Man out of Machine: Ex Machina

Fear not – there will be reviews soon for the books I picked up this weekend, but analysis takes time. Gotta let that stuff percolate for awhile soes I can produce something worth reading. Just know you are in store for the following: Spell Checkers, Martian Confederacy, Powers, Punisher MAX: Butterfly, and Madame Xanadu. Not necessarily in that order!

Started reading Ex Machina a couple of years ago and never posted about it at the time, but did spend the last month or so getting re-acquainted with Mitchell Hundred and the cast of characters which populate his version of New York City.

For those unfamiliar: the series follows Mitchell Hundred, formerly known as The Great Machine, a hero who gained the ability to “talk” to machines through a freak accident. After gaining acclaim by rescuing several people on 9/11 – he quits the superhero biz (much to the distaste of his father-figure Kremlin) and decides to run for Mayor. The story follows his first term in office, with flashbacks to his superhero stint and little tantalizing bits about how he gained his powers. Several issues are also given to plot-lines of the supporting characters, some of my favorites being Journal Moore (intern), David Wylie (deputy Mayor) and Rick Bradbury (Hundred’s head of security).

This series has the all the beauty and allure of being creator-owned, by one of my favorite authors Brian K. Vaughn. First of all – let me rant a bit about loving creator-owned series. Some of my top 10 books are creator owned, blessed with a consistent writing and artistic team. It’s always been frustrating to have an artist swapped out mid-way through a story arch. It’s comparable to re-placing an integral cast member on a television series, or potentially the whole damn cast and maybe even the set.

Tony Harris has been a wonderful artist throughout this whole series – these people look and feel real in a dimension that is rarely captured on the page. Reading the book is honestly equivalent to sitting down for my favorite TV show – the colors and world are so incredibly rich. If you’ve picked up TPB Volume 6: Power Down, there’s a special insert Inside the Machine with a copy of an actual Vaughn script, along with pics and details about how Harris does his thing. It was especially cool to see the man that Harris uses to capture facial expressions and poses for Hundred. I would definitely suggest picking it up.

*SPOILER FREE*

This is going to be less criticism, and more just a laundry list of the things I love about this series. I’d like to see more people reading it, I feel like since it won an Eisner in 2005, its just been plodding along with the writer and artist producing great material, and hardly anyone singing it’s praises.