Transmetropolitan, by Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson
Format: Originally an issued series, now being printed in its second run of collected graphic-novel volumes (ten volumes in total, eight of which have been released in the current print run)
Content Rating: A strong and solid R, for, not unlike The Filth, pretty much anything you could expect to cause that and a few things you couldn't. In fact, this goes far beyond the usual language-violence-drugs bit...let's just say the future's a messed-up place.
Plot: The year is...we don't know what the year is. No one does. No one cares. We just know it's (bum bum bum) THE FUTURE. And in the future, there's only one journalist truly worth his salt: Spider Jerusalem. Vulgar, violent, and a tad insane, but utterly devoted to reporting the ever-important Truth (essential in the time period's exceedingly skewed media), Spider is a rarity...and a loved rarity to boot. But it was his popularity that had, originally, caused him to leave his city in search of a reclusive life. He claims celebrity got in the way of his preference for unfiltered gonzo reporting, He'll have to contend with that once more as a forgotten book deal leads him straight back to his hometown, but an even greater danger awaits him--the upcoming presidential election. When he left, he left the then-current prez looking like a fool...and it looks like the new guy is going to need a bit more than ridiculing.
Thoughts: Transmetropolitan is...crazy. But it's a good sort of crazy. It speaks to a lot of creativity on the part of the writer and the artist, and it's one of the more unique science fiction universes I'd been to, for sure. It also speaks to some considerable talent that for as legitimately terrible of a person as Spider is, we're still able to care about him, even--though we'd never admit it aloud--like him. He is a true anti-hero. Even if you don't agree with everything he says and does (and honestly? You shouldn't...not everything), you'll at least gain a respect for who he is and what he does. This series is also, I feel I should note, one of the better uses of pitch-dark humor that I've seen. Not everyone can turn a line about killing a puppy into comedy gold.
[Holden Out.]
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