Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

Ex Machina

Page: (1)2 3

D Terminator XXXIII

14:06 / 10.03.04

It is the story of a world without superheroes, and a young man that has something terrible happen to him a, and as a result is talked into becoming the worlds first. He sucks at it, and uses what little success he garnered, then whips that around into a run for the mayor of new your city ( which is his true ambition). He wins by a landslide!!! The book is about his exploits as the Mayor of New York. Super hero flash backs, WESTWING MEETS UNBREAKABLE. The best shit I have read.

-- Tony Harris link

Isn't it time to talk about this new series?

Besides Human Target, this is the only other one that I actually plan on buying when it premieres.

Looking mighty and tasty, indeed.

15:48 / 10.03.04

Hmm... what's your relationship to this series? Why don't you tell us a bit about it?

16:27 / 10.03.04

Human Target premiered months ago.

Not read much B.K. Vaughn.

20:58 / 10.03.04

Vaugn's ...last man is excellent, His Mystique wasn't.

Harris is a great artist, but I'm wondering how much longer this post-super hero™ thing can be played out in comics

04:00 / 11.03.04

Will definitely give it a look but Vaughan isn't really too gifted for me to give everything he's done a read so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I haven't read any of his Marvel stuff and don't really plan to.

D Terminator XXXIII

10:26 / 11.03.04

Hmm... what's your relationship to this series?

None too close, I'd say. But Starman - when Harris was on board - was one of the few saving graces from the nineties. The - by then - unusual narrative that Robinson and Harris eventually mastered, is one that I could see repeated or bettered here.

I'd have to say that Vaughn is a writer that has gone over my head, so I couldn't tell what to expect, but the main draw for now is a new monthly by Harris. But he doesn't seem to be a fool when it comes to writers, so I have high hope.

D Terminator XXXIII

10:28 / 11.03.04

Human Target premiered months ago.

Ah yes, the clumsy sentence could have been better. What I meant to say was, I have just recently discovered the goodness that is Human Target - I got the first two issues last week - and besides it, there is nothing else that entices me.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

14:21 / 21.06.04

This book was fucking astounding.

Completely out of nowhere. I mean, I love BKV on Runaways and, um, something else he did that I can't remember, his Ultimate X-Men isn't bad.

But holy crapnuts is this book good, and DON'T LET ANYONE SPOIL THE LAST FUCKING PAGE FOR YOU, DUDE.

Seriously, where did this book come from? It's one of the best first issues I've ever read.

15:16 / 21.06.04

****** SPPOOOOIIILLERRSSS!!!! ***

.......................

(especially because Charlesworth just said it)

----- *********** spoilers ahead ***

EX MACHINA was really great - fun and intelligent. I had no interest in this book when it was announced, I thought the concept and title and even the design of the main character (in his 'super-hero' outfit) were stupid. I liked seeing Tony Harris' art back on a regular basis and I like Brian K. Vaughn well enough, but this (and the preview) just left me cold.

But the two 10/10 reviews at The Fourth Rail, plus glowing reviews from other sources, made me buy it. And I'm really glad I did. This is just really well done. As you said, nailed it. Plus, the 9/11 stuff at the end made me think of my reaction when the first tower collapsed -- I suddenly imagined a world where there was only 1 Twin Tower left. I pictured the skyline of NY with just the one Trade Center and tried to accept it. It was like my weird way of trying to process and accept what had just happened. And then the second tower fell, and of course there went my "we will have only one tower for a long time" scenario.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

15:55 / 21.06.04

SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS!!!!

DON'T YOU DARE FUCKING READ THIS, PEOPLE!!!!!

Absolutely. I was actually on the phone with a friend that morning as we watched the news and we were both wondering what it was going to be like with only one tower and then, almost on cue, the second one dropped. It was like the whole series, and especially the ending, is a crystalization and extension of that truly bizarre couple of minutes.

Also, its like West Wing in an awfully great way.

21:41 / 21.06.04

I thought Hundred was kind of a prick for a newly elected mayor. It felt like his dialogue was written by Mark Millar. But hey, the debut was great.

14:04 / 22.06.04

Interesting that you say that -- I was wondering how much we're supposed to like or dislike Hundred. Where is he a prick, other than threatening the life of the Albany dude who threatens him with blackmail? It's kinda cool that as readers, we're not sure whether to like him or not...

15:39 / 22.06.04

Yeah... The artwork was rockin'

I also enjoyed the Pacing, a convention developed wonderfully in Y the last man.

The charactor is likeable enough and causes one to wonder if this will be a sort of examination of the effects of Politics upon a normally likebale person.

15:43 / 22.06.04

So, like the first issue of Human Target, the end of the first issue alludes to 9/11 - any other parallels?

Matthew Fluxington

22:02 / 27.06.04

But holy crapnuts is this book good, and DON'T LET ANYONE SPOIL THE LAST FUCKING PAGE FOR YOU, DUDE.

Ha, my tendency is to always open books backwards, so it was the first thing that I saw. I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise, really.

It was alright. The premise is good, but I'm not very convinced by the characters. The art is quite good, but the writing isn't quite there. It's too bad comics don't have writing teams like in tv, becuase that would probably help this a bit.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

22:06 / 27.06.04

Funny, I think it's BKV's most realized work to date, although admittedly, I'm just now getting into Y: The Last Man. I went into it already being a huge fan of his dialogue, so he had me there, but what impressed me the most, as many are pointing out, was the dramatic structure. Just invigorating stuff.

19:14 / 23.07.04

I don't agree with Flux at all, I love the writing in this book. Issue 2 is out and it's rockin' like the first!!! Discuss!!

21:49 / 23.07.04

While I strongly disagree that writing teams such as those employed in the creation of many TV shows employ produce better stories, I’ve got to admit that I also felt that the writing on issue one of this 'wasn't quite there'. All the breaks in the narrative where on character or other pauses to let us know another snippet of New York trivia were particularly jarring. It almost felt like Brian K Vaughan is trying to reassure us that he has done some research using real books and everything.

This is a shame because I get the impression that there is a good comic in this struggling to get out. I’ve picked up issue 2 but unless this series starts improving I can’t see myself sticking around for long.

Haus of Mystery

17:45 / 24.07.04

I'm really enjoying it - it's got a freshness to it that I can't quite pin-point, and I really don't know where it's going. Interesting twisting of the splash page also - in this issue the portrait of Uncle Abe genuinely made me double-take. I assumed the series would quickly detour into standard superheroics, but it seems to be forging it's own path, fleshing out the idea of a super-powered Preseident without descending into Blockbuster action. Some of the dialogue WAS a little preachy this issue, but all in all I consider it a real success, and relish it's continuation. Of course it'll probably be cancelled before the story concludes (apparently it's a three year series, depicting three years in office).

Matthew Fluxington

18:32 / 24.07.04

The second issue was significantly more enjoyable than the first, but I'm still not fully convinced by any of the characters. Overall, the comic feels like a mediocre tv show, and selfconciously so. I don't understand why anyone would work so hard to achieve mediocrity. As I said in another thread, being totally average in television is acceptable for a passive, free media, but comics really have to/ought to raise the bar to be successful as pop entertainment.

Tony Harris is generally a pretty good artist, though his figures can be excessively stiff. Is he drawing from photos? There's one image of an older woman talking to Mayor Hundred, and it's so rigid that it looks as though he traced a bad photo.

I'd give Ex Machina points for effort, but really, the major problem here is that they are trying way way way too hard. I wonder if this comic will eventually find its groove and give us some real, fleshed-out characters and less self-concious plot points, or if it forever doomed to coming off as a desperate attempt to marry Law & Order, The West Wing, and Superman.

Haus of Mystery

21:02 / 24.07.04

I'd rather a comic try too hard than peddle out the same old bullshit to be honest. I for one think that Vaughn has managed to introduce significant players in a concise, effective way, and managed to make them sympathetic. Hundred has already been shown to be a man whose judgement is off sometimes, but who is trying to work within the system to activate change. This attempt to marry politics and powers comes off more successfully than when Millar tried the same in the Authority. I like the fact that Hundred's power is limited, so there's only so much he can do.

23:09 / 24.07.04

This attempt to marry politics and powers comes off more successfully than when Millar tried the same in the Authority.

I don't think that is much of an achievement. Millar pulled all sorts of interesting triggers, particularly at the start of his run but roundly failed to follow through – In no way should his run on The Authority be held up as an example of politically engaged superhero comics done well.

Ex-Machina is simply the latest in a succession of titles, mostly from Wildstorm, that also attempt to produce superheroes with some level of relevance to current affairs. I for one am very interested in the idea of such comics, but have been less than impressed by much of the results.

18:04 / 13.08.04

Scott Dunbier just said at Chicago that Tony Harris is committed to draw BKV's entire EX MACHINA run, which should be about 50 issues, documenting Mitchell Hundred's four years as Mayor of NYC. Good news.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

18:13 / 13.08.04

Four years?

Saints be fucking praised. This is going to be one sweet ass, All The King's Men, Bonfire Of The Vanities, type novel five years from now when it's all done.

09:03 / 16.08.04

Dr. Kenneth Noiseworthy Birdie - out of interest, have you read Cerebus- High Society?

13:51 / 19.08.04

#3 is out, this book continues to be good stuff.

Matthew Fluxington

14:47 / 19.08.04

I'm not sure if I can muster any enthusiasm for the third issue. I kinda want to see where this is going, but eh, $3 seems like a lot of pocket change to me right now.

Haus of Mystery

18:29 / 19.08.04

Still really enjoying this title, especially the dialogue which IMHO manages to avoid trieness and the 'kewl' factor currently dogging so many titles at the moment. Like the slow pace, and the with holding of info - we now understand 'The Great Machine' has/had an arch-enemy, and that Hundred's use of his powers is more than initially suggested. Also enjoyed the fact that equal time was given to the racial powderkeg that is the Lincoln art piece, and the re-appearance of Kremlin. All in all another intriguing, fresh read. I hope this title isn't being as neglected as I fear it may be - I wanna know how it ends dammnit.

19:03 / 19.08.04

Did anyone else get what seemed to be very obvious clues (red herrings or not)in #3 as to the identity and motive of the murderer/terrorist guy?

Kremlin, the Russian who helped Hundred become the Great Machine, is wearing the exact same outfit the killer is when he breaks into the mayor's house. And with his dialogue, it would seem to be Vaughn is trying to intimate that it wouldn't be unfathomable that he'd do whatever he felt he had to in order to bring the Great Machine out of retirement - like starting a series of mysterious, violent crimes.

Either Vaughn's throwing clever misdirection or he's making it terribly obvious from the outset. I'm not familiar enough with his writing to form an opinion on that. Although I suppose that arc could resolve itself within a few issues.

13:27 / 20.08.04

Innnteresting, LDones...yeah, we'll see where Vaughn is going with this. Kremlin does seem a little too eager to bring back The Great Machine, and ominously so.

I thought Hundred couldn't use his powers while in office? The same police commissioner who wants him never to even think of himself as a super-hero is ok with him using his powers as a virtual speakerphone, and she teases him about his 'tights' and calls him 'super-hero' as a friendly joke? She seemed pretty pissed off about anything relating to superheroes in last issue's scene, which took place very much in the present, just a day or so before this 'speakerphone' scene. This made me scratch my head and go 'huhhh...?'

17:55 / 24.09.04

#4 hit the shelves this week. More good stuff from Vaughn & Harris -- and can Kremlin really be the mad bomber?? Big-time misdirection going on here -- Kremlin is disappointed they think he could do such a thing...?

18:23 / 24.09.04

great great stuff... Kremlin aside I'm starting to wonder how the city was able to "guarantee" a fair election and Hundred didn't just have the voting machines all vote for him.

presuming of course they used electronic voting machines rather than paper ballots. Could make for an interesting story point come november...

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:01 / 27.09.04

Kremlin probably isn't the bomber, but Hundred probably doesn't know that Kremlin's bugging him and that might be enough to get the old loon tossed into jail anyway...

Has anyone else noticed the amount of sexual tension in this comic? Vaughan's squeaky-clean male protagonists are all so repressed, not to mention oedipal. Okay, so in the first issue we have Bradbury's comments about the journalist, later on we have the whole "can you be discrete?" innuendo - and throughout all this, Hundred isn't getting any, despite the fact that he's clearly the most eligible bachelor in New York. Oh, but he has been remembering what his mother looks like naked. Much like Yorick, dude needs therapy, and he needs to get laid - I suspect he's only going to get the latter, and scandal will follow...

Haus of Mystery

17:20 / 28.09.04

Agree that Kremlin prolly isn't the guilty party. Seems too obvious (not to mention politically dubious).

17:37 / 28.09.04

It seems like Kremlin will be really pissed and disappointed that his friends think him capable of such a thing -- but of course, he is bugging them and listening in on countless private conversations, so nyah nyah Kremlin!!!

Page: (1)2 3