Transmetropolitan'o'ton #4

Cover

Spider Jerusalem, his filthy assistants, The Word and The City have reached the 4th installment of this epic series alive and (for the most part) well. In this volume The Beast and The Smiler join in for some presidential campaign fun. While its not the first time these characters show, it is the first time they are interviewed by Spider. That is a show on itself and reason enough to read this book.

Transmetropolitan Volume 4 The New Scum... Its the poor and the middle class. The voting citizen the one that can't be bothered to move his/hers ass to the voting booth and doodle a cross on a box. Its the uninformed and the uninterested. Its the blind and the unwilling to see. The new scum was written almost two decades ago, but could very well be written today. The new scum is me and you.



The presidential campaign is in its final stretch. Only 2 weeks until election day and both candidates are playing their last trumps. And Spider gets trapped in the midst of their political games. Warren Ellis, once again, turned something that is inherently boring and tedious into a gripping word battle between Spider and the presidential candidates. And as a result the reader not only gets some very interesting moments, but also some much deserved character development that, until this point, was missing.

Front-Biter 7-K

Of course we all knew The Beast or The Smiler from previous volumes, but just from Spider's point of view. In this volume that changes and both gain something new and very scary. At the end of this book the next president is elected, Spider gets a bunch of new enemies and life goes on as usual.

The party is on

But the election is not the only topic. In this book Spider goes soft. This misogynist arrogate bastard journalist shows that he also has a sensible side. Not only he helps out a lost little girl, he also has a very kind and thoughtful gesture towards a secondary character. On top of that he proves that he does have a heart, when the death of Vita finally takes a tool on Spider.

This is a great addition to the Transmetropolitan Universe. It expands on important characters, creates new threads for future stories and on top of that, it entertains the reader immensely.

Publisher: Vertigo
Year: 2009
Pages: 160
Authors: Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson
ISBN: 1401224903

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