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Just started getting into Transmet...

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02:42 / 21.01.03

An on-line friend recommended it to me. So I got "Back on the Streets". Liked it so much I returned to the comic book store the next day and got the other 6 volumes. Now the only problem is I gotta wait for the last 18 issues to go in trade paperback. Grrr... I always get into these things after the fact.

It's very good, I think. Reminds me of William Gibson's work in the futuristic mix of technology and the commonplace. I like Spider Jerusalem a lot. At first I was surprised by how much he looked like King Mob but he's way different. I'm not into Hunter S. Thompson but I know a lot of the series is based on his stuff, right?

I like all the scenes of Spider just walking around and soaking the city. Nice and slow-paced, reminds me of my own jaunts around the city, looking for magic to happen. Gives you a real feel for the city. Supporting characters very good also. I guess so far I liked 'The New Scum" the best. The Beast actually came across as a slightly sympathetic character (compared to The Smiler, who creeps me out). The Beast could have been a stereotyped fascist but he didn't come off that way. Likewise Spider is a flawed character, an anti-hero, which I enjoy. I loved the scene where he bought the girl's doll back, I wouldn't have expected him to do that. One of my other favorite scenes was when he re-arranged the children's snowmen. Very funny, that.

All in all, I'm impressed.

03:49 / 21.01.03

I bought the first trade ages ago, devoured it, and ran back to the shop for all the rest. I'm still anxiously awaiting the last collection, as well. And as has been discussed on the board previously, Transmet works a lot better when you find it "after the fact"... in the later issues, there's been a lot of full page, uhh, city, for lack of a better term. Meaning that there are big full pagers of absolutley no advancement whatsoever. Didn't bother me in the least; in fact, I didn't notice until said previous discussions indicated vitriolic hatred for a style of storytelling that seemed too sparse to maintain interest in a monthly. After the fact is the truth of the trade paperback. To be fair, the later volumes really are pretty sparse, in comparison to the balls-to-the-wall, info-packed pages of the earlier stuff. The pacing seems to slow while the stakes get higher.

(I hate to be the bearer of what some will no doubt find to be bad news, but: There's a Transmet movie in the works. At the behest of Patrick Stewart, no less. Good news, no?)

06:22 / 21.01.03

Well, no...

Here's what Warren sent subscribers to his Bad Signal e-mail list:

Okay, I got a bunch of emails about
this today, so let's deal with it now:

Patrick Stewart has apparently
said, in a dozen places, that he still
wants to make a TRANSMET film.

This does not mean one is in production,
nor that anyone's actively working
to develop it right now.

I think Patrick's brilliant. I think he'd
make an excellent Spider Jerusalem.
Providing Darick was amenable, and
I can't imagine he wouldn't be, we'd
go and make a film with Patrick and
Wendy Stewart in a second. But
right now, nothing's happening.

Patrick and I haven't spoken in a
while -- he did the last TREK film
and X-MEN 2 back-to-back -- and I
haven't caught up with Wendy in a
little while now. When we do talk,
we talk TRANSMET. There were
overtures made to Darick and I by
a director about a year ago, and I
kept Patrick and Wendy updated
whenever anything happened -- it
came to nothing, as you can tell.
Hollywood's built on talk. It's no
big deal. Before that, we all tried to
set up TRANSMET as a web animation
with rich media around it, as a stepping
stone to a movie, but the company
involved tried to screw us all, and
that was that.

What Patrick is saying is that he
still wants to make the film. He
knows I'm right there with him. We
see things the same way. Patrick
publicly attaching himself to the
project doesn't hurt. But right now,
nothing's happening. Okay?

I'm attaching a blanket permission for
news services to quote the above
in its entirety -- no excerpting.

-- W

So, it's an abstract possibility, and one I'd certainly like to see come to fruition, but it's not going to any time soon.

yawn - thing's buddy

07:18 / 21.01.03

I like the verse structure o' that post.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

09:35 / 21.01.03

The first three years are pretty good, the fourth is... interesting and the fifth is hurried and not very good. The real strength of Warren's writing is to make the city a live and vital character, I was interested about the legislated nostalgia factor of the place, it isn't the year dot, it's just x number of years since...

09:45 / 21.01.03

Get used to those scenes of Spider walking around the city being vaguely grumpy/ranty/drug-addled. That's it, really.

yawn - thing's buddy

09:47 / 21.01.03

Yeah, i liked the first, maybe twelve or so, issues and then got very bored. I thought Ellis did a great job of depicting the craziness of this urban future and the art really complimented the text. Spider is easily his most acomplished character, but as kinda hinted at above, Ellis best creation in comics has to be the citycape he depicted in this title. It was immersive and engaging and the comical nature of Spider's interaction with it worked really well.

I may have to re-read those first few issues now.

15:02 / 21.01.03

Most of what was said here I agree with, but I don't think that it goes down hill after the first twelve issues. Year of the Bastard was excellent, my favorite story arc in the book, and Gouge Away was nearly as good. I've been meaning to reread the entire series, since I own book 7, but haven't read it, though I finished the rest of the series in singles. The last year had some great cliffhanger momentum at times, but it seemed to be leading up to something bigger that just never happened. Still, it's a great series, and deserves to be read. Ellis was at his best when he was doing political stuff, or city characterization, and at the end, it became more of an action film, which hurt my overall opinion of it.

14:41 / 22.01.03

and at the end, it became more of an action film

I didn't mind that so much. The pace felt right for that part of the story (how to explain without hurting the enjoyment of those who have just got into it, ah I know) and the elements of the piece.

The main problem I had with those last few issues was the huge mistake in continuate within the title. Now I know Transmet suffered from the fact that they used up and spat out a ton of editors (Warren mentions the fact at the end of the series) but you would of thought someone as professional as Ellis would of had a stronger grip on what has gone on before, and more importantly when certain events took place. But he seemed to have a slight slip and included something into the final story that just could not of happened going on what had gone before.

Sorry to be so vague, but I don't want to ruin newer readers enjoyment by being predantic over this mistake.

miss wonderstarr

07:49 / 09.10.04

I bought the first volume of this recently and I am not at all inclined to buy any more. It felt like marginally above-average 2000AD.

09:57 / 09.10.04

Go out and get book 2 at least.

I think it has Ellis best story in there "Another Cold Morning."

Ellis jumped the shark after book 4.

Book 5 and 6 weren't that bad and still fairly interseting but very poor compared to the first four, and it's all downhill from there.

I cannot bear to look in the direction of the last year (never bought book 10, read the singles) again.

01:44 / 10.10.04

Does Spider Jerusalem do anything other than wander round the city being ranty, then? Have I missed the action bit?

miss wonderstarr

06:51 / 10.10.04

I seriously didn't see anything in book 1 that was innovative or endearing enough to persuade me to spend any more money on Transmet. The art is plain mediocre and Spider just came across as an idealised version of the author. The dialogue and voiceover seemed like that "Lobo" strand of comic-book tough -- "a city full of scumbags who'd rip off your head and take a leak down your fricken neck as soon as look at ya!" I quite liked the city design -- the signs and brands -- but I am not buying a book for that.

07:31 / 10.10.04

Book Two is more about the city and less about Spider. And his best story isn't even about Spider at all but an excellent sf story about being cryogenically frozen and waking up in that kind of future.

But you're right, a lot of Transmet is masturbatory.