Transmetropolitan'O'ton #3

Cover

Spider is back in this third volume of Transmetropolitan. Along with his new team of assistant and body guard he will take on one of the most important events of any Democratic country. The presidential elections.

WAIT! Don't close this review just because we're talking about elections. After all Spider is a political journalist. And you've loved him thus far haven't you?

This is when everything changes for Spider and his motley crew. Nothing will ever be the same (sorry about the cliche). Not for Spider, the Word or even The City.

How is it?

Spider has been dodging the bullet. He's been procrastinating for a while now (just like myself and the reviews for RGN) but there is no escaping the elections. A political journalist must cover the political event that might change the course of the country or risk loosing his readership.

Morning campaign ads

This might sound like a boring premise but somehow Warren Ellis turned it around into an exciting story. Its all about motivating Spider to go out and cover the elections, and in the process motivate the reader to be interested in a story about politics. Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, but at least you'll finally get a glimpse on why Spider exiled himself in the first place.

This volume is one of my favorite of the 10 volume Transmetropolitan run, being topped only by the first and the last one. Simply because its in this volume that you'll start to know Spider on a deeper level. His motivations,dreams and fears start to unveil. He'll even like another human being, genuinely like another human being, even go so far as to admire her.

One of my favorite, albeit not relevant to the big picture, aspect of this arc is when and how Spider comes to terms with his recently reacquired fame. Its what he hated the most about his pre-exile life and it came back with a vengeance, just to make him (even more) miserable.

Art wise Darick Robertson does a great job. In fact, from here on he does a terrific job keeping the art consistent and vibrant.

Verdict?

This is here it all truly starts. If you enjoyed the 1st and 2nd volumes you should really get this one. The overall story arc for the next 7 volumes starts here. If you want to read Transmetropolitan this volume is of vital importance to the understanding of the overall story line. A must read.


Publisher: Vertigo
Year: 2009
Pages: 144
Authors: Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson
ISBN: 1401223125

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