grim humor, violence, and corruption-filled drama. Spud is your protagonist and he's got this seemingly undeserved yet humorous self-confidence. He winds up in the middle of this political corruption and he's not really out there to solve it or expose it, he's just trying to survive it.
Meanwhile, at the same time you have this other fellow who's released from jail and trying to get back in the game. And he's likable too but overall his story kind of feels disjointed with Spud's.
Overall, it's not for everyone just because of the gritty nature and the violence. Expect creative characters, destruction, oddly placed bible verses, fast, blunt violence, and witty humor that wavers between dark and slapstick.
August 20, 2011
OMG publishers...PLEASE use a copy editor for the back cover text. How many fragments can one fit on the back cover of a book? Read Book 1 of the Ted McKeever library to find out! Additionally, including a fuzzy image on the back is not a plus for the overall book design. Thank goodness McKeever's work precedes him since Image isn't doing him any favors here.
Having said that, it is amazing to go back to McKeever's earliest work on the inside of the book. In this one volume, the reader can see the development of his style, both in the writing and the art. While the story is a bit disjointed, this is a very early work for him and I am glad to see that McKeever embraces it and puts it out there for a larger audience to engage it.
Having said that, it is amazing to go back to McKeever's earliest work on the inside of the book. In this one volume, the reader can see the development of his style, both in the writing and the art. While the story is a bit disjointed, this is a very early work for him and I am glad to see that McKeever embraces it and puts it out there for a larger audience to engage it.
January 7, 2009
Nice to see this back in print, although smaller than normal comic book size is a bizarre choice for reproduction.
Colour plates for the covers would have been nice too.
Maybe we’re a bit spoiled in this day and age of ‘dvd extras’, and the Afterword was nice, but it would have been extra nice for McKeever to talk about the story, the process, the (almost) 20 years later final chapter, etc.
All in all a nothing-special story but McKeever’s evolving style is a nice thing to witness.
Colour plates for the covers would have been nice too.
Maybe we’re a bit spoiled in this day and age of ‘dvd extras’, and the Afterword was nice, but it would have been extra nice for McKeever to talk about the story, the process, the (almost) 20 years later final chapter, etc.
All in all a nothing-special story but McKeever’s evolving style is a nice thing to witness.
August 12, 2019
Interesting read if you enjoy Mckeever's art, because you literally watch it evolve before your eyes in this one as he tries out new styles. The story itself was basic punk stuff, down with the government, that sorta stuff. It was okay. Mckeever has a great art style. He loves his creepy mouths and I do too.
June 8, 2011
Spud, a fairly standard urban punk with an intricate knowledge of his city's rebellious underbelly, finds he's in over his head when he becomes the key witness to a politically motivated murder in the city's transit system. As he begins to piece together the puzzle of the murderer's identity and political clout, he must confront a cast of colorful characters each trying to make it by in a city that seems to be condemned.
What begins as an interesting glimpse into urban subculture becomes a biting political satire and eventually a theological treatise as McKeever navigates through the harrowing downfall of a fictitious city at the hands of its political leaders -- the very people charged with protecting it. This narrative evolution seems to be as much a product of McKeever's developing style as of the span of time between the publication of the first and last chapters. In this reprinted compilation, the evolution is all the more apparent.
This collection is a testimony to the potential impact of self-published graphic novels, as McKeever's work has inspired that of many of other artists and writers in the genre. However, given McKeever's eventual success and recognition, I would have expected the collected chapters of this graphic novel to have more of a polished feel in this compilation -- the collection itself still feels a bit rough around the edges, in spite of the addition of a concluding chapter. But that concluding chapter makes reading the rest of the graphic novel a worthwhile endeavor. How far an artist can come in twenty years!
What begins as an interesting glimpse into urban subculture becomes a biting political satire and eventually a theological treatise as McKeever navigates through the harrowing downfall of a fictitious city at the hands of its political leaders -- the very people charged with protecting it. This narrative evolution seems to be as much a product of McKeever's developing style as of the span of time between the publication of the first and last chapters. In this reprinted compilation, the evolution is all the more apparent.
This collection is a testimony to the potential impact of self-published graphic novels, as McKeever's work has inspired that of many of other artists and writers in the genre. However, given McKeever's eventual success and recognition, I would have expected the collected chapters of this graphic novel to have more of a polished feel in this compilation -- the collection itself still feels a bit rough around the edges, in spite of the addition of a concluding chapter. But that concluding chapter makes reading the rest of the graphic novel a worthwhile endeavor. How far an artist can come in twenty years!
July 29, 2011
I've always liked McKeever's work but have missed out on his early stuff. So this was a first time read for me. It started off interesting, but I found it to be a bit of a mess on the whole and I never really got into it. Being his first book, you can see McKeever trying to find himself as an artist, which results in the newly drawn final chapter not matching up to anything before it by looking much better.
August 15, 2015
A great example of black & white "art" comics from the 1980s. It's really interesting to watch Ted McKeever's craft evolve over the course of the book, from the somewhat rough first chapter to the highly stylized finale.
July 4, 2012
I'm reading this to review for my upcoming Graphic Novel course so I can recommend it as an alternative text. McKeever's work isn't for everyone, but I enjoy the challenge.
November 23, 2013
Gorgeously grotesque, high-contrast artwork and a really intense, free-flowing story. McKeever is wonderful and it saddens me that he has so few ratings on this site.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews