Ex Machina, Vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction [Paperback]

Brian K. Vaughan (Author), Tony Harris (Author), Tom Feister (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2006

EX MACHINA tells the story of civil engineer Mitchell Hundred, who becomes America's first living, breathing super-hero after a strange accident gives him amazing powers. Eventually Mitchell tires of risking his life merely to maintain the status quo and runs for mayor of New York City, winning by a landslide. This new collection features three unique storylines of the Eisner Award-winning series which Playboy calls "a two-fisted blend of super-hero action and political debate!"

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

After a mysterious accident gave Mitchell Hundred the power to control machines, he parlayed a brief stint as a superhero with the grandiose moniker the Great Machine into a successful run for the mayoralty of New York. In the third collection of the series chronicling his incumbency, Hundred is called for jury duty, and his strange abilities precipitate a hostage crisis in the deliberation room. Meanwhile, the police commissioner and the mayor's trusted aide, Bradbury, conduct separate searches for the vigilante superhero who's impersonating Hundred's now-retired Great Machine persona. Vaughan dishes out tantalizing glimpses of Hundred's superhero career and earlier adolescent obsession with superheroes and machines. Since Hundred's days in costume are in the past, and he calls on his paranormal abilities merely as the situation demands, Ex Machina barely qualifies as a superhero comic and likely appeals more to alt-comics fans than to the hardcore masks-and-capes crowd. Tony Harris' stylishly realistic artwork combines with Vaughan's canny characterizations, deft dialogue, and compelling plotlines to make for one of the best mainstream comics going. Gordon Flagg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: WildStorm (April 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401209882
• ISBN-13: 978-1401209889
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 6.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #530,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian K. Vaughan has previously written episodes of Swamp Thing and The Hood mini-series. His current work includes Runaways and Y: The Last Man.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Vaughan and Harris Continue to Impress, April 18, 2006

By 

Scott William Foley (Illinois) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Ex Machina, Vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction (Paperback)

Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris continue to impress with the third trade paperback of the Ex Machina series. In this installment, a new hero emerges in New York City calling itself the Automaton. This being claims to have been made by Mayor Hundred when he called himself The Great Machine. However, there is more at work here than there seems.

The second half of the volume deals with Mayor Mitchell Hundred heading west to visit his mother as she finds herself in a spot of trouble. This storyline is a bit more enjoyable for me as it gives us some insight into Mitchell's upbringing and his relationship with his mother.

While I greatly enjoyed Fact vs. Fiction, the stories did not compare to the first two volumes of this series. However, as I found those collections stellar in execution, perhaps that is only to be expected.

I will say this, while Vaughan's stories are just a bit under whelming compared to his usual outstanding work, the artwork of Tony Harris more than makes up for it. Harris is a master of his medium, and while he certainly knows how to draw superheroes, it is his attention to detail in clothing and facial expression on normal, everyday people that amazes me. You must remember, Ex Machina is more political drama than superhero adventure, and so therefore the artist must be especially talented to keep readers coming back for more. Harris fits the bill and then some.

So, while I don't think Fact vs. Fiction was as good as The First Hundred Days or Tag, I certainly think it is still better than much of what's on the market. I cannot recommend Vaughan and Harris' Ex Machina highly enough.

By the way, is it me, or does Mitchell's friend Ray look suspiciously like one mild mannered news reporter?

~Scott William Foley, author of Souls Triumphant

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There Is No Error In this Story of a Trial, May 25, 2006

By 

Andrew "Radaar" (Chicago, IL, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Ex Machina, Vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction (Paperback)

In Brian K. Vaughan's third trade paperback of his excellent sci-fi/political series, Ex Machina, Mayor Mitchel Hundred participates in something most Americans try to avoid like the plague: jury duty. Hundred is upset that, due to a technicality from when he was the Great Machine, someone that he put behind bars is going free. After receiving some advice from a friend of his (who is also an attorney), he decides that he must "help the system if he wants the system to help him", and when he is selected for jury duty, he decides to go through with it. Meanwhile, a new vigilante, calling itself Automaton, is roaming the streets helping people and claiming that it was built by the Great Machine. If that wasn't bad enough, a hostage situation occurs while Hundred is deliberating with the rest of the jury. In the second story-arc, Hundred visits his mother who reveals a huge truth from his past. When he asks her why she lied to him for so many years, she replies that everyone lies at some point for various reasons. Later, Hundred is lied to by some machines that he is communicating with, which rattles him with the revelation that his mother was right; EVERYTHING lies at some point.
As usual, Vaughan's writing continues to be superb and Tony Harris' art is great. The story arcs in Fact v. Fiction are entertaining, and some previously hinted-at plotlines are once again referenced, and we also see glimpses of other possible plotlines to come. Ex Machina seems to keep getting better as the issues go on.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars High Concept, Political Fun, July 25, 2010

By 

Paige Turner "Paige" (New York) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Ex Machina, Vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction (Paperback)

The Ex Machina series frustrates me because it is such a great high concept, with so much promise. The art is interesting, drawn in a realistic style that feels cinematic, almost like a movie storyboard. The art is very "literal" in this respect, without any of the impressionistic or surreal aspect of recent comics. The writing by Brian Vaughan is good when it comes to plot and character, but weak when it comes to dialogue. Somebody please tell him that old ladies do not talk with the same profane slang as 22 year-old men! The dialogue in all of his work is edgy, profane, and cool, but does nothing to distinguish the characters from each other. In "Y the last man" this sin was forgivable because there was no wide variety of characters anyway - but in Ex Machina it only serves to make the whole series feel like a seventeen-year-old male fantasy of what life would be like as a mayor of NYC with superpowers. Maybe this is the point, and I'm missing the joke. But Vaughan's attempts to address political and social issues make me think otherwise.

A decent book, with cool art, not the best out there.