Disappointed in this series overall. It's really dated already. It was basically a platform for the author to talk about his politics, as far as I could tell, when what I was really interested in was the portal side story. Hundred is SO DUMB about that and it was really frustrating. He keeps on getting hit over the head with hints and he's all "SHUT UP IMMA KILL YOU" and then does that. So frustrating and annoying.Talk about killing your series with a terrible ending.

I liked the series overall, but the promise of the initial books was never really delivered upon. Hundred becomes less sympathetic, and I found the storyline wandered around a bit. Then Hundred became unsympathetic. It made me sad - I'd really been rooting for him.

At the end of the previous volume (Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 4 - "Dirty Tricks"), in the last three pages of it, Vaughan starts moving the pieces for his endgame and this one's a doozy: Kremlin visits Suzanne Padilla and gives her a folder marked "Classified", containing presumably the file that January Moore stole from Mitchell's safe in Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3 ("Power Down").When Suzanne asks Kremlin "What is this?" He replies, "Where the end begins.""But what's in th...

I simultaneously love and hate this final book in the series (you might then assume this would level out to a solid 2.5 stars, but since I think that a books ability to evoke strong emotion is a positive, I went with 4 stars). This final volume opens up a lot of issues both in working within the government, and also the crazy things happening in the world[s] that BKV has created here, however, rather that wrapping things up with an ending, we are left with a bunch or really sad circumstances, an...

With this being the end of the series, it's hard to write about this book without writing about the series as a whole. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending. We do get a sort of explanation oh where Hundred got his powers, but it's still vague in a way. It does seem like it is building towards something there at the end, but it goes away pretty quickly. A huge part of the "villains" plan is stopped OFF PANEL! We see Hundred's relationships with Bradbury and Kremlin come to an end, but I though...

Fun and unpredictable through the end. I think what I really loved about this series is the protagonist - NYC mayor Mitch Hundred, the "Great Machine" - is so good with comeback lines. He never gives the obvious answer. What he says is consistently surprising and witty. The quality of the writing is far above the norm for this genre. The threat to the world that compels Mitch to enter national politics is never disclosed. I like that he doesn't cake-walk to the presidency and that names of actua...

I guess some of this review for the entire series which is glorious. Vaughan and Harris create a masterpiece interweaving politics and superheroes in a way like no others. Here, we get the finale that shocked me more often than I care to admit. Vaughan reveals more about Hundred's origins still without telling the entire story. This book could have kept going for a hundred more issues (no pun intended). This last oversized collection seems to have everything and I won't ever stop recommending th...

Story: This is it. The final chapter of one of the greatest comics I've gotten to read. I took my time because I didn't want it to end. So anyway, Hundred is on full speed trying to get to the next jump in his political career. When his job is on the line he sends his bodyguard to get rid of some evidence. On top of that he's dealing with trying to become President. You get a bit more of the past, learning about his greatest villain, but a new one might arise here. Art: Damn, this series always

After all this series had before it, this is how it ends? This is the final volume in this highly ambitious series which involves an ex-superhero turned politician as the story of Mitchell Hundred is simultaneously, effectively, told as ‘present’ New York mayor and in flashback during his superhero days, with the larger thread of how and why he got his powers. What had built up and hinted at some grand, overarching reveal and conclusion simultaneously frustrating fizzled out, jarringly unevenly

I teared up at the end of Y the Last Man. I didn't get quite there with this one, but man, Vaughan knows how to leave a lasting effect. This has been one of my favorite titles.

Man, what happened, BKV? This was a pretty good series. Book 5 was an interesting book that FINALLY started dealing with some of the cooler, more “comic book-y” elements, and then was marred by a completely shit ending. It uses every trope you see in a rushed, bad conclusion to any story in any medium: - 11th-hour deus ex machina device: the portal gun which somehow NEVER came up until like 2-3 issues before the end? Cmon guys.- 11th hour nonsense in general - a seemingly “heel” turn by Hundred,...

Hmm. It’s a good end to the series, but I’m honestly a bit underwhelmed. Tip-toeing around spoilers here: parts of the story petered out for me, like they weren’t given proper closure. And I think the stuff behind Mitchell’s powers could have been explored more, or at least given a larger role in the end. Vaughan was building to this grand reveal and it didn’t amount to nearly as much as it should have in my opinion, for the characters or the overall narrative. Also, Tony Harris’ art looks rushe...

I guess I'm just not a huge fan of Brian K. Vaughn's endings. This was a tremendous series, and even this volume wasn't bad, but the ending just didn't do it for me. (view spoiler)[ The thing with Kremlin. The thing with Bradbury. The alternate dimension looking like Hell, literally. The way Hundred's mother died. The whole nebulous thing with Hundred's powers, although I guess it sorta made sense if you analyze it closely. Just seemed like it could have been explained better, but maybe I'm bein...

Honestly, I'd give this entire series 2.5 stars if I could? After finishing a re-read of Saga (which I love so much), I've been working my way through some of Vaughan's old stuff, most of which I'd read before. When I started re-reading the series, I couldn't remember my reasons for not owning Ex Machina (I got these from the library) but man, do I remember now: it's not good. On the writing side, the series indulges in my least favorite BKV tick: the "I've got this obscure fact that I'm going t...

This is my only review of this series. Quite honestly, every book up until this point deserved a 4 or 5 star. This one deserved a 3 star at best.There is a moment in the Simpsons where Krusty the Klown watches a bizarre eastern European cartoon. It then cuts to him, cigarette in hand looking confused. He points the cigarette at the screen and yells "what the hell was that?".This moment basically sums up my feelings about the ending of Ex Machina. The tie up of the big overarching plot felt so ru...

Well, I wish I could say that Volume 5 wraps everything up in a nice bow and completes the story but there are still a few too many questions left unanswered. These unanswered questions are not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the story and characters though... just a bit unsettled.There are some (seemingly random) character shifts which seem a bit out of place too, but I understand why Vaughn included them and the message he was trying to convey. As an overall series, I'd have to...

I should be giving this 5 stars because I loved every issue of this, especially how it ended.I guess I just didn’t like how late the colour spectrum and the Suzanne storyline came into play. I think that could’ve been explored a little earlier if it was coming to a big confrontation like that. But other than that, this was amazing and so was the whole reading experience. This will go down as one of my favourite and most intriguing series I’ve ever read.BKV has carved out a really special place a...

Ah, finally we've gotten somewhere, and the stakes are high, and the villains powerful (although strangely reluctant to use their powers effectively), and the conclusion dark and depressing. But why did it have to be so rushed? Why couldn't we have this truly fascinating lore introduced in one of the previous beat-around-the-bush books, and give it some room to be built upon and used for something more than a thrilling finale? All in all, I'm glad I've read Ex Machina. But as usual, I'm sorry it...

Why did I doubt him? Never again. He pulled it off, without Deus ex, organically, and with references to the earliest volumes. In this last volume, Vaughan finally reveals the conspiracy behind the Great Machine's powers. It's a mind-bender, and ends with a classic BKV unresolved question, a la Y: The Last Man, Vol. 10: Whys and Wherefores: who really is Mitchell Hundred?

At the end, it chooses to create a lot of new ideas that weren't explicit earlier in the book. (And a lot of the earlier stuff seems to have vanished.)As I said in my earlier reviews, I think I liked it better when it was about someone with superpowers trying to navigate a "normal" world of politics rather than a superhero story that had some politics. The series overall was novel and well-written. I just would have wanted this ending either toned down or brought to its ultimate conclusion. That...