Reviews
Transmetropolitan, Vol. 3: Year of the Bastard by Rodney Ramos, Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson
ayushk21's review
challenging
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
some_okie_dude27's review against another edition
5.0
"As with most of the future worlds in science fiction, you're not talking about the future: you're talking about the present. You are using the future as a way of giving a kind of...room to move." - Alan Moore
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - Hunter S. Thompson
I find that the best pieces of science fiction are often worried. As Charlie Brooker pointed out, science fiction is often a good way to illustrate the worrying trends that we've accumulated. This is becoming more and more apparent since the future seems to be becoming more of a reality as the years move along. I should also add that science fiction often works best when it's angry.
Transmetropolitan is a very angry, contentious book. It's a good comic to read when you're feeling angry about the world that we find ourselves living in and feeling like there's nothing, you can do. Transmetropolitan is Ellis at his most angry, and most politically opinionated and while I don't agree with everything Ellis has to say in here, I do find myself in enthusiastic agreement with his main thesis with this series: this system is broken, and it needs to change immediately.
Ellis isn't subtle in this series, and there's plenty of targets that he takes shots at with this series. Much of the humor in this is often uproarious and madcap, and the characters and situations that our main cynical bastard Spider Jerusalem finds himself in often proves to be a romp. But unlike his friend Garth Ennis, Ellis doesn't get lost in the crude humor of his series, it is merely a means to an end.
Unlike DeConnick or Andrews, who are content to blame the issues of society on an overarching evil bogeyman. Ellis is more interested in what creates a society that allows corruption to fester and infect the system that's supposed to be looking out for us. Much of his concern revolves around the complacency and disillusionment of average people, who are often led to believe that their votes and opinions don't matter, so why even try to engage. But Ellis seeks to beat the complacency and disillusionment out of his readers and get them to act to make true changes to our society.
We share Spider's frustration and hatred of the city, and his rage at the carelessness of the people around him. Spider isn't easily likable and in fact is a huge pain in the ass for anyone who is unfortunate to come across his path, for better or for worse. But the points that he makes are often right, and Ellis does just enough to make us sympathize with him, even as much of an ass he is to his 'filthy assistants' and everyone around him.
Much of the science fictional aspects of this series are often light, not focusing too much on how this stuff would work in the world but exploring how these technologies affect the people who live in the world. Like all great science fiction, it often questions how the future will affect the people who live in it and how it changes the world around us. I was reminded a lot of Philip K. Dick's work in how Ellis manages to combine the surreal and the mundane, where all these wacky sci-fi inventions are just another part of life, and Ellis never stoops to ogling over how cool everything is.
While being an entertaining, science fiction romp, it is also a great piece of journalism through fiction. Much like David Simon's The Wire, Transmetropolitan is a series that exposes the dark truths of the world we live in through a fictional lens, though unlike The Wire, it is much more of a madcap romp. Ellis isn't as committed to realism as Simon is, as Ellis takes more notes from Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo journalism. He sees that truth doesn't always have to be real to attain the intended effect.
Transmet has proven to be more poignant as we move into the post-Trump era of United States politics, particularly with his depiction of The Beast, who almost seems like a carbon copy of our previous president, though somehow, he's less sleazy. Transmet is one of those series that gives me fire as a journalist, I don't know if I want to be as confrontational or as bitter as Spider, but I would like to make a similar impact in my own work as a journalist.
But within its anger, I was surprised to find how compassionate and emotional this series proved to be. I often find that anger is a perversion of sadness, and Transmet is a prime example of that. Ellis' anger is masking the sadness that he has over the degradation of our society and the ideas of compassion and decency...and as this series has aged, I find that the message of Transmet to still ring true...and it shouldn't. The anger in Transmetropolitan often hides the vulnerability that is shown in its characters, and even reveals part of Ellis himself...even if he doesn't entirely mean to. For all the angry, puerile shit that Warren throws at us, there's an undeniable sense of humanity within Transmetropolitan, and that's what gives it charm after all.
At the end of the day, Ellis is a lot like Thompson. He surrounds himself with the ugliest parts of humanity to expose the ugly truth that surrounds us in our daily lives. Transmetropoltian is Warren Ellis off the leash, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - Hunter S. Thompson
I find that the best pieces of science fiction are often worried. As Charlie Brooker pointed out, science fiction is often a good way to illustrate the worrying trends that we've accumulated. This is becoming more and more apparent since the future seems to be becoming more of a reality as the years move along. I should also add that science fiction often works best when it's angry.
Transmetropolitan is a very angry, contentious book. It's a good comic to read when you're feeling angry about the world that we find ourselves living in and feeling like there's nothing, you can do. Transmetropolitan is Ellis at his most angry, and most politically opinionated and while I don't agree with everything Ellis has to say in here, I do find myself in enthusiastic agreement with his main thesis with this series: this system is broken, and it needs to change immediately.
Ellis isn't subtle in this series, and there's plenty of targets that he takes shots at with this series. Much of the humor in this is often uproarious and madcap, and the characters and situations that our main cynical bastard Spider Jerusalem finds himself in often proves to be a romp. But unlike his friend Garth Ennis, Ellis doesn't get lost in the crude humor of his series, it is merely a means to an end.
Unlike DeConnick or Andrews, who are content to blame the issues of society on an overarching evil bogeyman. Ellis is more interested in what creates a society that allows corruption to fester and infect the system that's supposed to be looking out for us. Much of his concern revolves around the complacency and disillusionment of average people, who are often led to believe that their votes and opinions don't matter, so why even try to engage. But Ellis seeks to beat the complacency and disillusionment out of his readers and get them to act to make true changes to our society.
We share Spider's frustration and hatred of the city, and his rage at the carelessness of the people around him. Spider isn't easily likable and in fact is a huge pain in the ass for anyone who is unfortunate to come across his path, for better or for worse. But the points that he makes are often right, and Ellis does just enough to make us sympathize with him, even as much of an ass he is to his 'filthy assistants' and everyone around him.
Much of the science fictional aspects of this series are often light, not focusing too much on how this stuff would work in the world but exploring how these technologies affect the people who live in the world. Like all great science fiction, it often questions how the future will affect the people who live in it and how it changes the world around us. I was reminded a lot of Philip K. Dick's work in how Ellis manages to combine the surreal and the mundane, where all these wacky sci-fi inventions are just another part of life, and Ellis never stoops to ogling over how cool everything is.
While being an entertaining, science fiction romp, it is also a great piece of journalism through fiction. Much like David Simon's The Wire, Transmetropolitan is a series that exposes the dark truths of the world we live in through a fictional lens, though unlike The Wire, it is much more of a madcap romp. Ellis isn't as committed to realism as Simon is, as Ellis takes more notes from Hunter S. Thompson's gonzo journalism. He sees that truth doesn't always have to be real to attain the intended effect.
Transmet has proven to be more poignant as we move into the post-Trump era of United States politics, particularly with his depiction of The Beast, who almost seems like a carbon copy of our previous president, though somehow, he's less sleazy. Transmet is one of those series that gives me fire as a journalist, I don't know if I want to be as confrontational or as bitter as Spider, but I would like to make a similar impact in my own work as a journalist.
But within its anger, I was surprised to find how compassionate and emotional this series proved to be. I often find that anger is a perversion of sadness, and Transmet is a prime example of that. Ellis' anger is masking the sadness that he has over the degradation of our society and the ideas of compassion and decency...and as this series has aged, I find that the message of Transmet to still ring true...and it shouldn't. The anger in Transmetropolitan often hides the vulnerability that is shown in its characters, and even reveals part of Ellis himself...even if he doesn't entirely mean to. For all the angry, puerile shit that Warren throws at us, there's an undeniable sense of humanity within Transmetropolitan, and that's what gives it charm after all.
At the end of the day, Ellis is a lot like Thompson. He surrounds himself with the ugliest parts of humanity to expose the ugly truth that surrounds us in our daily lives. Transmetropoltian is Warren Ellis off the leash, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
sizrobe's review against another edition
5.0
The filthy assistants have assembled! Great hard left turn in the few last pages.
lepus13's review against another edition
5.0
I don't know why I took so long to pick this series up again but that lull was a mistake!
Year of the bastard is a pure political catharsis.
The part where he leads a crowd of onlookers to Cluny Square and shows them the victims of the presidency.
And even more fitting:
"It seems like the next convention is merely going to decide the face of the guy who'll be fucking us next... - Spider Jerusalem 'I HATE IT HERE'"
Year of the bastard is a pure political catharsis.
The part where he leads a crowd of onlookers to Cluny Square and shows them the victims of the presidency.
And even more fitting:
"It seems like the next convention is merely going to decide the face of the guy who'll be fucking us next... - Spider Jerusalem 'I HATE IT HERE'"
dominiquefragments's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
So beyond creative and dark and disgusting and fun. My favorite series.
bothwell's review
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
opentopersuasion's review against another edition
5.0
Spider Jerusalem is a crazy disgusting dude, but he is the superman of this series and he rocks it. Besides having a cool name, he liberates the masses from their stupidity and foils evil politicians' master plans, all while killing himself with drugs and alcohol. It hurts to read sometimes, but it's worth it.
otherwyrld's review against another edition
4.0
There were a couple of times when I had to double check that the date of this story was 1998 and not 2016. Put simply, Spider Jerusalem covers the US Presidential election and manages to make it only slightly less surreal than our current reality.
Along the way the author, speaking via Spider quite rightly excoriates the voting public for their apathy, their willful ignorance, and their willingness to shaft everyone (including it seems themselves) if it screws everyone else. I wish I had a way to show some of the stonking good images that illustrate this storyline but I don't have a file sharing account (if you have copies of the graphic novels look up issue 15 page 6, issue 16 pages 13 and 14 for examples)
One thing I haven't mentioned so far is the artwork, which is elegantly simple in the foreground while still containing a myriad of details in the background that you could spend hours poring over and still find new things to marvel at. It makes the story more realistic and grounded even as it displays the most grotesque images. It also must have been a bugger to draw, considering how many tattoos Spider has over his body.
Along the way the author, speaking via Spider quite rightly excoriates the voting public for their apathy, their willful ignorance, and their willingness to shaft everyone (including it seems themselves) if it screws everyone else. I wish I had a way to show some of the stonking good images that illustrate this storyline but I don't have a file sharing account (if you have copies of the graphic novels look up issue 15 page 6, issue 16 pages 13 and 14 for examples)
One thing I haven't mentioned so far is the artwork, which is elegantly simple in the foreground while still containing a myriad of details in the background that you could spend hours poring over and still find new things to marvel at. It makes the story more realistic and grounded even as it displays the most grotesque images. It also must have been a bugger to draw, considering how many tattoos Spider has over his body.