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Transmetropolitan (Collected Editions) #7
Transmetropolitan, Vol. 7: Spider's Thrash
The hammer has come down on him but outlaw journalist Spider Jerusalem has managed to stay one step ahead of his detractors - I.e. the President of the United States and his authoritarian lackeys in publishing and law enforcement.
After losing his byline, bank account, and apartment, Jerusalem and his Filthy Assistants have legged it underground, the better to implement his plan. What plan, you say? Why, the plan to bring down the President of course!
After losing his byline, bank account, and apartment, Jerusalem and his Filthy Assistants have legged it underground, the better to implement his plan. What plan, you say? Why, the plan to bring down the President of course!
144 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,901 books5,752 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 160 reviews
January 9, 2015
Spider as underground journalist makes even more sense than his turn as toast of the town celebrity journalist. Best of all, he hasn't forgotten things other than his vendetta against Callahan. This, I think, is the really interesting thing about Spider: he's so furiously angry because he actually does care, hard as that can be to see sometimes. And the stories that show that side of him are some of the best in the series. Not much forward momentum, when I think about it, but I don't think there's meant to be. This is an establishing volume, with Spider in his new role and showing how it suits him. Which is quite well, for the record.
March 24, 2012
President Callahan's psychotic hounding of Spider Jerusalem continues with the murders of all witnesses who witnessed Callahan's misdemeanours while on the campaign trail. Except this time the murderers stop by to pay Spider a visit too. Spider also finds out there's something wrong with him, and it's not any of the things his filthy assistants would attest to. Confronting his mortality, he sets out anew, posting his "I Hate It Here" columns via rogue site "The Hole".
There's also a serious strip called "Business" where Warren Ellis writes about child prostitution and gets political about the social ills of the first world. This might be the most jarring moment in the book as it addresses societal problems within the real world, our world, and shows that the book is more than bowel disruptor jokes or a cynical look at politicians.
"Spider's Thrash" is another excellent volume in a series I'm beginning to think doesn't have a poor book in it, every one seems as brilliant as the last. The foreshadowing of Spider's health problems hints at a somewhat downer end to the finale of this series (though I'm re-reading this series so I know it's not all it seems) while the battling between Spider and the Smiler is as enthralling as ever. Anyone reading this is likely a convert already so recommending it is moot but anyone reading this with an interest in comics who hasn't read "Transmetropolitan"? Join the bandwagon, it's comics at its finest.
There's also a serious strip called "Business" where Warren Ellis writes about child prostitution and gets political about the social ills of the first world. This might be the most jarring moment in the book as it addresses societal problems within the real world, our world, and shows that the book is more than bowel disruptor jokes or a cynical look at politicians.
"Spider's Thrash" is another excellent volume in a series I'm beginning to think doesn't have a poor book in it, every one seems as brilliant as the last. The foreshadowing of Spider's health problems hints at a somewhat downer end to the finale of this series (though I'm re-reading this series so I know it's not all it seems) while the battling between Spider and the Smiler is as enthralling as ever. Anyone reading this is likely a convert already so recommending it is moot but anyone reading this with an interest in comics who hasn't read "Transmetropolitan"? Join the bandwagon, it's comics at its finest.
September 25, 2016
Don't get me wrong, Transmetropolitan reeks of truth and I am quite in awe that what Ellis "revealed" more than a decade ago still applies nowadays, well in fact, nothing has really ever changed. The city is ugly, the poor being oppressed and the governement doesn't care.
But from a narrative point of view, Transmetropolitan has dragged me for quite some time. Save for some action scenes, hasn't there been anything new, something that wasn't established in the previous volumes?
Spider and his filthy assistants are on the run, yeah we know that. He now works for the Hole, so why the meeting? Hasn't it been established before that Spider and The Smiler are battling each other. Most of the pages are narratives about the dank secrets of the city: scum here, crap that, crazy everywhere, I will kill Spider Jerusalem thing. Same old, same old stuff.
I hope that the eight volume will throttle up the story and not anymore meander, without focus and without a solid plot.
But from a narrative point of view, Transmetropolitan has dragged me for quite some time. Save for some action scenes, hasn't there been anything new, something that wasn't established in the previous volumes?
Spider and his filthy assistants are on the run, yeah we know that. He now works for the Hole, so why the meeting? Hasn't it been established before that Spider and The Smiler are battling each other. Most of the pages are narratives about the dank secrets of the city: scum here, crap that, crazy everywhere, I will kill Spider Jerusalem thing. Same old, same old stuff.
I hope that the eight volume will throttle up the story and not anymore meander, without focus and without a solid plot.
January 22, 2019
actual rating: 3.5
On the one hand this volume is ...well maybe not necessarily an 'enjoyable' read all the time because it deals with a lot of serious and depressing subject matter, but it does at least keep my attention fairly well. Unfortunately not a lot actually HAPPENS here and we seem to just be kind of aimlessly drifting around while Ellis repeats a bunch of shit we already know. This series has always been a pretty transparent power fantasy, but at this point it seems downright masturbatory. I'm sure the ending will be really great but it's taking way too long to get there and I'm starting to think this series is about twice as long as it really needed to be.
On the one hand this volume is ...well maybe not necessarily an 'enjoyable' read all the time because it deals with a lot of serious and depressing subject matter, but it does at least keep my attention fairly well. Unfortunately not a lot actually HAPPENS here and we seem to just be kind of aimlessly drifting around while Ellis repeats a bunch of shit we already know. This series has always been a pretty transparent power fantasy, but at this point it seems downright masturbatory. I'm sure the ending will be really great but it's taking way too long to get there and I'm starting to think this series is about twice as long as it really needed to be.
August 19, 2020
So glad to be reading these again! Freaking hilarious!
July 13, 2021
Given the poignant and plainly fucked-up stories in this folume, it's strange - even surreal - how hopeful I find this future setting.
It's full of all this crazy shit, true enough, and all the new and bizarre future tech and social norms that never would have flown in the present day. Yet for all of it, the people are still fundamentally people: the exact same ordinary stupid brilliant people as always. None of it, when you get right down to it, feels that much worse as in the present. Hell, even the environment seems to be doing all right.
It's not an Orwellian dystopia where everything is fucked and you can do nothing but die of misery. Nor is it a perfect utopia where the machines do all the work and you're bored out of your skull. To its people it's quite ordinary, even banal - but there are still things to do, ways to have a good time, even ways to make a difference, for better or for worse.
Truthfully, I believe the revivals should manage it all a bit better than they do, too. It's some really crazy shit at first, but at the core of it, at the people, it's the same.
It's full of all this crazy shit, true enough, and all the new and bizarre future tech and social norms that never would have flown in the present day. Yet for all of it, the people are still fundamentally people: the exact same ordinary stupid brilliant people as always. None of it, when you get right down to it, feels that much worse as in the present. Hell, even the environment seems to be doing all right.
It's not an Orwellian dystopia where everything is fucked and you can do nothing but die of misery. Nor is it a perfect utopia where the machines do all the work and you're bored out of your skull. To its people it's quite ordinary, even banal - but there are still things to do, ways to have a good time, even ways to make a difference, for better or for worse.
Truthfully, I believe the revivals should manage it all a bit better than they do, too. It's some really crazy shit at first, but at the core of it, at the people, it's the same.
August 24, 2024
Finally, a book that is thick with events tied to the main story, with Spider going on an indepth study of the insane population roaming the streets of the city, looking to track Sacht's recruitment of the assassin who killed his friend.
The tone of the story remains dark about the future of humanity, with societal welfare being cost analyzed, completely disregarding the humane element of taking care of the unfortunate as the duty of a civilized community, opting for throwing them out to the streets to fend forthemselves.
MiM
The tone of the story remains dark about the future of humanity, with societal welfare being cost analyzed, completely disregarding the humane element of taking care of the unfortunate as the duty of a civilized community, opting for throwing them out to the streets to fend forthemselves.
MiM
March 5, 2020
The enthralling battle between Spider Jerusalem and the psychotic smiling president goes on in amusing levels.
Deprived of all the best amenities and comforts, Spider Jerusalem and his filthy assistants are jobless. The classic antihero finds his own way to spread his truth through "The Hole", an indie news channel. Spider and his filthy assistants will gather information from witnesses of the streets.
This volume brings another level of humour. The social satire is once again remarkable, Warren style. Jerusalem recollects the most amusing stories told by mental people who are on the leash. These amusing little stories alone gave an extra spicy to the final outcome of this volume.
Spider's trash is, in a way or another, everyone's trash. That's why he manages to tingle the status quo.
Deprived of all the best amenities and comforts, Spider Jerusalem and his filthy assistants are jobless. The classic antihero finds his own way to spread his truth through "The Hole", an indie news channel. Spider and his filthy assistants will gather information from witnesses of the streets.
This volume brings another level of humour. The social satire is once again remarkable, Warren style. Jerusalem recollects the most amusing stories told by mental people who are on the leash. These amusing little stories alone gave an extra spicy to the final outcome of this volume.
Spider's trash is, in a way or another, everyone's trash. That's why he manages to tingle the status quo.
April 14, 2020
It gets more and more accurate the more I read, which is terrifying. Still crude, still great!
March 24, 2012
President Callahan's psychotic hounding of Spider Jerusalem continues with the murders of all witnesses who witnessed Callahan's misdemeanours while on the campaign trail. Except this time the murderers stop by to pay Spider a visit too. Spider also finds out there's something wrong with him, and it's not any of the things his filthy assistants would attest to. Confronting his mortality, he sets out anew, posting his "I Hate It Here" columns via rogue site "The Hole".
There's also a serious strip called "Business" where Warren Ellis writes about child prostitution and gets political about the social ills of the first world. This might be the most jarring moment in the book as it addresses societal problems within the real world, our world, and shows that the book is more than bowel disruptor jokes or a cynical look at politicians.
"Spider's Thrash" is another excellent volume in a series I'm beginning to think doesn't have a poor book in it, every one seems as brilliant as the last. The foreshadowing of Spider's health problems hints at a somewhat downer end to the finale of this series (though I'm re-reading this series so I know it's not all it seems) while the battling between Spider and the Smiler is as enthralling as ever. Anyone reading this is likely a convert already so recommending it is moot but anyone reading this with an interest in comics who hasn't read "Transmetropolitan"? Join the bandwagon, it's comics at its finest.
There's also a serious strip called "Business" where Warren Ellis writes about child prostitution and gets political about the social ills of the first world. This might be the most jarring moment in the book as it addresses societal problems within the real world, our world, and shows that the book is more than bowel disruptor jokes or a cynical look at politicians.
"Spider's Thrash" is another excellent volume in a series I'm beginning to think doesn't have a poor book in it, every one seems as brilliant as the last. The foreshadowing of Spider's health problems hints at a somewhat downer end to the finale of this series (though I'm re-reading this series so I know it's not all it seems) while the battling between Spider and the Smiler is as enthralling as ever. Anyone reading this is likely a convert already so recommending it is moot but anyone reading this with an interest in comics who hasn't read "Transmetropolitan"? Join the bandwagon, it's comics at its finest.
January 3, 2017
Séptimo tomo otra vez conteniendo un arco argumental de tres números centrados en la historia y los tres restantes unitarios que siguen plasmando el universo Transmetropolitan y sus personajes principales. En principio sigue la historia de Spider echado del periódico donde escribía sus columnas y su pase a la clandestinidad que no hace más que potenciar su verborragia y poder oral y escrito. Ya está declarada la guerra entre él y el entrante presidente y no mucho más. El primer unitario trata ni más ni menos sobre prostitución infantil. Historias de pequeños, que hacen, como llegaron a eso, como lo interpretan, como les repercute. Otra vez vuelve a ser un relato difícil de digerir, que lo anterior calificado así lo deja a la altura de lo más ligero y chabacano que pueda haber. Esto es tremendo y de una potencia inconmensurable, la denuncia social y el reflejo de lo que pasa o hacia donde se va es tan explicito que genera mucho odio a la sociedad responsable de tales atrocidades. El segundo son una historia por página de distintos locos o insanos mentales llamemosle y como el gobierno cada día se abre mas de gambas en su cuidado y contención y el tercero es otra caminata por las calles de la ciudad y sus brutales cambios y costumbres. Esta serie es tan genial que hasta los rellenos son de tal calidad que equiparan o superan la trama central.
November 9, 2014
"Something's not right. I can feel it in my left testicle." So speaketh rogue journalist and truth-terrorist Spider Jerusalem. Banished from the mainstream media for his lacerating attacks on the President, Spider goes full-on underground to take down the White House. This volume breaks down into three interconnected story arcs: Spider's investigation of child prostitution, the mishandling of the treatment of the mentally ill and the general hell that the City has fallen into. These all tie together as thinly disguised mockeries of the way that our own modern world, much less his near-future dystopia ignores the plight of the disenfranchised, dispossessed, and the needy. Spider is the poor schmuck's superhero but time begins to run out here for him as a mysterious illness takes hold of him.
Once again, superb, ironic bitchslaps in the face of current political absurdities. The art is supreme as always.
Once again, superb, ironic bitchslaps in the face of current political absurdities. The art is supreme as always.
May 27, 2016
This series is freakin' frustrating sometimes. It's been established like, two issues ago, that Spider would wage war to president Callahan and all there was to issue 7 is how Spider saying over and over again how he's going to take down president Callahan. It offered very little in terms of development and even less in terms of Spider's superpower: writing. There is a great opportunity lost in SPIDER'S TRASH as he discusses the lazy and corrupted mental health support system and yet doesn't even dig into it. Don't get me wrong. This is a great, well-written series, but it gets frustrating at times because it doesn't seem to understand what makes it great and wallows in its lead character's glow.
June 22, 2018
Spider's Thrash doesn't depart much from the established Transmet formula: gruesome violence, corrupt authorities, lengthy wanderings through decrepit streets, with Spider Jerusalem waxing poetic about the decline of the city and the simultaneous futility and necessity of human hope...
But the present volume also finds, for the very first time, Spider's mortality coming to the fore. I'm interested to see where Warren Ellis and company go with this.
But the present volume also finds, for the very first time, Spider's mortality coming to the fore. I'm interested to see where Warren Ellis and company go with this.
July 8, 2017
I've said it in previous reviews but this series just gets better and better. This book I think has more and more short story like chapters, but despite this you can see Warren Ellis building towards a climax that is gonna leave the reader spellbound.
March 15, 2020
Taking away Spider Jerusalem's print outlet just means he has nothing left to lose, and everything to gain. Here is where Ellis starts really going for the gut-punches, with the first few issues devoted to Jerusalem finding a new outlet, which is pretty par for the series. But he follows it up with a couple of absolutely brutal issues covering child prostitution, mental illness, and gentrification, and there are no punches pulled - even putting the events in a fictional city doesn't do much to diminish the nailing of the topics (especially the child prostitution one). It's not a pleasant read, but it is Ellis laying out Jerusalem's brand of journalism as a template for everyone to see (and learn from). There's not a huge amount of plot momentum in this volume, but character shines through like a floodlight.
October 16, 2020
Thus begins the final arc of this series and after a bit of a lull in the middle volumes we get to the point in the hero's journey where he has lost everything and must now rise up. I think my problem with the middle volumes is (because of the tone set in the first volumes) I wasn't sure where Ellis was going with the President Smiler story line - if it would be something he followed up on or not. Turns out the President vs Spider story line is what this series is ALL about.
And thus begins Spider's fight against the President that will consumer the last 4 volumes. I'm glad I didn't give up on this series because the best is yet to come.
And thus begins Spider's fight against the President that will consumer the last 4 volumes. I'm glad I didn't give up on this series because the best is yet to come.
October 29, 2019
Spider je oficiálně bez práce, bez peněz a pomalu se začíná ukazovat, že před svými asistentkami něco skrývá. Pořád ho to ale nezastavuje v tom, aby ukazoval, jak špatně na tom město je. A jak odporně aktuální ty problémy jsou i dnes.
Mohlo by se vám (ne)líbit viz první book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Mohlo by se vám (ne)líbit viz první book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
September 1, 2023
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - Hunter S. Thompson
I find that the best pieces of science fiction are often worried. As Charlie Brooker pointed out, science fiction is often a good way to illustrate the worrying trends that we've accumulated. This is becoming more and more apparent since the future seems to be becoming more of a reality as the years move along. I should also add that science fiction often works best when it's angry.
Transmetropolitan is a very angry, contentious book. It's a good comic to read when you're feeling angry about the world that we find ourselves living in and feeling like there's nothing, you can do. Transmetropolitan is Ellis at his most angry, and most politically opinionated and while I don't agree with everything Ellis has to say in here, I do find myself in enthusiastic agreement with his main thesis with this series: this system is broken, and it needs to change immediately.
Ellis isn't subtle in this series, and there's plenty of targets that he takes shots at with this series. Much of the humor in this is often uproarious and madcap, and the characters and situations that our main cynical bastard Spider Jerusalem finds himself in often proves to be a romp. But unlike his friend Garth Ennis, Ellis doesn't get lost in the crude humor of his series, it is merely a means to an end.
Unlike DeConnick or Andrews, who are content to blame the issues of society on an overarching evil bogeyman. Ellis is more interested in what creates a society that allows corruption to fester and infect the system that's supposed to be looking out for us. Much of his concern revolves around the complacency and disillusionment of average people, who are often led to believe that their votes and opinions don't matter, so why even try to engage. But Ellis seeks to beat the complacency and disillusionment out of his readers and get them to act to make true changes to our society.
We share Spider's frustration and hatred of the city, and his rage at the carelessness of the people around him. Spider isn't easily likable and in fact is a huge pain in the ass for anyone who is unfortunate to come across his path, for better or for worse. But the points that he makes are often right, and Ellis does just enough to make us sympathize with him, even as much of an ass he is to his 'filthy assistants' and everyone around him.
Much of the science fictional aspects of this series are often light, not focusing too much on how this stuff would work in the world but exploring how these technologies affect the people who live in the world. Like all great science fiction, it often questions how the future will affect the people who live in it and how it changes the world around us. I was reminded a lot of Philip K. Dick's work in how Ellis manages to combine the surreal and the mundane, where all these wacky sci-fi inventions are just another part of life, and Ellis never stoops to ogling over how cool everything is.
While being an entertaining, science fiction romp, it is also a great piece of journalism through fiction. Much like David Simon's The Wire, Transmetropolitan is a series that exposes the dark truths of the world we live in through a fictional lens, though unlike The Wire, it is much more of a madcap romp. Ellis isn't as committed to realism as Simon is, as Ellis takes more notes from Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo journalism. He sees that truth doesn't always have to be real to attain the intended effect.
Transmet has proven to be more poignant as we move into the post-Trump era of United States politics, particularly with his depiction of The Beast, who almost seems like a carbon copy of our previous president, though somehow, he's less sleazy. Transmet is one of those series that gives me fire as a journalist, I don't know if I want to be as confrontational or as bitter as Spider, but I would like to make a similar impact in my own work as a journalist.
But within its anger, I was surprised to find how compassionate and emotional this series proved to be. I often find that anger is a perversion of sadness, and Transmet is a prime example of that. Ellis' anger is masking the sadness that he has over the degradation of our society and the ideas of compassion and decency...and as this series has aged, I find that the message of Transmet to still ring true...and it shouldn't. The anger in Transmetropolitan often hides the vulnerability that is shown in its characters, and even reveals part of Ellis himself...even if he doesn't entirely mean to. For all the angry, puerile shit that Warren throws at us, there's an undeniable sense of humanity within Transmetropolitan, and that's what gives it charm after all.
At the end of the day, Ellis is a lot like Thompson. He surrounds himself with the ugliest parts of humanity to expose the ugly truth that surrounds us in our daily lives. Transmetropoltian is Warren Ellis off the leash, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
March 10, 2020
Spider is on the run, and free to say whatever he wants. He feels free but his frail human body is catching up with him. Great volume setting up the next sets.
November 20, 2020
i cannot say enough, just how much i am loving this series. dystopian, paranoid, contemporary. curious to see how it all turns out...
May 5, 2022
Phenomenal as always
January 9, 2022
“My city changes by the second, but the history of the place is never erased. Cities wear scars deep.”
I’ve lost the thread on this one; it might have been a good idea to revisit the first six volumes, but as anyone who has been to the City knows, it’s a tough place to be. Besides, you can always rely on Spider to delve out some harsh truths, even if you’ve forgotten the finer details of the plot. Plot is merely an excuse for Ellis to give us his searing insights on our dystopian hellscape, after all.
In this volume, he covers the unsavoury topics that we’d rather pretend don’t go on in our cities, from child prostitution to the way we dispose of our mentally ill and render them homeless. Failures of the system, that’s what this series loves to highlight best. If the purpose of journalism is to open our eyes, to shake us out of our sedation, to point out that we’ve allowed ourselves to become inured, no one better than Spider Jerusalem to do it.
In the last chapter, he talks about something that’s been on my mind lately. I’ve lived in different cities and my great-grandparents were not from here, but Bombay has always been home, and in the time that it has, I’ve seen it change drastically. It even got a new name. I watched it change gradually, and I watched it change overnight, and sometimes I went away for months only to come back and be shocked or find everything the same.
When I look outside my window now, I think how unrecognisable this city has become in the face of gentrification. How our constant need for change has toppled buildings, erecting new ones in their stead at lightning speed. I feel suffocated at times, hemmed in. And yet, when I step out, I feel that vitality and life force, the spirit that makes this city Bombay... I can sense its steady thrumming underneath all the buzzing traffic. If India is a palimpsest in Nehru’s words, no other Indian city quite exemplifies it like this one, where layers upon layers are built that never quite cover the ones below, all of them remaining connected by that life force infusing its people.
“Save your city in your memory, because tomorrow some of it will be knocked down and rebuilt to match its own new moment.
This place is constantly being remade. We ran out of new land a while ago.
So we reuse and reinvent and revamp and lose track of time because we’re so busy trying to inhabit this single second of now as fully as we can.
The past is in the way of the present. Kick it down, make way for right-the-fuck-now.
I used to hate that.
But, these days, I feel as chased by time as the rest of the City.
Like the rest of you: the past doesn’t matter, and the future isn’t promised to you. So there’s just the moment we’re in.”
My reviews of the Transmetropolitan series:
1. ‘Back on the Street’
2. ‘Lust for Life’
3. ‘Year of the Bastard’
4. ‘The New Scum’
5. ‘Lonely City’
6. ‘Gouge Away’
8. ‘Dirge’
9. ‘The Cure’
10. ‘One More Time’
July 24, 2019
Spider and his filthy assistants are still hiding from The Smiler, the police and their assassins. He has found a new news outlet willing to publish his pieces after being fired by The Word in the previous volume. Not one of the best volumes. It is satire, but what makes it remarkable is that this volume was published in 2010, the individual issues were published 10 years before that and the satire still feels fresh when applied to the current political situation.
May 1, 2018
This volume feels like someone is thrashing about looking for a hook to hang a story on, and I can't tell if that someone is the protagonist or the author. There are a lot of good pieces here, but it all feels a bit disjointed when read as a whole. There's also a sense of a lack of movement in the underlying plot.
For all that, there were parts of this story that were really good, and at least there are a few hints about where it will go next. The fact that this direction may turn out to be "downhill fast" is something that is hinted at as we come to realise that all is not well with Spider Jerusalem. Normally the possibility of dying before the story is done adds an element of haste, but here it is just one more fact to stir into the pot.
For all that, there were parts of this story that were really good, and at least there are a few hints about where it will go next. The fact that this direction may turn out to be "downhill fast" is something that is hinted at as we come to realise that all is not well with Spider Jerusalem. Normally the possibility of dying before the story is done adds an element of haste, but here it is just one more fact to stir into the pot.
June 27, 2008
This story gets more and more complicated, weirder and weirder, better and better.
This installment is especially full of cutting commentary about current fucked up aspects of contemporary society, thinly disguised as commentary on a distant future distopia.
This installment is especially full of cutting commentary about current fucked up aspects of contemporary society, thinly disguised as commentary on a distant future distopia.
August 1, 2007
Oh, the drama surfaces. I am beginning to feel this series should be required reading in sociology classes. Except I'm not sure I'd expose college students to this level of profanity and violence... oh who am I kidding.
Spider, Spider, how do I love thee. Don't be a martyr to the Smiler!
Spider, Spider, how do I love thee. Don't be a martyr to the Smiler!
January 23, 2010
For those who don't know this series it's basically Hunter S Thompson in the future. Spider Jerusalem is a ranting hack who will stop at nothing to get a story and bring down those he hates - which is everybody. Writer Warren Ellis is a literary god in my book...albeit a god with a sick mind.
November 30, 2014
This series just keeps getting better and better.
March 30, 2016
This series is getting better again :D And sadder :/. I think this series will be finished way to quick for my liking from now on.
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