Up until now "Transmetropolitan" didn't really have a story and followed Spider Jerusalem from one bizarre story to the next but in "Year of the Bastard" a story arc that will continue for much of this series begins - the election of the President, the Beast vs the Smiler.The Smiler is this great character who is the most superficial person alive and underneath the surface is one of the most terrifyingly blackest souls who ever lived. He's a brilliant target for the fearless Spider to latch onto...

Wouldn't it be nice is slightly insane dystopian writers stopped being so prescient?

The real plot kicks in, and shit immediately gets real.It's also the first time Spider lowers his guard and starts to show his weaknesses. He's very good at what he does - borderline invincible when at the top of his game - but he's also an emotionally vulnerable, often downright fragile, individual. He feels angry and scared and guilty. He doesn't even want to be here: it's in the name of his column! This volume, him going up against both sides of the presidental election, him feeling crushed w...

You both love and hate Spider Jerusalem. On certain pages he is wild, doped as hell, crazy and all kinds of superlatives that is related with the word mad you can think of. On other pages (and there's only a very few of them, he is relevant, genuinely concerned about the welfare of others, a person who desperately calls for a change and a voice of the "new scum".Year of the Bastard covers Spider Jerusalem's coverage on the presidential campaign. This volume I can say is eerily timely. People are...

Although the third volume of Transmetropolitan came out nearly twenty years ago and is an outlandish piece of science fiction, it’s story of the corruption and madness of a presidential election cycle feels a little too accurate. Right down to a lying, racist leading opposition candidate.

If I were to ever have doubts as to the worthiness of comics as a medium for social critique or dissenting opinions, they would all be washed away by this volume of Warren Ellis' masterwork, Transmetropolitan. Within these slim and splendidly decorated pages lie some of the most biting and harsh political and social truths ever uttered, words so wonderfully free of restraint and so incendiary that, were they not shielded by the disregard most high minds have for comics, Ellis would likely be rem...

Just finished this and now we are into new comics that I never got this far into when I lost my collection. This one is all politics, and the new presidential candidate becomes the focus of Spider Jerusalem's affection and respect to begin with and then turns into his bitter enemy. The Beast, also known as the current President simply must be beaten, and yet Spider hates the new guy trying to get the job. He goes on a drug induced rampage and writes his heart out before he switches gears when be...

I've waited an entire YEAR for this! Finished Vol. 2 Sept 20 2013, waited for the library to send Vol. 3, and lo and behold...they were not doing so...then they didn't have a copy left, so I asked them to replace/order a new one...then they did...and it still took 3-4 months to come in and then to make it's way into my hot little hands...it has been an ordeal.I was so excited to read this! I'm happy to report, it was worth the wait.Spider is forced to cover the upcoming election; something he is...

The first two volumes got readers acquainted with Spider Jerusalem and the city that he loves to hate. The stories were primarily single or double issues with the overall narrative running in the background. Volume three gives us a story over six issues, "Year of the Bastard."The presidential election is coming up, and the Opposition Party convention is in town. Spider is assigned to cover it. Two candidates figure prominently, and Spider wants to know if either is capable of taking down the cur...

Year of the Bastard: that's what I'm calling 2017 from now on.

After the first two bizarre volumes, I didn't expect the story to get crazier. There gotta be a limit, right?I was wrong. So very wrong!(I feel like Warren Ellis is talking directly to his readers here!) It's the election year! Don't forget to vote! This volume features a single spectacular story arc and it's all about politics this time. Spider hates the current president. Well, he hates everyone and everything, but he truly dislikes Mr.President. And the opposition is a new guy. Spi...

The first two volumes of this series were good but I feel like this one really just took it to the next level. Or maybe it's just that I'm reading it now when all of this is sadly even more relevant than ever. [looks into the camera like i'm on the fucking office]

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...

This was thoroughly enjoyable: a superhero story for grown ups who came to terms with the fact that super powers don't exist. In this storyline, Spider Jerusalem is covering the presidential campaign and making new enemies along the way. This is the cohesive, caustic and thoroughly focused narrative I thought TRANSMETROPOLITAN has the power to be, exposing the inner workings of a political campaign and the capital importance of public opinion for politicians. This is a futuristic series about th...

This volume is a deftly handled departure from the formula (or lack thereof) of the first two books. Whereas the two previous instalments contain loosely connected snapshots of this dystopian world, this book tells a single coherent story that’s likely to become a focal point. Well... about as coherent as you can expect from our drug-addled protagonist, Spider Jerusalem.In one of the chapters of the first book, Warren Ellis took on the politics that further ostracises minorities, cramming them i...

During election years, this should be required reading for every American over the age of 16. That is all.

The first two volumes of Transmetropolitan were practically anthologies, singular stories meant to showcase Spider and his deeply imaginative world. This is something else entirely, a complete, connected story, one that hasn't quite finished even as the volume closes. It's all about politics, the perfect subject if you want to get good and enraged. And since that's where Spider lives, it makes perfect sense to do a story revolving around politics. And it's every bit as cutting and bitter and ang...

4.5 stars

After months and months of this fucking political war going on I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this volume of Transmetropolitan focusing on presidents getting elected. However, the ending really made it for me. This is basically Spider just pushing his way into both the people who could be president and shitty on each one by giving us facts. Funny enough one is basically like Trump, other more like say Clinton, and them bickering back and forth is...eerily the same as what we had to go through

I blame Warren Ellis for every fucked up thought in my head and the entirety of my Twitter stream. Reading Transmet is like getting repeatedly kicked in the nuts. Your brains nuts. This make brain mad. Make brain write things not normally write. Or at least with vastly increased frequency. In fact, that's my pitch for Trasnmotropolitan (and Warren Ellis in general): Think weirder shit, faster!