My Weekly Book

2007 Reading Challenge: Book 62

Transmetropolitan: Tales of Human Waste - Warren Ellis et al

Of all the things that you might find lying about on the display stands in your local library, this has to be pretty high on the unlikely list. Or maybe not, seeing as wherever library membership is bestowed upon me I seem to find great, teetering stacks of graphic novels lining the shelves, no doubt placed there by well-meaning souls hoping to cater for short-attention-span teenagers - and instead attracting grumpy, misanthropic 30-somethings like me. Whoever is buying them in always seem to have a pretty good grasp of the genre with giants like Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller frequently well-represented. This means, of course, that Warren Ellis is viewed by some local government official somewhere as a worthwhile project to encourage teen literacy - I’m sure he’d be thrilled… no wonder the young are so cynical.

The problem with this approach can be summed up in the sentence: “Yes, but they never have the volume of Sandman you need next, do they?” And, indeed, after a period of recognition that my comic-reading life would not be complete or even credible for mention in public places until I’d filled in the gap labelled Transmetropolitan, I was somewhat disconcerted to find myself standing there with the final, standalone volume in my hands. Whatever. I profess to be keen on serendipity, after all.

So, what is Transmetropolitan and why did I feel at a disadvantage among my comic-reading peers for not having read it? Probably the most useful thing I can do is quote the Wikipedia article on the series, rather than simply seeking to recompose the words myself:

Transmetropolitan is a post-cyberpunk comic book series written by Warren Ellis with art by Darick Robertson and published by DC Comics. The series was originally part of the short-lived DC Comics imprint Helix Comics, but upon the end of the book’s first year the series was moved to the Vertigo imprint as DC Comics cancelled the Helix Comics imprint. It chronicles the battles of Spider Jerusalem, infamous renegade gonzo journalist of the future who is a homage to gonzo journalism founder Hunter S. Thompson.

Spider Jerusalem dedicates himself to fighting the corruption and abuse of power of two successive United States presidents; he and his (filthy) assistants strive to keep their world from turning more dystopian than it already is while dealing with the struggles of fame and power, brought about due the popularity of Spider via his articles. Read full article here…

I like Spider Jerusalem, on our brief acquaintance, although he doesn’t by any means set out to make himself easy to like. I like his mix of 120-per-cent-proof, filtered-through-rusty-iron-filings-for-a-decade cynicism combined with a dewy-eyed idealism about his city and his profession that marks him out as an absolutely recognisable hack. The trouble with this standalone volume is that it’s not only post-cyberpunk, it’s post-narrative too. Instead of anything as conventional as a story it’s a set of jottings, ramblings (very likely drug-induced), musings and thoughts illustrated by a fine selection of different artists. Plus a story that explains how much he loathes Christmas. That I can sympathise with, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

My fault for thinking there was a short cut. Back to the beginning I go…

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2008 at 11:15 pm and is filed under 2007 reading challenge. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.