Transmetropolitan Volume 1

One-sentence summary: Hunter S. Thompson mixed with Jesus in a dystopian future -- yaaay.

This is part of my "reading comics I really should've read years ago" series. I love Warren Ellis, so it's a shame I hadn't read this (which a variety of people consider his best work) before now, because it is friggin' fantastic.

I almost feel bad writing this review without having read the entire series, as this is clearly going to be a fairly contained, long story. It's Ellis dealing with one of his favorite motifs: the messiah. Ellis does these sorts of stories pretty often: crazy dude returns from the wilderness, supercharged with "the truth" and generally dishevels existence in fair City. It's Transmet, it's Doktor Sleepless, and in a lesser degree most of his other works deal with the concept of a broken savior too (Gravel springs to mind). If it weren't for how well he does it, it'd probably get old.

Journalism struck me as a novel occupation for his messiah. I mean, it makes complete sense, but I can't recall too many other savior scenarios using it (excepting Superman, which doesn't quite count I'd argue). It gives the character a reason to wander around all day screaming at people and searching for the Truth.

And that's really what the book is about -- not just Truth, but the search for it. His point (in this volume at least) was stated pretty directly: what we consider the gritty, tough-to-uncover truth is obvious, we're just more comfortable with ignoring it until we forget we're ignoring it.

Anywho, Ellis's writing is top-notch here. His dialogue is crackling with depraved, manic energy, and the series skips most the exposition he likes to delve into. The art by Robertson is good too, hyper-detailed enough to help make Spider's vision our own: the truth of the world is there, we just might have to read outside the speech bubbles.

Absolute Sandman Volume 2

One-sentence summary: Do I have to do this for Sandman?

Is there anything I could possibly add to the conversation about Sandman? It's gotta be one of the most analyzed comics of...well, ever. This collection contains some of my favorites (Seasons of Mist, for instance), and I absolutely adore the Absolute series from DC. It really is a premium product. Beyond just the enhanced size, this collection has about 100 pages of extras, 10 of which are a never-before-reprinted story from an old Vertigo special I hadn't read (and it was quite nice).

Seriously, though, it's Sandman. I really can't imagine anything original to say about it. Walking through the script of the issue where Lucifer forsakes Hell was more revealing than I thought it'd be, particularly in regards to the details in body language between Dream and Lucifer that were entirely purposeful (also amusing was Gaiman's tangent on how Lucifer could have his own series, but he didn't see it ever happening for legal reasons, which apparently got resolved).

I miss Sandman. There were a wave of comics from the 80s to early 90s -- Swamp Thing, Sandman, Starman, and probably some others I'm not remembering -- that allowed the main character to sort of step away from the series for a few issues, serving in an entirely perfunctory role as new or side characters romped away in a full-fledged story. When I'm reading back through these, when they're done right, it usually works so well and gives the comic a nice difference. I imagine month-to-month it might be a little more grueling for a fan, but maybe not.

One thing I hadn't noticed about Sandman when I first read through it years ago was how much variance the art has. I mean, it's almost always top-notch quality, but every story has its own artist that develops a unique feel for the story. It really helps give Sandman that episodic quality which allows for such different changes of tone between plots. The only thing that bothered me were in-story switches, which I think may have only happened once.

Anyway, it's a fantastic comic published in a fantastic format. Even at $60-100, I think it's worth it (but then again, I spend too much money on comics).

Get a Life

One-sentence summary: A wonderful comic, gently touching on seriousness without ever wading into it.

Sometimes I buy comics because they're by writers I trust or heard good things about; usually it's because they're collections of series that I've read in single issue form.

Occasionally -- just occasionally -- I will buy a comic for no conceivable reason. Get a Life found its way onto my Amazon wish list at some point, but I couldn't tell you how. When making a large purchase once, filled with expensive hardbounds from the Big Two, I threw in a used copy of this that was being sold for about $4. Of all those comics, I've enjoyed it the most so far.

The premise is simple: Mr. Jean, our protagonist, is a 30-something bachelor who just published, to some limited critical praise, his first major novel, and now he's trying to figure out "what next."

The stories are told in various vignettes, but with the plots and character arcs spanning across the entire book. Some are out-and-out comedic -- a series of gags, for instance, where Jean is suffering from insomnia and an unhelpful friend tells him to think of hippos in love -- while others are mostly serious. The book has a light tone overall, which fits the material. I've been harping on this quite a bit lately, but the combination of droll humor and cartoon-y art lets the pair of artists/writers deal with heartbreak and growing older sincerely without dipping into the maudlin.

It is a uniquely French book. French culture has this majestic ability to sweep you gently into it, so that while you're being entertained you find yourself less aware of it. I find this manifest in M. Hulot's Holiday, in the Maigret books, and here with the life of M. Jean.

Tragedy is too serious of a word, but it was very saddening for me to learn this is the only volume of the M. Jean series translated into English, and, given that it was published 4 years ago, I doubt there are more forthcoming anytime soon. However, since it's available for less than large mocha at Starbucks, I say it's definitely worth picking up.