Warren Ellis's new series features a lot of elements fans of his work will recognize from previous endeavors. There's a retired spy. There's heavy drug use and alcohol consumption. There's sex. There's blood. There's disdain for authority and conspiracies are exposed. There are posthuman characters who live mad, debaucherous lives. So what is Desolation Jones all about? It's a private-eye series. This is Magnum P.I. and The Rockford Files after an acid-tripping cyberneticist got his hands on them. This debut issue doesn't have the shock-and-awe, in-your-face intensity that made people sit up and take notice of the first chapter of Ellis's Transmetropolian, but that's because this new project embraces an almost melancholy tone. Whereas Transmet was about finding truth, Desolation Jones is about fulfilling function, even if the function is pointless and ugly.
Desolation Jones is the only survivor of a British intelligence experiment known as the Desolation Test. He's on his own now, living in the only place on the planet he's permitted to: Los Angeles. Its warm temperatures and plentiful sunlight are a poor fit for Jones, but the Powers That Be, desperate to hide their dirty little secrets, have made it so he, as well as all of the other ex-spies/guinea pigs, can live their extreme and violent lives without fear of repercussions. Desolation Jones takes on private investigations now, but he limits himself only to those cases involving former spooks such as himself.
The best thing this series has going for it is the involvement of J.H. Williams III. The Promethea artist is probably one of the most innovative and experimental comics artists working for the larger, mainstream publishers today. The hazy, dream-like quality he brings to the first page is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his unconventional art. His panel layouts throughout the issue are a little different than usual. He makes the most of double-page spreads. He captures the used, downtrodden and depressed nature of the title character perfectly.
One could argue that this work is a bit derivative, at least in the context of Ellis's career. We've seen stuff similar to this from him in the past, albeit perhaps not in the private-eye genre. One could also argue that notions such as Hitler porn and a quarterly carnivore are meant to shock the reader, that the writer resorts to extremist ideas for entertainment. But those arguments should deter one from this material. Yes, Ellis has written similar characters in the past, but this sort of over-the-top yet clever storytelling is far from the rule of thumb in the world of comics. And there's nothing wrong with a little over-the-top, shocking entertainment.
Desolation Jones hates L.A. He hates what he's become. He hates just about every aspect of his existence. So why does he offer his services to those living in the dark corners of the city? The title character seems resigned yet ambivalent to his lot in life. We don't see the sort of frenzied zealotry from him as we saw in Spider Jerusalem. Whereas Transmet was about the triumph of the truth-teller, Desolation Jones is about the casualities of the secrets the world keeps from us. 8/10
