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TRANSMETROPOLITAN #49
"Here Comes the Sun"
Recommended (8/10)
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DC Comics/Vertigo imprint
Writer: Warren Ellis
Pencils: Darick Robertson
Inks: Rodney Ramos
Colors: Nathan Eyring
Letters: Clem Robins
Editor: Heidi MacDonald
Price: $2.50 US/$4.25 CAN |
Ellis has confessed a love for decompressed storytelling, and he seems to be showing it off in Transmetropolitan. Which is a nice way of saying that
the story seems to be moving a bit slowly. However, despite what I feel was a
bit of visual showing off and meandering this issue, there is some important
information imparted here, and the always humorous Spider Jerusalem wit is on
display as well. While it's not as strong as the shocking events that have been
following one after the other in recent issues, it's still a damn fine issue and
a nice start to the final year of the series, with one hell of an intriguing
cliffhanger.
It does seem with this issue that Ellis and
Robertson were kind of playing around a bit. The opening sequence was cute, but
pretty much unnecessary, and the same is true of some of the side bits this
issue like the Nazi sex midgets or the "running of the cars." Mind you,
unnecessary or not, they were all a lot of fun, with Robertson and Ramos turning
in their usual stunning display of work, but the end result was that the plot
seemed to inch forward rather than advance at a reasonable rate this issue.
When the plot was moving forward though, I
was definitely interested. Spider's monologue, delivered as he downs some fairly
disgusting lunch, starts to reveal exactly what Callahan is up to with his
manipulations of the City. Just like the revelations about the destruction of
Spider's evidence, it's fairly obvious in retrospect but wouldn't have jumped
out without the key bit of information about the City's voting patterns. And the
glimpses of the life that indicate the Smiler's effect on the city, with the
frightening thought police segment or the squalid depiction of the disaster
area, help to reinforce that obnoxious though he may be, Spider is on the side
of good.
The book is a visual delight from beginning
to end, though. Robertson's detailed and expansive layouts are always a treat,
and he has an eye for detail, whether it's the squirting octopus or the insignia
on T-shirts or tattoos. And the staging of the final four pages was fantastic,
the kind of sequence you can read over and over again and just marvel at.
As we roll into the last year of Transmetropolitan, it is pretty clear that we're in for
a showdown between Spider and Callahan. The stage has been set for a long time
on that one, and while it seems that Ellis is dragging the story out just a bit,
this relaxed pacing allows us to really take a look at the world around and to
enjoy the small moments as well as the plot elements.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
