Brian K. Vaughan has done it again.
It was easy to see early on that Vaughan was a good comics writer, but it was with Y: The Last Man that he really got the industry to sit up and take notice. Since then, he's done some solid work on a variety of super-hero titles, ranging from Batman to Ultimate X-Men. Now, the same inventiveness, vision and maturity that grabbed our attention in Y: The Last Man is back in Ex Machina. Once again, the writer explores how things would change if something dramatically different was introduced into the flow of life in the real world. Instead of wiping out a gender, though, he explores how a super-hero would be received, and how that hero wouldn't follow the path we've seen in comics for so long.
Mitchell Hundred is the mayor of New York City. He's unaffiliated with any political party, but he's got popularity on his side... popularity he gained by spending a short time as the world's first and only super-hero, the Machine. An accident involving what may have been alien technology granted him the power to communicate with and command techology, but he soon decided that he could do more good as an independent politician in the Big Apple, and it seems predicated on what he perceives as his greatest failure.
This is easily Tony Harris's strongest work since Starman. The more mature and less conventional tone of the story suits his realistic and often dark style nicely. While his own unique style shines through clearly, Harris's work here puts me in mind Kevin (Formerly Known as the Justice League) Maguire's work and that of J.H. (Promethea) Williams III. J.D. Mettler's vibrant colors add a great deal of depth and energy to the book. I love the eerie green glow that's associated with the main character's powers. One could argue that he greatest contribution is the intricate design for the Machine, but actually, it's the final splash page, which captures an urban beauty but an appropriately ghostly quality as well.
In some ways, this comic book reads like something written by Priest (Captain America & the Palcon). Vaughan uses an achronological approach and caption approach that's not unlike what Priest often uses in his work, and he does so to great effect. It helps to build the mystery and unusual plot in a manner that enhances the storytelling overall.
Vaughan is at his best when he explores the sociology of the impossible. He taps into a universal sense of shock, a piece of history everyone feels connected to, and explores how it could have been different. Fortunately, he does so in a fashion that doesn't diminish the importance of the real-world event. This is a fascinating comic book. It's a super-hero story with a new spin. It's a political thriller. It's a coming-of-age story, in a way. Vaughan offers a lot to his readers here. Do yourselves a favor and pick up a copy of this book early. I suspect it might have been underordered, and it could be as hard to come by as a copy of the first issue of Y: The Last Man.
