Customer Reviews

Transmetropolitan Vol. 7: Spider's Thrash

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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.

I just finished reading Transmetropolitan Vol. 4: The New Scum and this is definitely better than that one. There's a lot more hope in this thing and Spider Jerusalem gets to do more than complain and whine. This might as well be called "How Spider Got His Groove Back" without the Jamaican muscle boys. The first story is abotu Spider getting involved in a free news service which preconfigures blogging but notes that Spider has plenty of money. There are assassinatin attempts but they fail.

The second part is a series of vignettes about the more desperate members of society including child prostitutes and crazy people. There's a degree of pointed parody but a lot of it just feels like Ellis is reaching for a type of transcendence amidst the sorrow. Good stuff. Not great, but definitely worth a read or two. And the art is excellent.

Warren Ellis, Transmetropolitan: Spider's Thrash (Vertigo, 2002)

Spider's expose on those who helped Smiler's presidential bid was a smash hit once it finally got published, of course, but it's having repercussions. His informants are finding themselves on the wrong ends of guns, and it looks like they're coming after Spider next. Needless to say, Spider wants to go on living, writing stories that reflect the nastiness of his culture (this volume's big story: child prostitution). There are, however, a few kinks in that plan... *** ½

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.