Transmetropolitan Vol. 5: Lonely City [Paperback]

Warren Ellis (Author), Darick Robertson (Author), Rodney Ramos (Author), Patrick Stewart (Introduction)

Book Description

Series: Transmetropolitan | Publication Date: July 1, 2001

Nobody ever accused Warren Ellis of lacking imagination. The latest collection of the Spider Jerusalem saga, Transmetropolitan: Lonely City, is packed with laser-guided satire and neo-adolescent wish fulfillment in the form of a bowel disruptor. Sliding his story of government manipulation and counter-manipulation between moments of reflection and observation makes Ellis's downbeat ending a bit less nihilistic than it could have been. Despite the gulf separating us from Jerusalem's City, it's not hard to draw parallels between his milieu of police-run riots and state-maintained misery and our own less colorful environment. Lonely City drags the man who's more "anti" than "hero" out into the world he professes to hate and forces him to do something about it, while never descending into the boring comic-book morality he fights daily. --Rob Lightner

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Nobody ever accused Warren Ellis of lacking imagination. The latest collection of the Spider Jerusalem saga, Transmetropolitan: Lonely City, is packed with laser-guided satire and neo-adolescent wish fulfillment in the form of a bowel disruptor. Sliding his story of government manipulation and counter-manipulation between moments of reflection and observation makes Ellis's downbeat ending a bit less nihilistic than it could have been. Despite the gulf separating us from Jerusalem's City, it's not hard to draw parallels between his milieu of police-run riots and state-maintained misery and our own less colorful environment. Lonely City drags the man who's more "anti" than "hero" out into the world he professes to hate and forces him to do something about it, while never descending into the boring comic-book morality he fights daily. --Rob Lightner

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Vertigo (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563897229
• ISBN-13: 978-1563897221
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.4 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #922,934 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bitter, vulgar, in-your-face, yet meaningful, July 4, 2001

By 

Christine Hoff Kraemer (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Transmetropolitan Vol. 5: Lonely City (Paperback)

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.

5.0 out of 5 stars All hail Spider!, August 1, 2011

By 

Scottybrowneyes (Renton, WA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Transmetropolitan Vol. 5: Lonely City (Paperback)

I'm in love with this series! I'm not sure how this works, but this series has both reaffirmed, and destroyed my faith in humanity, all while giving me a good number of laughs in each volume. As with Preacher, I would love to see a movie made from this, but would be terrified that something aweful would happen, like the X-men movies, or Daredevil, or the first Hulk movie that had Eric Banna attempting to act as Bruce Banner. Not sure who would act as Spider either (Johnny Depp? Credit where it's due, the man acted very well as Hunter S Thompson in Fear and loathing in Las Vegas)...for some reason, when I read this comic I keep imagining his voice having an english accent. Maybe that's because I read what Patrick Stuart had to say about the comic. Always kind of intrigued me that I could never quite figure Spider out. While reading, I would try to imagine what would happen next, something I've become fairly good at as I continue to fill my head with as much fiction as possible, but with Spider, I never guess right. The bastard really is insane, and never does what's expected of him. Entertainment at its best! I forcefully recommend this series to anyone and everyone I meet. Heaven help them if they show any resistance to it. I know no mercy. Kidding aside, in my review of Preacher, I made mention of my advice, that anyone considering buying a book online should first read a little bit of what they're thinking about buying before doing so. This series is the exception to that rule. I think every household in the US should have at least one copy of this series. Buy it!

4.0 out of 5 stars Transmetropolitan is back, and thank heaven for that., March 30, 2009

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Transmetropolitan Vol. 5: Lonely City (Paperback)

Warren Ellis, Transmetropolitan: Lonely City (Vertigo, 2001)

Lonely City starts out with much the same problem The New Scum had, in that Ellis has sacrificed a good deal of the series' humor in order to amp up the social commentary. That said, he makes up for it in spades in the latter half of the book, which gets us back into the plot, and the convulsive humor germane to the series. I'm back to my slavish adoration of Transmetropolitan with the second half of Lonely City, with Spider and his assistants actually doing something as opposed to Ellis hand-feeding us Spider-written columns. *** ½