2012 Comics of the Year

2012 was easily my best year of comics reading yet.  Not only did I read a ton of great comics, but I honed my tastes further and branched out in new directions. The result being that I was rewarded with some amazing gems.  Scarily, my comics reading pile continues to grow; I think I have enough comics to last me the next couple years...

As always, I read my fair share of both floppy single issues and collected editions, or as they're more commonly known: graphic novels.  My 2012 Comics of the Year list covers just the former, the single issue stuff, and there was so much good stuff it was pretty hard to choose just the top five.

TOP 5 COMICS OF 2012:

#5. Prophet: Prophet has been one of my favorite monthly titles this year and a big reason is the sheer variety of talent that Brandon Graham has brought together for this title.  Ever since issue one (or technically issue 21), there's been a smorgasbord of talented artists associated with this comic.  Though the main players have primarily been Graham, Simon Roy, and Giannis Milonogiannis, there have been plenty of other awesome folks getting credits for this title. The result is that I've had the wonderful pleasure of being exposed to some amazing talent along the way.  Farel Dalrymple stands out as an artist who has worked on this book and impressed me greatly with his talent.

On top of all the great artistic talent associated with this comic, the story has been incredibly entertaining and intriguing.  Any week where there's an issue of Prophet is a special week.  Graham and company have created an absolutely fascinating universe to set their story in, and I love the feeling of discovery and exploration that comes with each issue.

The icing on the cake for Prophet is that each issue comes with a back-up short comic, and all of these have been fantastic. The back-up Shock Post by Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean stands out as one of the best comics I read all year.  Awesome, awesome stuff.

#4. Fatale: The combo of Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is one of my favorite comic creating duos.  When these guys are together they create fantastic comics.  They did a couple of super powered spy stories in Sleeper and Incognito, then some straight up crime with their Criminal stories.  Their latest work is Fatale  a sort of crime-Lovecraftian mash up.  

I'll admit I wasn't totally enamored with this comic from the get go. I liked what I was reading, but I wasn't totally feeling it. I had enough faith and past experience with Brubaker and Phillips to keep plugging away and sure enough, everything congealed in the fifth issue.  We're two story arcs in now, the second of which was fantastic, and Fatale was an easy pick for this top five list.  

There's an awesome blend of horror and crime going on in this comic, a mix we don't see too often, and I think fans of both genres will find plenty to like here.  

#3. Godzilla The Half Century War: Despite the fact that I love monsters, I can't say that I've ever really been a Godzilla fan.  Well, that all changed earlier this year when James Stokoe started working on Godzilla The Half Century War.  

This is one amazing comic.  

It's amazing for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is that this is almost completely Stokoe's vision.  He does the writing, art, and lettering.  The only thing he doesn't completely himself is the coloring, and he gets "coloring assists" from someone, so he still has a hand in that aspect of the book as well.  That's an amazing amount of work to put into a comic, but the pay-off is great as there is no loss of vision along the way.  

This is one absolutely gorgeous comic too.  Stokoe is definitely one of my favorite artists, and his work here is some of his best.  His stuff is always hyper-detailed, and that skill is put to amazing use here as you really get a feel for the destruction and mayhem Godzilla can cause when he wrecks shop.  Add in some fucking phenomenal monster fights and Godzilla The Half Century War is probably the best treat for your eyes on the shelves. Oh, the story is pretty flippin' great too! A must read for any comics fan.

#2. Multiple Warheads: 2012 was the year of Brandon Graham in the comics world.  His King City stuff got recollected and republished, His amazing re-imagining of a Rob Liefeld comic, Prophet came out, and to top it all off, he started releasing his Multiple Warheads mini-series.  That's a pretty impressive output, but even more impressive is the incredibly high quality of it all...most impressive of all though is that fact that Multiple Warheads makes this list with a mere three issues worth of material on the shelves.    

Multiple Warheads, is completely a Brandon Graham entity as he handles all the comic creating duties: writing, art, colors and lettering.  To put it simply, Graham is a comic creating powerhouse of unique vision and artistic talent.  His comics simply aren't like anyone else's.  In fact, it almost seems like a deliberate effort is being made by Graham to not be like anyone else.  

And I love it.  

His stories meander, follow interesting paths until they are no longer interesting, then find another path to follow until something else comes up.  Along the way the reader is treated to some really beautiful art, and a boat-load of puns and jokes.  The misogynist parlor joke being my favorite so far.  Multiple Warheads is a shining example of how much fun comics can be, and I love and am grateful for every panel of every page.

 #1. Saga: It's not often that my most anticipated title becomes my most favorite, but that's exactly what happened here.  Saga stepped onto the scene back in March, and it has been absolutely top of the line ever since.  Frankly, I'm a bit surprised that a space opera about star-crossed lovers on the run could impress me so much, but it did. I love this story and I love these characters...with the exception of The Stalk, she scares the shit out of me!

What's impressive is that I can't point to either the writing or the art as the primary culprit of quality.  Both aspects are so wonderfully connected and work so well together that they seem to flow into one another. Granted, both the writing and the art are top of the line, and Fiona Staples has got to be the best discovery of the year for me, but it is impossible to talk about one without the other working the way into the conversation.  Simply said, Saga is a great example of how comics should work, how the art and the writing should be a combined effort.  

Month in and month out this has consistently been the best written and best looking comic on the shelves, and honestly, despite so many other really great comics, an easy pick for the number one spot.  

Most Honorable Mention: 

Sweet Tooth: Despite all the nice things I said about the comics above, Sweet Tooth is still my favorite monthly comic.  It hasn't had a dip in quality either, I simply didn't put it in the top five because I've covered it so extensively here at Battle Hymns.  I will be really fucking sad when the last issue comes out in January.  

The Sixth Gun: Another flat out fantastic comic which only gets better as the issues go by.  The fantasy-western combo has found it's home here.

Best Single Issue of 2012:

Stumptown Vol 2. #4: Holy fuck, this is an amazing comic!  This beauty gets top billing for one big reason: the best flippin' car chase scene in a comic ever. 

First, a little side story: Seattle has a bunch of drawbridges, which are really cute looking but it sucks to be stuck at one in your car while the wings raise up to let some rich prick in his yacht motor through on his way to a day of sailing. I've always thought about how cool it would be if someone just said "fuck it" and used the raising wings as a ramp to jump to the other side rather than waiting. 

It turns out Greg Rucka and Matthew Southworth have had the exact same thoughts, because that very scene, among many others that were amazing, plays out in this comic.

Ahh, wish fulfillment, even vicarious wish fulfillment, can be a wonderful thing

This issue would not have been such a success without the talents of Matthew Southworth. He not only made me feel like I was watching cars scream by me at break-neck speeds, but he also played around with the format of the comic so that when the cars turned, you had to physically turn the comic in order to continue on with the story.  This was a really cool concept, and brought me closer to the action. 

I don't think I've ever had such an overwhelming sense of fun and excitement while reading a comic.  A singularly great issue and an easy pick for best single issue of the year.

So there you go, my best comics of the year. Image almost completely swept the category.  What stuff did you folks read that you thought were deserving of mention?  

Comic Quickies: A Hot Batch of Tasty Comics

Reset #1 of 4: This new title has two good things going for it; one it is written by Peter Bagge, of Buddy Does Seattle fame, and it has a premise similar to that of my #2 book of the year last year, Replay.  With two gold stars sitting proudly on its star chart, it should come as no surprise that I've been looking forward to Reset for quite some time.

So what exactly is the premise? Well, the comic stars a guy named Guy Krause, who's a has-been actor and stand-up comedian.  Krause is at a court-ordered safe driving course, thanks to a road-rage conviction, when he meets Angie Minor, a consultant for a tech firm that has developed a machine that lets you relive your own life.  Angie wants to hire Guy to be the guinea pig and test out this new technology.  Since life seems to have Guy backed up against the ropes, he agrees to this strange proposal.

The first issue lays down a lot of ground work, and explains the machine but still manages to pack in some great story as well.  Guy's first foray into his past begins at his high school graduation where a pretty girl who'd never spoken to him all through high school finally talks to him, and when she does she calls him a "Spaz".  It's pretty funny to see how such a stupid little incident has had a lasting impact on Guy and watching him relive that moment is pretty hilarious.

As far as first issues go, this was a pretty good one and I'm definitely looking forward to more.

Prophet #24: Holy shit, it is hard to believe, but this comic just keeps getting better.    First I was treated to three issues of incredible Simon Roy art, and though I am sad to see him go, I was also happy to see that the art for this issue and the next will be handled by the amazing Farel Dalrymple.  This entire issue is like one great big treat for the eyes.  I think I read the whole issue with my jaw dropped.

So yeah, Dalrymple delivers some very beautiful art here, and as per usual, Brandon Graham delivers another slice of awesome story.  This issue kicks off a new story arc, and I gotta say, it looks to be another gem.  I'd put this comic in my top three favorite comics right now.

Even though this comic is already great enough, I think it gets a few extra cool points for not only featuring some kick-ass art talent, but also some absolutely wonderful back-up stories.  This month's Shock Post  by Matt Sheean and Malachi Ward is my favorite one yet.

The Sixth Gun #21: This was a pretty cool issue of The Sixth Gun as it was a completely silent issue.  The reason behind the silent issue is that (Slight Spoiler...) Becky has temporarily lost her hearing due to a large explosion, so we get a text-less issue.

When I was reading this I tried to decide if it would be easier or harder to pull off a silent issue, and I decided it would be much harder.  The scripting has be a lot tighter, and there's a lot of pressure on the artist to carry the story and make it understandable.

Well, easier, harder, whatever, Bunn and Hurtt pulled it off, and delivered a sweet action-packed issue.  Lots of shit gets blowed up, lots of bullets fly and lots of folks get filled with lead.  There's also an appearance by a (seemingly) massive tentacled beast towards the end, so I'm excited to see what that's all about next month.  This is one of the best comics on the shelf month in and month out.

Saga #2: Saga, one of the hottest debuts of the year is back for it's second issue.  The first issue was sublime, so my expectations were pretty high going into this second issue.

Vaughan and Staples did not disappoint.

There's a lot of character development, and world building going on in this issue, and Vaughan does a great job of blending all that in with the story.  I'm already beginning to like, dislike and be weirded out by a bunch of the characters in a way that reminds me of my first ever A Game of Thrones read.  The various story lines are all quite fascinating so far, and I am very eager for more.

This issue also had a very creepy and haunting scene with a bounty hunter named The Stalk that will surely be giving me nightmares until the next issue comes around.  Great stuff!

Comic Quickies: New Sagas and Projects

Saga #1: Well, I've been eagerly waiting for this comic since it was announced way back in July at San Diego Comic Con.  Seems like ages ago.  Well, I'm happy to say that Saga appears to have been very much worth the wait.  As far as first issues go, this one is about as good as they come.  Vaughan does a fantastic job of introducing the characters, setting up the story, all while building and developing the universe in which the story takes place...oh, and it's an exciting action packed first issue too.

In the opening pages of Saga we get a rather intimate view of young woman, Alana who is giving birth to her first child in a mechanic's shop, while her husband, Marko lends a hand.  Both Marko and Alana are human-like aliens, and as it turns out, of different races; Races which happen to be at war with one another...a war that is spanning the galaxy.

Alana is from a planet called Landfall, the largest in the galaxy, while Marko is from Wreath, the one and only satellite moon of Landfall.  Apparently, familiarity breeds contempt.  Since destruction of one would send the other spinning out of orbit, each side has outsourced the war to other planets, and now the entire galaxy finds itself embroiled in the conflict.

Aside from Marko and Alana, it looks like there's a few other players that will be big parts of the overall story.  The art here is pretty great too.  It's all handled nicely by Fiona Staples who seems to be just the right fit for this epic galaxy spanning story.  She's called upon to draw a wide variety of people, creatures and settings here, and it all looks wonderful.  I'm excited to see more from Staples.


Saga scores points on many fronts, not the least of which is the cost/value front.  You get 44 pages of comic here for $2.99!  Probably the most bang for your buck.  Also, Vaughan and  Staples earn lots of cool points from me for depicting a brown woman breast feeding on the cover of their first issue.  That might sound like a silly thing, but by and large the comics world is a sexist and racist place, and I was happy to see a comic that makes a clear statement that it will not continue to perpetuate a shitty trend.  I'm very excited to see where this one leads.

Manhattan Projects #1: This one ain't gonna win any awards for cool cover art, but it's what's inside that counts right?  Manhattan Projects is another comic from Jonathan Hickman and Nick Pitarra, the creative team that brought us The Red Wing.  I wasn't super impressed with The Red Wing, especially on the art front as I felt that Pitarra was pretty inconsistent through the course of the 4 issue series. But the writing wasn't so hot either.  So really, I didn't have a ton of momentum coming into this title, aside from the fact that Hickman's ideas always sound so damn cool and I usually want to read and see if he delivers.

The concept here is sort of a what if situation where Hickman asks, what if the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb, was instead the Manhattan Projects a place for all kinds of weird and wild science experiments and creations to flourish?  *Sigh* I'm such a sucker for mad science.

This first issue focuses on Robert Oppenheimer's first day on the job as he is hired by some dude from the war department that appears to be a cross between Sargent Slaughter and The Great Santini.  A tour of the facilities follows and Hickman mixes in Oppenheimer's and his twin brother's back-story, while the Japanese send a troop of robots through a portal and attack the science facilities.

It makes for an interesting and exciting first issue, but I'm still a bit skeptical.  Pitarra's art still suffers from inconsistency, there's some stuff that looks good, some not so good, and some that looks down-right poor.  (Like the time the guy from the War Deparment's head looks like an unshelled peanut with eyes, ears, nose and mouth.) Consider me firmly on the fence.

Peter Panzerfaust #2: I've been eagerly awaiting this issue too, because I was so pleasantly surprised by the opening issue.  The second issue didn't let me down either.

Peter, and his plucky band of orphan boys manage to waylay some Nazis, steal their guns, knock 'em senseless, steal some intelligence, and plan a rescue mission for some captured Brits.  Not bad for a bunch of teens with no military training.

Wiebe delivers a thrilling and action packed issue once again and continues his red-hot streak of great comic writing.  Jenkins' art is a great accompaniment too.  He evokes the war-torn, occupied France look and feel very well.

My only gripe is that aside from Peter, I have a hard time keeping the other boys straight.  I think I know for sure who Felix is (cold hearted bastard in a short sleeved shirt and sweater-vest) but the other dudes are a blur of names and similar looking faces and outfits. There is one with a white dude 'fro, but I can't parcel out his name yet...I suppose I could just refresh my memory by going back to the first issue, but I'm lazy.  I'm fucked if these kids change clothes.

My laziness aside, this is a fun and entertaining comic that appears to be building towards cool things.  Bring on some more!

Blue Estate #10: One of my favorite comics reaches double digits this month and to commemorate, Viktor Kalvachev and co. deliver what is quite possibly the most hilarious issue of Blue Estate yet.  I was happily entertained by the real estate deal turned creepy/weird sex scene starring the Beckhams Peckhams which had a cameo appearance from none other than the Hoff.

They also mix in some funny stoners, get a racehorse high, and deliver some funny sexual repartee between starlet Rachel Maddox and my favorite character, Tony Luciano.  On top of all that, they also build the plot up to a nice boiling point that will likely erupt next issue.

With this tenth issue, it really seems like the creative minds behind Blue Estate have hit stride and are feeling very comfortable with the story.  This comic has a pretty complex plot with lots of ins and outs, but it has been masterfully delivered and the ride is a lot of fun.  I know I've said this before, but I highly recommend Blue Estate.

Review: Ex Machina v9 Ring Out the Old...AND Ex Machina v10 Term Limits

One of the most difficult challenges for any writer of a serialized story is ending the damn thing, and ending it well.

I've been slowly plugging away at the Ex Machina series since last December and though I've enjoyed the series, it has had some ups and downs.  That being said, the events of the 7th and 8th trades gave me high hopes that the ending to the series would be one that did justice to the overall story of Mitchell Hundred, that man who can talk to machines.

Sadly, the ending did not come anywhere near my expectations.  Instead of an ending that tied up main plot lines, brought in those hinted at elements that were seemingly critical to the main plot, and wrapped things up nice and clean, the ending was disjointed, sported some jarring plot gaps, and left me confused, and very dissatisfied.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the lack-luster ending was that the book shifted from what had been mostly a political drama with bits of super-hero stuff mixed in, to being almost completely about Hundred's powers and his masked adventures...to the point that he was not handling political crises, but crises that a costumed hero would face in a typical capes and tights story.

My first reaction to the ending was "Huh?" followed by a reread of the bits that left me confused.  I thought for sure I had missed something crucial that would make the end satisfying, but there was none to be found.

During my next stop at the comic shop, I discussed the end of Ex Machina with the owner, and some well-read customers and they all confirmed that I hadn't missed anything, the ending was just weak, and that they'd had similar disappointed reactions with the ending.

It wasn't just the writing that left more to be desired though.  For the first time all series, I was underwhelmed by Tony Harris' art.  His usual quality stood firm in Ring Out the Old but his art in the finale, Term Limits, appeared to be "mailed in" at times.  What was most annoying though, was that one page would look like an amateur version of Tony Harris had handled the art, then the very next page would look like classic Tony Harris.  The inconsistency of the art was frustrating to say the least, but also disappointing.  Believe me, once you've seen what Harris is capable of, anything less than the best is just not enough.

What makes the weak ending to Ex Machina so sad and disappointing is that I know what the creative team of Vaughan and Harris are capable of, and these last two trades just weren't it.  Overall, this is still a pretty solid series, but the ending doesn't do justice to what at times was an amazing comic.

In the end I would say yes, I recommend this series, especially if you are a super-hero comic reader looking to get into the non-mainstream stuff.  Ex Machina would serve as a pretty solid go-between.  In many ways, Ex Machina has done the same for me, but in reverse, as I'll be subscribing to some super-hero comics for the first time this September with the new DC relaunch.  And yes, I would still recommend it to most any other comic reader as well, because there is a lot to love about the entire series, but I recommend it with the caveat that you'll likely be disappointed with the ending.  I know I was.

On to better (hopefully!) things...

Grade Ring Out the Old: C

          Term Limits: D-

Overall Series Grade: C+

Battle Hymns' 2011 SDCC Highlights

So, the San Diego Comic Con was this past weekend.  SDCC is the Big Daddy of comic conventions, and it is when all the comic makers like to make big announcements about big things that are coming up.

I tried to follow the highlights of the con as best I could, and I've rounded up what I consider to be the coolest, most interesting news coming out of the con.  So here are my SDCC highlights:

2011 Eisners:  The Eisner Awards are like the Oscars of comics, minus the pampered, dysfunctional insecure actors and actresses.  So, way cooler than the Oscars.  You can see the complete list here, but I'll go through a few highlights:

Best Continuing Series  went to Chew, which I think is well deserved.  The comic won Best New Series last year, so this is a move in the right direction for the comic.  Joe Hill pulled in an Eisner for Best Writer, and Darwyn Cooke, deservedly took home the Best Writer/Artist for his adaptations of the Richard Stark Parker novels The Hunter and The Outfit. 

Nate Simpson won the Richard Manning Promising Newcomer Award for his one issue of Nonplayer.  That might seem like a very small body of work to go off in order to give such a fancy award, but believe me, Nonplayer is stunning, and Nate Simpson totally deserves the accolades. 


The Underwater Welder:  From the looks of things (Thanks Multiversity Comics!)  it would appear that Jeff Lemire's next graphic novel, The Underwater Welder, will make its debut at next year's SDCC.

Lemire made this announcement via Twitter, so there isn't a lot of detail to tell about it. Other than that little tid-bit I know that it is written and illustrated by Lemire, so in my book, that means it'll likely be pretty fucking awesome.

When I spoke to Lemire at the Emerald City Comicon he said that out of all his work in comics he is most proud of The Underwater Welder, so that right there is a pretty good endorsement.  I'm looking forward to it.

Image Announces Some NEW* Comics:  When the Image Comic announcements came out I was particularly interested to see what they were promoting because, well frankly, they are putting out the best comics right now.  So, I was totally surprised to see that they were pimping a fucking MacGyver comic.  Yeah, that MacGyver.  I'm pretty sure this is seriously gonna be a comic. I look forward to giving that first MacGyver issue a flip-check.

Another cool announcement was that Kurtis J. Wiebe, who has been continuously impressive on both The Intrepids and Green Wake will have a new comic titled Peter Panzerfaust which will hit shelves sometime in 2012.  I wish there was more information about it available, but so far, just a cover image. 

It also looks like the current Witch Doctor mini-series will be followed up with a one-shot in December, and another mini in March of 2012...it's nice to see Image will still be bringing the thunder well into 2012.  (Props to Comics Alliance and Multiversity Comics for their information!)

The 6th Gun TV Adaptation:  It looks like one of my favorite ongoing comics, The Sixth Gun will be getting a TV adaptation soon.  The Syfy channel will be handling what looks to be a six episode mini-series that will cover the events of the first arc.

I have mixed feelings about this adaptation business.  Brian K. Vaughn said in a recent interview that "Comics should be the destination...not the blueprint" and I agree, but I also find that I enjoy seeing live action adaptations of my favorite stories...though I never enjoy them as much as the source material.  (Thanks to Comics Alliance for the pic and the information!) 

DC Plugs Their New "Dark" and "Edge" Titles:  This stuff gets a mention because a fairly big chunk of the DCnU stuff I'm looking forward to checking out fall into these two categories.

Jeff Lemire talked about his two titles Animal Man and Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. 

It looks like Animal Man is gonna be more of a horror book rather than a super hero book.  Which is a relief to me, since I'm not so sure how excited I am for this comic, but had planned on checking it out simply for the fact that it is written by Lemire.  That it will be a horror comic makes me more excited.

Frankenstein is gonna be more about balls out action, and the art for the series looks to fit that description quite well.  I guess there'll be some one-shots, with guest artists, mixed in which will explore Frank's history through the various people whose bodies were used to create the monster. (Once again, Comics Alliance with the info and art!) 

Jonathan Hickman Announces Two More Image Titles:  The heading pretty much says it all.

Hickman is a big name in comics, thanks in large part to his work with Marvel.  However, I'm most interested in his creator owned material, so it is good to hear that after he completes his current creator owned Image series The Red Wing he'll be moving on to more creator owned stuff.


My perusal of the Multiversity Comics blog tells me that the first one will be titled The Manhattan Projects and will about the men who created the nuclear bomb, and the second, Secret will be a corporate espionage story.  Hickman said that both titles will run longer than his usual mini's and come in around fifteen issues.  All around good news.  The comics both sound pretty interesting, so I'll be looking forward to them whenever they come out...

Brian K. Vaughan's New "Saga": So, I saved the bestest, most excitingest piece of news for last:  Brian K. Vaughan, the writer of Y: The Last Man and Ex Machina has announced that he'll be kicking off a new ongoing "balls to the walls" sci-fi comic.

The story will follow a family during their struggle to survive an intergalactic war. The art will be handled by Fiona Staples, who, judging from the teaser image, is a great choice for the comic.

There isn't a lot of information available, but once again, Comics Alliance delivers the news, and scores an interview with Vaughan where he talks a little bit more about the comic. 

I'm particularly excited about Saga for the fact that it is written by Vaughan.  Y: The Last Man is one of my all time favorite comic series, and Ex Machina, pending a solid ending, will be right up there too.  So, yeah, I have high hopes for this series.  You can bet I'll be updating information on this when more info is available.


So, that's all the news that I found particularly interesting coming out of SDCC 2011.  There were oodles and oodles of other announcements and promotions, but for my money, the above is what I consider to be the coolest stuff.

Once again, I'd like to thank Comics Alliance and Multiversity comics for their amazing coverage of the con.  I would be mostly ignorant of the SDCC happenings if not for these two sites, and for sure, this post would be a joke without their professional coverage.

Review: Ex Machina v7 Ex Cathedra...AND Ex Machina v8 Dirty Tricks

I figured that at this point in the Ex Machina series, people are either all aboard because they love what the series has to offer, or not reading the comics anymore, thus making my reviews of the latter part of series sort of an exercise in futility.   However, I want to do justice to what I feel is a great comic series, so I'll share my thoughts about the final 4 trades in shorter chunks and double up the reviews by doing two at a time.

Ex Cathedra: In this 7th volume, Mayor Mitchell Hundred wakes up one morning at 5 am to find his intern at his bedside delivering him hot coffee, and his chief of staff awaiting him downstairs. Clearly, there's some news to deliver. It turns out that the Pope has requested a private audience with Hundred, so the Mayor who, thanks to his powers isn't usually allowed outside of the US, hops on a plane for his first ever travel abroad.  

A meet and greet with the Pope seems simple enough, but Hundred's life is ever the complicated one.  An assassin, with access to some crazy remote-controlled-cyborg-rat technology has plans on making Hundred's visit with the Pope a deadly one.  This mad-science style technology uses computer programming to interact with chips placed in the rat's brain to control its movements and actions.  When used on Hundred, who already has some strange machinery working in his body, the assassin hopes to remotely manipulate Hundred into being the tool of the Pope's demise.

Now, I'm generally a sucker for some sweet mad science, so Ex Cathedra was particularly exciting for me, but I have a weak spot for some cool, trippy art too, and there is a sweet dream/divine intervention sequence that made this 7th volume all the more awesome.  Aside from hitting a couple of Ryan's-favorite-stuff home runs, Ex Cathedra is an important volume in the series, because it provides a clear direction of where the series is headed coming down the stretch, and I like what I see.

Grade: B+

Dirty Tricks: The 8th volume of Ex Machina delivers a four-part story arc sandwiched between two stand-alone stories.

In the opening stand-alone, Mayor Hundred is haunted by the ghost of a long dead slave.  All while he tries to decide whether or not to let the Ku Klux Klan hold a rally in Central Park.  Hundred must find a way to put a soul to rest, and properly deal with a group of assholes.

In the Dirty Tricks story arc, President Bush requests to hold the 2004 Republican National Convention in NYC.  Hundred deals with the security issues of hosting such an event, the political ramifications of seeming to support one party over the other as an independent politician, and a Great Machine look-alike/copycat who keeps performing wild, attention grabbing, republican damning stunts that threaten the safety of the convention and certain politicians. 

It is amazing how often the ghosts of Hundred's super hero past come back to haunt him in his new life as Mayor.  This is a pattern that has held true through out the entire series, yet a couple of the really big ghosts that have been teased and hinted at have yet to come into play, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them popping up in the next two trades.

For my money, Dirty Tricks was somewhat lacking compared with other volumes in this series.  There was less character development and story progression happening and it seemed like Vaughn was trying to sexy up the story for some reason by adding a biker chick with some big tits.  Little was done to move the overall story ahead, but if the last line of the Dirty Tricks story arc is to believed, hopefully this truly is "where the end begins" and from here on out the story will deliver.

Though this one wasn't up to the standards of many of the other volumes in the Ex Machina series, I have high hopes for the final two trades.

Grade: C

Review: Ex Machina v6 Power Down

The sixth volume of Ex Machina is aptly titled Power Down as it covers Mayor Hundred dealing with the massive 2003 blackout that had much of the eastern seaboard out of power.

The loss of electricity isn't Hundred's only worry, as the blackout appears to have also taken away his ability to speak with machines.

Both situations might have something to do with a strange guy in a strange outfit named Zeller, who might be from the future, or maybe just a different version of earth.  (I never was quite sure...)  Anyway, Zeller has turned up, and taken certain members of Hundred's family hostage, claiming he has a message to deliver to the Great Machine.  As usual, Mayor Hundred is pulled in bunch of different directions as he's forced to deal with multiple issues at the same time.

Also featured in this issue, finally, I might add, is the back story of how The Great Machine saved the second World Trade Center on September, 11th.  Its been known from the very first volume that he had used his powers to stop the plane from crashing into the second World Trade Center, but the how's have been only hinted at, and I've been anxiously waiting to see how it was done.  Well, I don't have to wait any longer.  It is pretty awesome, and worth the wait.

Again, consistency has been a hallmark of the Ex Machina books.  Once again, the writing and the art is at a high level and there is very little to say that I haven't already said.  Simply put: great art, great writing.

I know from experience that the middle of any long series of stories can often be a tad dull, but that isn't really the case here. The story told in this volume is pretty interesting, and Zeller was such a wild card that he spiced up the story quite a bit.  After reading this I feel like I don't have a totally firm grasp of what his appearance was all about, or what he was intending to accomplish, but I feel like it will be important later on.  I wouldn't be surprised if I have to reference back to this volume later on in the series so I can figure everything out.

My one let-down about Ex Machina: Power Down is that it only contains 4 issues worth of comics.  To flesh out the volume they include some extra material about the process Tony Harris goes through to create the covers and interior art.  It turns out he often uses live models to nail down body language, and facial expressions...two of the best qualities in his art for my money.  This is pretty interesting stuff, but I think I'd rather have the volume include a 5th issue. 

So, yeah, more high-end comics stuff here.  As I said, Brian K. Vaughn's writing is great, each story arc has been interesting and well written.  The art by Tony Harris is very high quality, and steadily some of the best I've seen so far in the comics medium.  This team can seemingly do no wrong for me at the moment, and I'm excited to move ahead in this series.

Grade: B

Review: Ex Machina v5 Smoke Smoke

In this 5th volume of Brian K. Vaughn's and Tony Harris' Ex Machina series, Mayor Mitchell Hundred has recently committed a political blunder; he admitted to having smoked pot in the past.  This admission sparks a long series of debates and creates a lot of unnecessary political drama that distracts Hundred from issues that are actually important. 

The first pressing issue is that someone has been posing as a New York City firefighter in full on official fire fighting gear to do some serious assault and robbery hits on New York citizens.  Adding even further distraction is the fact that a women committed a rather flamboyant act of suicide on the steps of City Hall by lighting herself on fire.

Amidst all the confusion and chaos, Hundred takes on a new intern, January Jones, who is the sister to his recently deceased intern Journal Jones.  From the little clues that this story arc provides, it looks like she has it in for Mayor Hundred and is looking to cause some damage to his political career.

As usual, mixed in with all the political drama, Vaughn interweaves some of Hundred's earlier adventures/misadventures as The Great Machine.

I've started to notice a trend with the Ex Machina series.  Each story arc will present a set of political dilemmas that Hundred has to face, combined with some related issue that has to do with the safety and security of New York citizens.  Though I feel like it makes for content that is slightly predictable, so far, the stories have been good enough that I don't mind the overall predictability of the Ex Machina formula.  Hopefully this will hold true for the second half of the series.

The political issues tackled in Smoke Smoke are kinda silly, but I guess if you are gonna do a story about a politician, you gotta do something about drugs.  The things I found most interesting in this story arc were January Jones' introduction and the little hints as to what Hundred's old buddy, Kremlin is up to behind the scenes.  I get the sense that these two will be key players in what the series is building up to, so I'm looking forward to not only seeing if my predictions are right, but also just what those two are all about.

I've praised both the writing and art of the Ex Machina comics before, and the writing and art in Smoke Smoke is par for the course...that is to say, exceptionally good.  Added to this collection is a standalone story titled, err...Standalone about Rick Bradbury, Hundred's bodyguard.  It is essentially his "origin" story, but it is pretty fun, and provides some good insight into the character. 

Now that I've reached the halfway point I feel like I'm fully invested in the series.  At this point I feel like I wanna read through the remaining trades in fairly rapid succession so that I can find out where everything is going.  Even though I thought Smoke Smoke was one of the less entertaining volumes so far, big things to come are hinted at and I wanna see what is up.  I own all but the final volume, so more Ex Machina is in my near future.

Grade: B-

Review: Ex Machina v4 March to War

Ex Machina: March to War takes place at the onset of the Iraq war.  Mayor Hundred, as mayor of New York City, must decide whether or not to let peaceful anti-war protests to take place in his city streets.  Though the risk for some sort of terrorist situation seems highly possible, Hundred allows the protests to take place and is left to pick up the pieces when many of the protesters are killed or hospitalized due to a toxic dust cloud attack.

As bad as the attacks are, they hit extra close to home as one of Hundred's cabinet members is severely injured in the attack.  To make matters worse, in response to toxic dust cloud attack, which may or may not have been the work of terrorists, a few New Yorkers have decided to deal out some street justice by killing people they assume to be "terrorists".

So, while the police are doing what they can to find these killers, Hundred and his chief of police team up to find the person or persons who built the device that delivered the toxic dust.  Hundred and Chief Angotti don't exactly go "by the book" to crack the case either.  Instead, we get an impressive display of how Hundred's ability to talk to machines can be used in subtle ways.

Also added into this fourth volume is the two-part Life or Death story line that delivers some great insight into Hundred's life while he was The Great Machine.   We finally get to meet Pherson, The Great Machine's archenemy, a man with the ability to talk to, and command animals.  Pherson is pretty much the antithesis of Hundred and for that reason, makes a great archenemy.  The guy is pretty damn creepy too....like all bad-guys should be.

Not surprisingly, this was another solid Ex Machina trade.  I thought the peace protest story line was quite engaging since it represented a piece of fairly recent history that I have strong memories towards.  Vaughn does a great job of placing this narrative in an engaging context and then also delivers a story that is not only exciting to read but also packs an emotional punch.

I like to think that I'm not one who usually gets excited for reading about politics, but I actually really enjoy the way Hundred goes about his mayoral duties.  He pretty much handles shit the way a normal person would, and doesn't pander to anyone, including constituents, fundraisers, or political parties.  When a crisis does come up, and they tend to hit him all at the same time, he is all about taking care of business by any means necessary.  The way these scenes are written with the character interactions come across as incredibly sincere and real.  The characters talk like real people, not like action heroes or dramatic performers.  I really appreciate that quality.

On the other hand, I also like to think that I'm not the kind of guy who gets excited for super hero comics, but the super hero bits of Ex Machina  are also quite awesome.  Simply said, Hundred is, at best, a pretty amateurish hero... Aside from the time when he saved one of the Word Trade Centers.   In the flashbacks to his hero days he always seems to be saving someone who doesn't want to be saved, or messing up and doing something like saving a mom before he saves her children.  Once again, all this comes across as genuine and realistic.  I like that Hundred struggles to do what he thinks is right, even though that isn't necessarily what someone else wants him to do in the heat of the moment.  I like that The Great Machine isn't just some perfect, omnipotent do-gooder.  It makes the flashback scenes extremely entertaining.

As per usual, Tony Harris' art is top level in this installment.  I don't have any complaints, and though I could easily gush, I'll spare you and just say that Harris' work on Ex Machina is consistently great and a perfect example of a top flight artist working at the top of his game.  Sexy-sexy stuff.  (Yup, two sexies!)

Ex Machina: March to War is a return to form for this series.  I was pleased to see the writing half of the series step its game up and deliver a story line that was interesting and engaging.  The extra two-part Life or Death arc was like a delicious icing on the cake.  Alone, the March to War arc was one of the best in the series so far but adding Pherson, The Great Machine's nemesis into the mix gave this graphic novel some extra juice.  All around good stuff.

Grade: A

Review: Ex Machina v3 Fact v. Fiction

The third installment in what has been a solid series thus far, Ex Machina: Fact v. Fiction gains some ground in the character development department, but in terms of story fails to live up to the two previous volumes.

Mitchell Hundred, once the world's first super hero, has already proven himself to be unlike the typical American citizen, but he proves himself to be even more of an oddball when he goes against all convention and participates in jury duty.  While the mayor is tied up with his civic duties, his police and security team are busy trying to catch a Great Machine copy-cat type vigilante calling himself the Automaton.   However, jury duty is proving to be a bigger event than Hundred could have anticipated.  During the deliberation portion of the trial, Hundred finds himself right smack in the middle of a tense hostage situation.  Though the hero "The Great Machine" has retired, you could use that same term to describe the workings of a big city like New York, and Hundred has to hope that all the parts of his new "Great Machine" are working together so that these unrelated crises get resolved.

There's a third story thread involved in this volume as well, but talking about it too much would spoil other aspects of the book, so I'll simply say that this bit of the graphic novel delivers some interesting character development.

Like I said earlier, I felt like the story being told in this third volume wasn't as strong as those of the previous two volumes.  Maybe it's just me, but the conflicts in this volume just didn't strike me as all that interesting or inventive compared to the others in this series.  Sure, the writing is still strong, and the characters are still compelling, but I sort of got the feeling that this story arc was a bit of a stop-gap to bigger things down the road.

On the artistic front, Tony Harris' work continues to be pretty amazing.  Harris can draw facial expression and body language better than any other comic artist I've experienced so far, and that ability lends a very realist air to the characters he draws.  I can really get a good sense for their tone of voice and inflection thanks to his skill.  Ex Machina is a very good example of the writing and art in a comic working extremely well together.

So, the weakest installment thus far, but still of a pretty high quality, and by far a better "Super Hero" book than any other out there.  There is definitely a downward trend happening here with this series, but I have high hopes that it'll pick back up.  I have the next four volumes waiting on my shelf, so I'll be getting around to them sooner than later.

Grade: C+

Review: Ex Machina V2: Tag

It seems crazy that in 2011 folks all over are still fighting for same-sex marriage rights.  I feel like the things I read most often: fantasy and comics, with the occasional exception, often value escapism over dealing with contemporary issues such as gay rights.  Well, given that Ex Machina is a modern story about a mayor in the city of New York, it is only fitting that the series covers some hot/controversial topics.

In the second volume of this engaging series, Mayor Hundred makes the most controversial decision of his political career, which is sort of saying a lot given his past political dramas.  Thanks to that decision, (legalizing same-sex marriage) Hundred is forced to face tough questions about his own sexual preferences, all while dealing with a strange, possibly supernatural power that plagues the subways.

Someone has been putting up mysterious tags in the subway tunnels that sort of resemble Chinese script.  Mutilated bodies of humans and animals have been found near these tags, and they seem to be somehow connected to the source of Hundred's power, and his past days of heroic adventures.

Once again, Ex Machina features a nice blend of super powered action and political wheeling and dealing.  While that stuff is certainly at the center of this volume, this volume also provides a nice glimpse at the man himself, Mitchel Hundred.  If there is ever a politician I can relate to, it is Hundred.  He truly is a regular guy who simply wanted to do good, and through supernatural forces found himself in the position to actually do some good and make positive changes.  Hundred's approach to politicking resembles his status as a normal person.  He doesn't really follow any party lines, but still plays the political game quite well, and he seems to enjoy his wild card  status.  His mayor gig seems to be a 24/7 type thing, but Hundred does manage squeeze in the time to date a pretty reporter lady; simultaneously pursuing a lady he is interested in while quelling questions about his sexual preferences.  The date scene is quite good as it builds up Hundred's character a bit more, and fleshes out his personality.  It also ends hilariously. 

This volume also provides some more back story, adding in some of Hundred's adventures as the Great Machine, and his early relationship with the American government. I was definitely a little bit confused by the mystery glyphs, and how they connect to Hundred's powers, and his past.  I get the feeling that all that information is going to slowly get leaked over the course of this series.  Due to the slow unraveling of important plot points Ex Machina  is definitely a comic that demands full attention.  Sometimes it can be hard to keep all the flashbacks straight while maintaining a proper time line in my head.  I had to reference the first volume a couple of times to make sure I was getting it all.

Ex Machina is unlike most other comics out there.  It features a nice blend of heroics and political wrangling, but also demands your full attention, all while covering interesting topics that are pertinent to the modern world.  Add to that the fact that this comic is very well written, filled with fantastic characters and absolutely beautiful to look at.  Truly a great piece of engaging, fun, and compelling artistry.

Grade: B+

Review: Ex Machina v1 The Frist Hundred Days

Michael Hundred was once a civil engineer, but a strange accident near the Brooklyn Bridge gifts him with some amazing powers: the ability to talk to machines and mechanical items. Hundred used these powers to become the world's first, and only, real-deal super hero. However, he eventually tires of doing nothing more than maintaining the status quo, so he gave up the crime-fighting gig, and turned to, what else? Politics. Cashing in on his celebrity status, Hundred wins the NYC mayor election in a landslide, kicking off a political career full of drama.

Hundred has his work cut out for him as he must deal with his eccentric staff, assassination attempts, a PR disaster thanks to a controversial exhibit at an art museum, a crippling blizzard, and a crazed serial killer who's topping the city's snow plow drivers.

I know the plot synopsis I just gave doesn't do justice, but let it be said that Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days is a truly special comic. There are multiple layers at work here; the politics, the characters, and the super hero stuff, all work together to make this really special. First off, you have the characters, who are incredibly fleshed out and nuanced. Comic characters can sometimes come off as over the top, but writer Brian K. Vaughn avoids that easily and creates a unique cast that not only stand out, but stand on their own as interesting individuals.

Obviously, politics play a major role in Ex Machina, so if you aren't into that sort of thing, well, go read Spiderman or something. Guess what though? A comic about politics isn't boring as shit! As a nice touch, Vaughn ties in a few real life news items, like the painting of Lincoln with the "N" word written across it, to add some flesh to the political turmoil plaguing Hundred's life. Aside from the major news worthy stuff, Vaughn mixes in lots of the nuts and bolts daily bullshit that a mayor would have to deal with which made me feel like Hundred actually was the mayor.

Maybe I shouldn't have scared off the Spiderman fans so soon, because there's some super hero action in Ex Machina as well. Vaughn layers in a bunch of flashbacks to Hundred's old super hero days which craftily gives you his back story, and sets up the pertinent history for the series. These scenes are all well done, and play an important role in the overall tapestry of the story. I get the feeling that if a regular guy actually ever did gain some super powers, his crime fighting days might look a lot like Hundred's sloppy, trial and error, fly by the seat of your pants crime fighting style.

Not only does The First Hundred Days feature some top-shelf writing, but the art is equally amazing. Tony Harris was more or less an unknown to me before I read this, I knew he had an epic run on Starman, but I'd never read a book with his work. Simply said, he is amazing. Every single aspect of this book looks stunning, but Harris shines when drawing the people that populate this book. I haven't seen any artist nail facial or body expression like Harris. Yeeeeah, there are a few times that the facial expressions look overdone, and the body language is too much, but most of the time it is spot on, and amazing. Harris' skill at capturing facial and body expression/language adds another layer to the already great characters.

Overall this is a fantastic comic. You have a creative team that is on their A game working on a great title. Ex Machina: The First Hundred Days is definitely one of the best graphic novels I've read this year. Without a doubt I am sucked into this series, and it looks like I'll be spending more time with Mitchell Hundred, and his political staff in the future. Definitely worth a read. This one easily gets the Battle Hymns seal of awesomeness.

Grade: A+