Transmetropolitan Vol. 3: Year of the Bastard

Spider Jerusalem's old vices surface again. Namely, politics and drugs, and he indulges in a lot of both. He writes a lot about politics, and does a lot of drugs. He is annoying the political powers now, and this is enough to get someone he likes killed.

Here in Volume Three, Spider Jerusalem finds his life once again driven further into madness by the demands of his Editor. Spider has been back into the city for a while, and except for a short but memorable run-in with The Beast, he's failed to address a seemingly unavoidable topic of the news (by choice of course): politics. It's an election year, and his hated enemy, The Beast, on whose depravity Spider literally wrote the book (the same book which made his career, and drove him out of civilization entirely), is seeking reelection. The Opposition party is in town, and Spider is being dragged kicking and screaming into discussing their imminent convention. Unfortunately for Spider, the front-runner in that race is a neo-fascistic nutjob, and his adversary is a man who only seems to do one thing: smile dementedly. Can Spider save the American Electorate? Can he pry himself away from the needles, pipes, and pills long enough to find The Truth? Read Transmetropolitan Volume Three to find out.

Perfect. No less. When it comes to graphic novels, this is all one could hope for. It is fascinating. Spider's harsh truth seeking, foul mouthed, character is a brilliant creation. In 'Year of the Bastard' Ellis begins -- in very subtle notes -- to reveal a softer side to this character. In his growing relationship with Vita Severn we begin to understand Spider more, and the fate of this relationship at the end of the novel is Spider's key motication for his actions until issue 60. The ideas, political machinations and wit of the book are all brilliant. Read and be amazed.

8 years ago, Spider saw the Beast come into power. After that, he went to his mountain. But he was called back, and in Lust for Life, wrapped his fingers around the pulse of the city. Now, it's election time again, and his editor has spoken. Spider will cover the election, since his readers demand it. Not a threat, but advice for someone who wants to make money for himself and Spider.You might think that a comic book is for teenagers. Maybe even younger. Some might be. This is not one of them. Spider is a drug crazed maniac. But he's not the worst of the lot.The politicians are. Heller, with his "America for Americans" catchphrase, and a Hitler lookalike in the crowd - in case you missed the point with the Gothic lettering of his name and having his rallies compared to Nuremberg, it's driven home is a rather unsubtle manner.The Smiler is just plain deranged. It's not clear if politicians look like that before they've been prepared by their handlers, but the scary thing is I don't find it implausible.Vita is an interesting character, a nice addition to the cast of maniacs that populate this world. The story line flows well, and demands several re-readings to see all the details that the first reading misses.The artwork in this novel is simply at its best. Yelena is a character that Darick Robertson is meant to draw, and he does the things he does well, well here. No experimentation, no compromises.This is easily the best of the series, and makes "The New Scum" all the more disappointing as a follow-up.Absolute must read.

Ye gods, such an incredible combination...*Transmetropolitan* is quite obviously Ellis' platform for ranting frantically about what he feels is wrong with the world (real, imagined, and otherwise).For those of you who are Ellis fanatics, the story falls in the not-too-near future in the world that exists around the time that Lazarus Churchyard was busy being a terrorist."Year of the Bastard" is something of a homage to Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72."In other words, this is DEFINITELY NOT a comic book for your average child or teen. Ellis makes no pretense in writing for an adult audience.Mixed in with the off-color jokes and futuristic musings are meditations, of a sort, on what's wrong with the world - gerrymandering all the poor people into a single community with cheap housing, traitorous political tradeoffs that sell out all the principles that the platform supposedly stands on, and the futility of voting between two evils, to name a few. Can't happen? Try urban housing projects in 50's and 60's, Clinton's presidency, and the current presidential election (robotic liar who sold out to the Chinese and writes extremely bad environmental legislation vs. inexperienced governer with a bad pollution record and not a strong grasp on all the issues).Too bad we're not all as outspoken as Spider Jerusalem, the beloved outlaw journalist who needs to be in the City he hates and to be hated himself to write well.It's a great read, folks. I'd suggest you pick it up after watching a couple campaign adds and feeling your brain mush into gel from all the bull that you're being fed.I'm going to end this with something beautiful:A bald man with a spider tattooed on his forehead has just injected a stimulant into his tear duct. He is bleeding slightly from that eye and from the opposite nostril. His eyes are bugging out, he is sweating profusely, he has tobacco smoke exiting his orifices, and he has a death-head's grin playing on his features.Why is this beautiful (btw, I'm not condoning drug use)? Because this is the picture of a man who is about to do something vital, something terribly necessary, something that shows that he is a passionate and dedicated person. He is ALIVE.An image of Spider Jerusalem, ladies and gentlemen. Now buy the bloody book or I'll have to lob steaming moose entrails into the nearest crowded playground.