Brilliant. Absolutely, mindblowingly brilliant. ( )

One of the things I adore about this series is the pacing. What seemed to be stand-alone stories end up tying into the plots of later issues, there's a brief interlude and then a three part story that sets your heart racing. [a:Warren Ellis|12772|Warren Ellis|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1316469074p2/12772.jpg] strings his readers along the way that one imagines Spider Jerusalem's columns must - it's a rare gift, and a striking one.

The pace continues to pick up, but not so much that the ending is always a cliff-hanger. Characters don't suddenly change, the arcs are subtle, noticeable in the artwork as much as in the writing. Transmetropolitan is a magnum opus, a genius series that captivates as much as it amuses, that shocks as much as it saddens, and overall, that strikes the heart with the furor and desire for truth that drives Spider Jerusalem along.

This is a wild ride, and I am glad to be on it. ( )

I bet some of you were wondering if I had just given up on “Transmetropolitan”. Well guess what? NOPE!! I just took a break from it because, as much as I love it and have really enjoyed re-reading it, it’s both a bit manic and a bit too real for me at the moment, a theme I’ve noted a few times during my re-read. So I just needed some space from Spider, his Filthy Assistants Channon and Yelena, and the ugly world that they live in.

But I have achieved that space and I decided that I was ready to tackle it again. When we left off, Spider had just found out that his story and voice had been squashed thanks to White House interference, and a story about police brutality got swept under the rug. When we join him, Channon, and Yelena again, we see that Spider is still without a voice, and has become something of a joke to the world thanks to propaganda run thanks to The Smiler and the Administration. But is that the kind of thing that’s going to keep a good journalist down? Hell no. So Spider starts to figure out how to get his voice heard again, and starts to hop from source to source and scumbag to scumbag to try and get another strike at The Smiler and the White House. If the last collection left us with despair and fear, “Gouge Away” comes back with a whole lot of hope and tenacity that acts as a catharsis to the nonsense going down in the world today. I liked that we went back and revisited a number of characters that we’ve seen previously, and that they managed to come together and make a pretty satisfying counterstrike that Spider could use in the fight for truth and journalism. I had mentioned that a couple of the previous issues felt like “The Empire Strikes Back”, and this one kind of feels like “Return of the Jedi” at the end. It could have been final. It could have been the end of the series altogether. I don’t know how I feel about how final it felt, knowing that it’s going to go on. But, that said, there are still stories to tell, and maybe there isn’t room for ambiguity in Spider’s world.

But along with the main storyline that we got, I felt that the best part of this collection was the story that was devoted to Channon and Yelena, Spider’s assistants. I think that it could be tempting to give Spider two lady assistants, one of whom he is sleeping with and the other of whom is a walking sex pot, and to just leave them as unexplored characters. But Ellis gives Channon and Yelena their own thing to do that isn’t only about Spider (even if they realize, to their dismay, they ran away from him for a spree but are now talking mostly about him). I love that the two of them have a friendship that exists outside of Spider, and that they play off of each other while acting as each others’ confidants. And really, a girls night with them that involves running away in a taxi, a shopping spree, a gun range, and then stopping a government agent from following them via force, now THAT is the kind of thing I like to see in comic books when it comes to the ladies.

It’s also welcome and/or upsetting to see The Smiler back on the pages of this story, in his full sociopathic glory. We are given reminders throughout this collection of what he has done in the past, not only to his enemies, but also to his supposed allies. We are reminded of Vita, who was a spin doctor for The Smiler, and was murdered by his campaign just to give him higher approval ratings in the wake of tragedy. Her folk saint status has almost completely exploded with a full on permanent shrine in her memory, and honestly, seeing it made me smile, albeit sadly. Vita is still one of the few people in this series who Spider had a complete reverence for, and it’s very satisfying seeing him slowly but surely take revenge on the man and the campaign who murdered her for votes.

I know that with four more issues there are still parts to be played and conflicts to happen, even if I don’t remember all of them. But it was really nice seeing Spider finally declare all out war against The Smiler, via journalism, integrity, and being a psychotic pain in the ass. Ya can’t help but cheer for him. I am thinking that I may not wait four months to pick up the next collection of “Transmetropolitan”, because I missed it so much. ( )

They may try to defang Spider by turning him into a cartoon, a porn star, a movie hero, but he gets back to basic journalism Spider-style! And launches a BOMB of a story!!

He's burning all bridges ... taking no prisoners!!

All wrong-doers afraid of the Truth, take THAT! BWHAHAHA!

Love it!! ( )

Ahhh yes, another excellent entry from Mr. Ellis. I was, I admit, a bit concerned at first that I'd become desensitized to the maniac glory that is this series... but he proved me wrong soon enough. Indeed, the character development continues to excel, the story continues to engage, and above all I still believe in the truth. If you aren't reading this series (even if you aren't a fan of graphic novels/comix) you might be a worse human being for it. So sez Spider.

More at RB: http://wp.me/pGVzJ-J4 ( )