Customer Reviews

Desolation Jones

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Desolation Jones is an ex-spy from Britain living in a seedy underworld, located in Los Angelos, CA, which also home to other ex-spies. At the end of his career, Jones volunteered to be a guniea pig for an human-enhancement experiment called the Desolation program. This program has left him scarred and a shell of a man. Now, Jones does free-lance espionage in Los Angelos interacting with various allies/advisaries with a similar background as himself.

Due to the setting and the nature of espionage, there is some graphic action/situations that occur, mostly of a violent nature that is artfully and tastefully handled. I would say that this is not for children, but perhaps for those well-adjusted and mature-minded young adults (probably good for high school, maybe a little younger).

The fractured world that Jones views is very well interpretated by the vivid artwork of the book, some of the best I have seen. I've read my share of grahpic novels, and this graphic novel is very unique and exciting. I'm looking forward to reading more from this series. Highly recommended.

The creative risk that he takes are off the charts. The composition and layouts are awesome. He is an illustrator that is a natural master of graphic design. I was blown away by this book.

"Desolation Jones"
Written by Warren Ellis
Illustrated by J. H. Williams III
(DC Comics/Wildstorm, 2006)
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NOTE: mild spoilers below
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In this brutish, yet stylish, spy saga we meet Michael Jones, a British agent who has been put out to pasture in an intelligence-community prison comprised of the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Those in LA exile are given latitude to kill one another, as long as their violent encounters stay inside "the community." Haggard, gaunt, grey-skinned and utterly depressed, Jones is the lone survivor of a grisly medical experiment known as "the desolation test," the parameters of which are not fully disclosed in this volume, but which has left him psychologically fractured and nearly without emotion or fear, as well as possibly slightly super-powered -- qualities that give him a tremendous edge in his work as an clandestine assassin. This book is relentlessly downcast and graphically violent, yet quite well-written and beautifully illustrated. It will not make you feel good about life, but it is a damn fine graphic novel. Worth checking out, if you go for darker material. (Joe Sixpack, ReadThatAgain book reviews)

I sat down, opened up the trade and read it in one sitting. Not because I had nothing better to do, but I was caught: hook, line, and sinker by the second page. If you've read Ellis' Crooked Little Vein: A Novel (P.S.) and enjoyed it, then you'll love this tradeback (and vice-versa).

Michael Jones is an ex-British intelligence agent who rebels against "Intel just chewing people up for no reason than that it finds chewing people up interesting". He's an unlikely detective an in unlikely place. The city is Los Angeles, but not the way you know L.A. (unless you think like Ellis). Something was stolen from Colonel Nigh and he wants it back. With different conspiracies webbed together, it's going to take someone like Jones to get us through. Part of the fun is finding out the plethora of personalities from all the ex-agents. Because they just aren't retired veterans. They are exiled from the C.I.A., N.S.A., F.B.I., MI6 and forced to live within the L.A. boundaries, for reasons you have to read to find out. I don't want to put any spoilers, but just know there are a lot of fun things about this book if you like bloody, violent, detective stories filled with bizarre characters.

Williams artwork is wonderful and beautifully matched with Ellis writing. This is like the Kill Bill of comic books. Black & whites, markers, watercolours, different styles of artwork. His cross hatching is great. At times it felt like a manga, other times it was surreal. Just as enjoyable as his Promethea (Book 1) artwork. This is a good book to read a few times over a cup of tea.

Desolation Jones is one of those rare gems that comes along once in a great while. My only complaint is that there aren't more available in the series that I know of. The charachter development, plot, and art work work so well together. This is top notch reading. I highly recommend it. Five stars all the way.

Well written, good art work. What more can you ask for except additional volumes/stories.

Over all I enjoyed reading this book. The storry was a little predictable and a little slow, but the dialog was as always edgy. The art of the book definitelly stands out.

I'm a personal fan of Warren Ellis. This is an all in one tale about a jaded ex-MI6 special operative. He's also the only survivor of the DNA enhancing "Desolation Project".

Warren Ellis never seems to run out of crazy, intelligent, thought provoking, and occasionally disgusting ideas throughout his various works, whether it be in the forms of Transmetropolitan, his short but memorable run on Hellblazer, Planetary, Orbiter, Ocean, or even his surreal novel Crooked Little Vein. Desolation Jones is no different, featuring ex-spook Michael Jones whose damaged body appears to be slowly decaying (a result from what is referred to as "desolation tests") as he treks across Los Angeles. He gets a job in the form of searching for a stolen reel of pornography said to star and be made by Hitler, and soon enough, Jones discovers that there is even more going on behind the scenes. Compared to some of Ellis' other works, Desolation Jones isn't as enjoyable, but it does offer some great ideas and snappy dialogue to boot. While the Jones character himself may come off as a little too much like a joint-smoking John Constantine, the character manages to make the reader care enough to wonder just what made him what he is. Featuring solid artwork from J.H. Williams III and stark colors from Jose Villarrubia, Desolation Jones gets off to a pretty good start, and this could very well be the beginning of the next great thing to come from Warren Ellis.

Warren Ellis is king of the bizarre and disgusting. His independent stuff demonstrates that perfectly (cf. his first novel). This was a creative take on the espionage/detective genre. It does have adult content and adult situations. I DEFINITELY disagree another reviewer who thinks that this might be appropriate for middle school kids. Definitely NC-17. But worth a read.