Transmetropolitan Books

This book was as good as the first one I bought.He is a prophet of our American Civilization. Someday; we will be like the society in his books. The best adult comic book writers come from United Kingdom. Since The UK is our best international friend; They earned the right to be our best critics. Again; As usual Amazon delivered.

Even though subsequent volumes in Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's TRANSMETROPOLITAN series would surpass this very diverse collection of stories, it is still a first rate addition to the series. It is always outrageous, frequently funny, sometimes absurd, but always stimulating.

There two aspects of the series that make it especially interesting to me. First, no other comic series explores the meaning of the media in general and the Fourth Estate in particular. For all his cynicism and rebelliousness, anti-hero Spider Jerusalem is a journalist who believes that reporting should strive to make the world a better place . . . or at least not quite so bad. Sometimes Spider's posing and stunts get in the way of that, but Ellis does manage to get the story back around to that conceit from time to time. Second, the series goes further than any other I know in looking at the furthest extremes of what people will do to remake and reconstruct themselves. Many writers have pointed out that ours is already a Cyborg culture. How else can you characterize someone who has an artificial hip, a pacemaker, and lasik eye surgery? Other writers, like Ray Kurzweil and Hans Moravec, have fantasized about a utopian future in which the human brain is sliced up and downloaded into a database, where one's consciousness can enjoy a virtual immortality (though personally, I just think of this as a bizarre way to die). Many of these notions are taken up and explored in the Transmet series.

The two books that begin the series are good, but newcomers should keep in mind that it gets much better in subsequent volumes. So while I recommend this, I even more strongly recommend reading the volumes that follow.

This book too much focuses on "being punk" instead of focusing on story. There are great ideas but they are not really explored.

Lust for Life is probably the weakest collection of Transmet. It falls in between the initial story arc, and when Helix Comics, was shut down and the title was moved to Vertigo. It has some nice establishing moments, and sets up some characters that will play critical roles through out the series. But, it's that point in between where the story starts and where it finds its feet.
It's still a part of the larger whole though, and can't be skipped if you're trying to read the series beginning to end. And Transmet is still one of the best comic series out there, so, even at its weakest, it continues to be a very strong piece.
In the end, if you haven't read the first trade, this is a poor place to start. If you did and disliked it, Lust for Life does expand the characters, but, you probably won't find anything to change your mind. If you loved the first trade, or just found it mildly enjoyable, it's worth continuing, though, mostly for where the series does find its feet, in the third trade.

This is really something I could say is a Graphic Novel without smirking. I'm no veteran when it comes to comics, but I've lent it out to a few people I know that are, and they rave about it as well. It's very much like a Fear And Loathing influenced cyberpunk tale of journalism in a future that, for all its random technical advances, is still populated by people and therefore still plagued by the same kinds of problems we face today.

can't get enough Ellis. Smart, relevant, the way a sci-fi Hunter S Thompson homage ought to be.

Warren Ellis has created a fictional world that in many ways resembles ours. Warren has a lot of guts. He probably is on the hit list of the KKK, The American Nazi Party, The Religious Right Wing, and The Arm White Militia e.g. The Oklahoma Federal Building Bombers and all Jingoistic Americans that believe we are a Militaristic Empire. We are the new Conquistadors/Conquerer of the world. Amazon's books were in mint condition as usual. They are still the best online store on the internet.

Spider Jerusalem's old vices surface again. Namely, politics and drugs, and he indulges in a lot of both. He writes a lot about politics, and does a lot of drugs.

He is annoying the political powers now, and this is enough to get someone he likes killed.

The story is really getting interesting at this point. Spider's been well introduced in the previous two books, and now Ellis starts to introduce some real complexities.

Spider makes what seems to be a definite decision that he's going back into the mountains after it's all over.

He gets an assistant that appears to be a long term one.

His editor reveals that Spider needs to be hated to work.

And, he starts covering the election, which seems like it's going to be big in the upcoming books.

I love Spider's different facial expressions. And, the writing is excellent. I'm going to read all of Transmetropolitan.

Here in Volume Three, Spider Jerusalem finds his life once again driven further into madness by the demands of his Editor. Spider has been back into the city for a while, and except for a short but memorable run-in with The Beast, he's failed to address a seemingly unavoidable topic of the news (by choice of course): politics.

It's an election year, and his hated enemy, The Beast, on whose depravity Spider literally wrote the book (the same book which made his career, and drove him out of civilization entirely), is seeking reelection. The Opposition party is in town, and Spider is being dragged kicking and screaming into discussing their imminent convention. Unfortunately for Spider, the front-runner in that race is a neo-fascistic nutjob, and his adversary is a man who only seems to do one thing: smile dementedly.

Can Spider save the American Electorate? Can he pry himself away from the needles, pipes, and pills long enough to find The Truth?

Read Transmetropolitan Volume Three to find out.

Jerusalem has become a famous rich bastard type of journalist.

Spider thinks he finally has enough dirt on the President to go public, and he publishes with the help of some allies, and then does a disappearing act so that the President and hoods can't find him to take action, or force him to recant. This will also help with the worries about losing his edge from being a fatcat type.

Let us not forget the bowel disruptor gun, either.

Spider Jerusalem is Hunter Thompson channeled for a new generation. This series is such fun to read because even though it is set in the future it clearly comments on the state of our world today. Ellis is a new kind of Gonzo Journalist and Spider is his voice.

Ellis comments on everything from politics to love to war to constant [chemical] use and drinking. All of the Transmetropolitan books are like a visual reinterpretation of Hunter Thompson's work and bring its crash through the door of [weak], comfortable people who just thought Hunter was a character played by Johnny Depp. Anyone whoever read and enjoyed Thompson's work should shovel all of the Transmet novels into their heads immediately and love it!

This TPB is a little bit lighter than the extremely dark volumes that came before it -- Spider shakes off his depression and resumes the fight against the exploitative powers that be with new vigor. The absurd (rather than purely black) humor of the early volumes returns, particularly in the hilarious first issue of this volume, in which Spider's life is parodied in a variety of genres... Ellis' comic writing is at its peak here.

As always, however, the comedy and vulgarity are tempered by a genuinely disturbing dystopian vision of a modern Western democracy gone subtly totalitarian. Among the comics being written today, _Transmetropolitan_ is nearly unique in its skillful satirical handling of serious issues.

Thats the best way to describe this trade paperback. In this story arc, Spider grapples with the fact that his overexposure has made him a cartoon of sorts. He decides it's time to step up with war with The Smiler, a.k.a. President Gary Callahan. I cant reveal much more, except that it's a pivotal point in the overall Transmet story. If you read the series, you must pick this up. If you don't, START, then get this one. If you cant read learn. Yes I am ranting, but it's that damn good.

A few things hit in this issue. Another assassin, but a sneaky one. A massive storm hits the city, and at the same time, a serious case of the blue flu hits the police force.

Spider's illness is getting much worse, but here he gets a lot of help from the filthy assistants, as he tries to get everything done before he can't work anymore. Yelena herself is even growing to look more Spider-like.

They do have some friends, and aid comes from an unlikely source.

The latest TPB of this fantastic series features a pretty big plot point for our bowel-disrupting hero, Spider Jerusalem. This is definately NOT the book for an unsuspecting reader who is new to transmet to purchase. You'll want to start from the beginning.

That said, it's obvious from the stories in this volume that the series is coming to a final end. It has ended for all of you who bought the issues themselves, but for late-comers such as myself, you'd better start savoring the time you spend with Spider as much as possible.

The meat of this collection is the 4 part story featuring a huge storm, which thrusts Spider into a deep coma. We meet one of the Filthy Assistants father, and gear up for the last dozen or so issues of the series. Issues 43-48 are reprinted in lovely colour, a great cover, and the standard vertigo TPB fare. Transmet stops at issue 60, so you'd better pay catch up before the we hit bottom!

In getting into the Transmetropolitan series, I made a bit of a mistake: I bought volume zero, read through it, didn't really get what I was reading, and almost never bought volume one.

I'm glad I went ahead with the series, because it really is quite excellent. You will get almost nothing out of this book unless you've read the first few volumes of Transmet. but once I did I went back and re-read volume zero and really got a lot of enjoyment out of it.

The artwork is fantastic and is a really good addition for fans of Spider Jerusalem and the series.

The above reviewer obviously isn't familiar with the contents of 'Tales of Human Waste' and thus has no right to call himself a fan of the series.

This book, aka Transmetropolitan Book 0, is actually a compilation of two other 'trades': 'I Hate It Here' and 'Filth of the City.' Avid Transmet readers will recognize 'I Hate It Here' as the name of Spider Jerusalem's ficticious column and book. Both IHIH and FotC feature excerpts of Spider's columns with full-page art from various prominent artists, and both books do a lot to give new insight into the world of The City as well as Spider Jerusalem's personal history, including the origin of his tattoos.

With the same great writing from Warren Ellis that we've come to expect as well as a plethora of great art pieces, Tales of Human Waste is the icing on the cake, and shouldn't be missing from any fan's bookshelf.

There are a couple of standalone type issues in volume 5. However, the main thrust of the plot is still the election. Spider uncovers police brutality and other nastiness in the election campaign, and is still looking for a way to use what he knows to bring down Gary Callaghan, The Smiler.

The way he goes about some of this is very entertaining.

I highly recommend this new Transmetropolitan TPB. My favorite TPB so far has been the second (Lust for Life), because the first has that new-comic unevenness and the third and fourth had a little too much pointless vulgarity for my taste. But this fifth one really impressed me. Like the others, it's grim, bitter, and funny, and Spider says utterly disgusting and shocking things in that sardonic way that makes him fascinating. But the graphic novel also takes up the issue of the human condition again, makes you remember that the reason Spider is fascinating is that he's not -just- a rat bastard -- he actually cares about the state of the world, and is equally sensitized to both its beauty and its horror. Spider has learned, essentially, that the best way to pursue the truth and fight the Man is to be an evil ****. And that's why we like him.

Special bonus: an introduction by Patrick Stewart, who's apparently a big fan. I would have never guessed.

Great art, a well-envisioned dystopian future, and a loathsome antihero. Who could ask for anything more?

The first volume in Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson's TRANSMETROPOLITAN is more of a set up for what is to come than a self-contained graphic novel. There is a very brief story, but mainly it focuses on introducing us to the character Spider Jerusalem. We've met Spider before. He is pretty clearly patterned on Hunter S. Thompson, albeit one on steroids. There is even some physical resemblance between them as well as similar journalistic styles and affection for guns and cigarettes. Thompson had a larger than life public image that he carefully cultivated and it isn't surprising to see someone appropriating that image for a graphic series.

There really isn't much negative to say about this first entry in the series except to say that there isn't a lot to it. The whole thing runs to barely 70 pages. Not enough to tell a rich and complex story, but at least enough to set the scene and leave the reader ready for more.

I haven't read most of the books in this series but look forward to doing so. My hope is for a series that deals to some degree with the importance of journalism in a viable society. This is extremely topical, having seen America's journalistic community fail us for several years during the Bush years (Bush was as bad his first year in office than he was when his popularity finally began to plummet, but because the press -- especially the television and radio talking heads -- failed to criticize an obviously incompetent and dishonest president, we were as a nation duped enough to elect the moron twice [though, granted, "elected" might be up for debate]). When those in positions of power, usually some combination of a military-corporate economic elite (Eisenhower's military-industrial complex), control the flow of information, the people suffer. We'll see if this is the direction the books go. The first book, even with Spider's absurd posturing, takes a nice step in this direction.

Definitely interested in working my way through all of these books.

This is a must read for any Warren Ellis fans out there. I have been reading Warren Ellis's stuff for over 6 years and i can't tell you that Transmet is his best work, but its certainly up in his top three books. Be for warned Ellis doesn't hold back at all when he speaks out society and government. He has a dark twisted view of our possible future that is more than entertaining. He is a word smith and he certainly shows it in this series.

Spider Jerusalem is a reporter that has bailed out of The City and is literally living On The Mountain. He is now a hairy hillbilly Grizzly Adams type recluse, and a wild not.

Unfortunately for him, an old editor calls, and tells him he still owes him a couple of books of a book deal, and Spider is forced to go back to the City and start working again.

I just recently started reading graphic novels and I've been actively searching for some of the more critically acclaimed publications. I started with Preacher and Y: The Last Man. I found both extremely enjoyable -- fantastic art, intriguing stories, and always a healthy dose of humor.

I had high hopes for the same in Transmetropolitan, but ultimately didn't get it. I can see the intelligence in the writing and potential in the central character (Spider), but the perpetual nihilism and references to strange and abstract futuristic concepts left me bored. It reminded me of the popular cyberpunk style of writing, which I never enjoyed either. So in a nutshell this one just wasn't a fit for my personal taste -- I gave up after the second volume. Three stars for the creative effort and strong artwork.

Spider Jerusalem really does not like one of the candidates for president, and when he finds out how dirty he is and what he is doing to cover things up, he likes him even less. That doesn't stop him from becoming president, either.

Also, one filthy assistant finally admits to the other that yes, she did indeed shag Spider one night.

This is the most disappointing Transmetropolitan offering so far. Which doesn't mean that it's that bad, it's just not as good as the other novels in the series. Spider loses his edge. He goes around doing good deeds, and generally being pushed around by the people he hates the most. After the manic whirlwind of first three novels, it makes for disappointing reading.

The story focus in a peripheral manner on the election, but since Spider has been removed from the streets by fame, he's too far away to really get at the heart of it.

Lastly, the artwork seems to have taken a turn for the cartoony. It's a lot more '4 color' than previous efforts and just doesn't fit with the world of Spider Jerusalem as previously depicited.

The most interesting thread focuses on the relationship of Channon and Yelena. Which is, while interesting, not what I buy Transmetropolitan for.

Overall, if you liked the first three novels, this is still worth reading. If the first three novels were too offensive, you might find this one tolerable, but since so much of it is built on the first three, it's not that good a story in its own right.

Spider Jerusalem's got a problem: The Smiler survives.

After almost destroying his candidacy in Volume 3, Spider Jerusalem saw The Smiler perservere by riding a wave of sympathy from the brutal assassination of his political aide Vita Severn, a woman that the city adored, and Spider Jerusalem counted as a personal friend.

Seeing one of his admittedly many, hated enemies riding her corpse onward toward electoral victory drives him even further over the edge.

Spider Jerusalem finds himself chronicling the lives of the New Scum, as the Smiler calls them; the outcast, the downtrodden, ignored and thoroughly weird humans, and posthumans, that reside in The City. He's become their archivist, their voice, and against his will and better judgment, their hero. Now he has a bigger challenge: to become their champion. In this volume Spider deals with the strangeness of the people he's trying to save, the thoroughly deranged machinations of The Smiler, and the tiny moments of beauty and clarity that only he could find in the middle of the City as it slides toward self-annihilation in the Election.

Can Spider save The City from itself? Can anyone?

Find out in Transmetropolitan Volume Four.

Upon reading Warren Ellis's Transmetropolitan, one imeadiatly thinks of Hunter S Thomson set in the future. Spider Jeruselum, a drug-crazed, gun toting, jurnalistic lunitic, has a column in The Word titled, "I hate It Here", and he just pisses people off. A must read

Transmet has established itself as the greatest comic of all time by blending sci-fi, black humor, generally excellent storytelling, political commentary, and fabulous artwork. This is just another chapter in the fabulous sweeping saga that is Transmetropolitan. It really is a shame that not enough people are reading this stuff and dismiss it simply as another brain damaged comic book. Look just because the X-Men are god awful doesn't meen that comic's can't tell good stories. I really have been reading too much Warren Ellis (if that is possible.)

Spider is still working underground, for an independent web publisher, to get his work out there. The government would still censor him in a hot second, and he has pretty much pissed off everyone, including his filthy assistants.

That is not the only problem he has, while people would like to get rid of him, his own body may just do the job for them.

It seems like Ellis wanted to stretch out the story over by one book, because this one does very little to further the story. Don't get me wrong it was still what you would expect from Transmet, but it just wasn't as intense.

This most recent Transmetropolitan collection takes a distinctly darker turn as Spider and his 'filthy assistants' go underground and Spider's health begins to suffer. More than ever before, Ellis' social commentary on his dystopian City hits close to home. Previous collections have satirized the decadence and sloth of modern American life by exaggerating it in daringly hilarious ways, but _Spider's Thrash_ descends to address modern-day social problems more directly. Although the issue on child prostitution presents a still more corrupt and degraded world than the one we live in now, the issue on the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and their subsequent homelessness is not exaggerated at all. Ellis' demonic president, The Smiler, also seems creepily relevant to the post-9/11 attack on civil liberties, particularly when Spider quotes the newsfeeds as saying, 'The President is officially 'studying the constitution to protect the people from outmoded language and ideas therein.''

If it sounds like this collection gets a bit preachy, it does, and plot continuity suffers as a result. But those of us who have come to know and love Spider and his mad quest for the truth aren't likely to stop reading. As director Darren Aronofsky (_Pi,_ _Requiem for a Dream_) says in his introduction, 'Profanity + anger + revolution + cynicism + drugs + cigarettes + truth + justice - fair = Spider Jerusalem. . . . A true original.'

Your friendly neighborhood outlaw journalist is back. Warren Ellis combined the humor of Palahniuk, the prose of Hunter S. Thompson, and the anarchic sensibilities of British punk rock into the greatest comic book character of all time: Spider Jerusalem. The comic is consistently funny, satirical, and eye-opening. Ellis uses the medium for his trademark brand of cynical social criticism...and it shows more than ever in this collection. Spider gives the big F-YOU to the government, and corporate America in this trade. He branches out on his own, publishing his column illegally for no money. This time neither the president nor the paper can censor him. God help us all. I definately recomend this trade to any fans. You must read this, it's Ellis and Robertson at their best.

Some writers create terrific pieces of literature but cannot write an ending to save their lives (I'm looking at you Stephen King). This is most definitely not the case here. Warren Ellis finished a great series with a spectacular ending, one that isn't a lame cop-out to pave way for a sequel. Spider doesn't need a sequel when his story was told right the first time. This trade had me eagerly reading page after page to a surprising (and on a much deeper level, beautiful and heart-warming) ending.

The Transmetropolitan series all-in-all is astounding piece of work, one that everyone should pick up.

Spider and his crew of filthy assistants are still dodging attempts on their lives, but Spider finally has an ace to play. He has evidence of a Kent State style massacre, and finally the media will display some backbone, especially after The Smiler has declared martial law.

Spider gets to face down The Smiler just this one more time.

I don't know why, but Transmetropolitan never really GRABBED me and held on. I read the entire series based on an overwhelming amount of recommendations from friends, and now that I've finished it, I can't say I'm extremely impressed. Warren Ellis creates a character that is often amusing, but never very realistic or human. I stuck with it through all ten volumes hoping there would be some sort of change towards the epic, but it never materialized for me.

I am a big fan of many other long-form comic series, which is why this came so highly recommended to me. My favorite comic series is definitely Garth Ennis' nine-volume Preacher epic. Transmet and Preacher share a lot in surface commonality. They are both profane, they are both violent, they both explore the extreme boundaries of culture. The difference is that Preacher has heart, and I am left unconvinced that Transmetropolitan has anything besides an amusing main character and several phrases the author evidently thinks are extremely catchy ("filthy assistants" being the main example). The storylines never evolve beyond the episodic, and the authors attempts to force the transformation do not work well.

Definitely give Transmetropolitan a chance, as there is a lot here to love, but if you aren't immediately hooked by the thin first volume, don't expect yourself to like it more as the series progresses. It doesn't change, and that, I think is why for me it is imperfect.