Ex Machina

Hello, and welcome to what I hope will be the first in a series of reviews and articles on comic books and the comic book industry. Now and again I may venture in the realms of genre TV and movies too, but the lion’s share of updates will be on comics. So, let’s kick off with a new favourite series of mine, Brian K Vaughan’s Ex Machina.

Ex Machina

First published in 2004, Brian K Vaughan and Tony Harris’ Ex Machina charts the term in office of former superhero turned politician, Michael Hundred, as he becomes mayor of New York City.

Plot  summary

An engineer, Hundred is called out by his friend, Bradbury, who discovers a strange device under the Brooklyn Bridge. The device explodes, injuring Hundred and causing scarring to his face. Upon his recovery, Hundred finds that the accident has also given him the ability to communicate with machines. This communication manifests in several different ways, and Hundred uses the ability to become “The Great Machine”, the world’s one and only superhero. Becoming disillusioned with his hero career, Hundred publicly reveals his identity, retires from the superhero business and announces his candidacy for mayor of New York. As an independent candidate, Hundred stands no chance of winning. That is, until September 11th, 2001. Hundred becomes The Great Machine one last time and manages to divert one of the World Trade Centre planes, saving thousands of lives – and securing his political future. From then on, Hundred must juggle the responsibilities of running one of the biggest cities in the world with the complications of his past. Part West Wing, part superhero comic. No wonder I bought it.

Is it good?

Yes. Yes it is. Brian K Vaughan is a writer with a spectacular track record of creator owned work, penning critic and fan favourite alike, Y The Last Man, and he does not let that record slide here. The comic is irrefutably Vaughan – the dialogue is liberally garnished with facts and figures, the most interesting of which being the historical oddities of New York City – did you know that former New York mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, read newspaper comics over the radio in wartime? Vaughan knows that an a whole lot more about the city he clearly loves. His knack for writing the perfect cliffhanger remains perfectly intact. Although slightly dulled by my reading of the series in trade paperback format, the impact of these cliffhanger last pages is still incredible, and shows Vaughan’s mastery of the form of serial storytelling.

Tony Harris on art duties is a wise choice. Harris depicts individual, distinguishable characters and a great likeness of New York City. Thought not the best artist in the business, Harris is a great talent who’s presence on any book should be welcomed – just try not to get a chill down your spine when he renders scenes from 9/11.

Themes and criticism

The Politics

Maybe it’s the English grad in me, but to me, Ex Machina works on a number of levels. The most obvious of these is as political commentary. Vaughan has said in interviews that the comic doesn’t support either of the main parties in America, and that much of the material was written as criticism of the poor leadership both sides were showing from 9/11 to the date of publication. This can be a bit of a double edged sword – if you’re someone like me, a political junkie and massive comic book fan, a comic book about politics is a dream come true. However, if you have no interest in politics there are sections of the comic that will bore you to tears – heated arguments over school vouchers, the ins and outs of running a mayoral campaign, running spin for New York City Hall. I love them, but maybe not to other people’s tastes.

Perhaps the boldest statement that Vaughan makes in Ex Machina is in saving one of the World Trade Centre buildings. You can’t help but feel that Vaughan is allowing himself this one moment of beautifully child like wish fulfilment in an otherwise realistic story – he saves some lives. It didn’t even have to be all of them, just some. Just a little difference. Vaughan has never been one of the industry’s great lovers of superheroes, using one in this case, I think, only to serve a point I’ll discuss in a moment. But here, in this world he controls, he dreams up his own superhero (probably for the last time, both in the comic and for Vaughan personally.) With his previous statement about the flawed political leadership in mind, you can probably see this as Vaughan giving an example of what might be achieved if those in power used it wisely. Maybe things like 9/11 wouldn’t happen.

Superheroes

Like I said, Vaughan has never been the biggest fan of superheroes. He writes characters, first and foremost, with any superhuman or supernatural settings being window dressing. And that’s fine, it’s something the western comic book industry needs more of. We have plenty of capes and tights and whatnot, but not nearly enough actual, complete stories and characters.

It’d be easy to think that Vaughan’s stance on superheroes in Ex Machina is a fairly straightforward one – Superheroes are for kids. Don’t sit about and dream up some power fantasy where you solve everything by being the biggest, strongest person. If you want to make actual change, do what grown-ups do and educate yourself, get involved and try and make the real, big changes that actually matter. By and large, that’s pretty damn good advice, but I think Vaughan still has that kid in him somewhere, just like Mitchell Hundred. Silly or not, Hundred saved lives by being a superhero, and does again during the series by using his abilities. Situations occur that seem like they can only be resolved by his particular talents. Things have taken a more interesting turn recently with the idea that Hundred was given his powers to prepare Earth for a forthcoming invasion from a parallel world. Could we be seeing Ex Machina making the leap from political drama with superhero sprinkles to sci-fi adventure with politcal overtones? Honestly, I don’t think so.  I think Vaughan has a tighter grip on his aims with the series than that. However, Hundred’s powers and the invasion could all be Vaughan making a comment on…

The Comics Industry

Let me explain. Mitchell Hundred is an engineer by trade. A builder. He has a known love for all the old buildings of New York, particularly the Brooklyn Bridge.  All of a sudden he’s touched by greatness and can build extraordinary things.  So what does he do? He runs for office and tries to change things properly instead of superhumanly. Now, exchange “engineer” for “writer”, ” all the old buildings of New York” with “comic books” , “touched by greatness” with “hired by a big comics company” and “he runs for office and tries to change things properly instead of superhumanly” with “tries to write a comic that is different from the usual superhero fare, in an attempt to improve the comic book industry as a whole.”  Could Mitchell Hundred be Brian K Vaughan in disguise, trying to make things as right as he realistically can?

Whatever Vaughan’s intentions, Ex Machina is a great read, very enjoyable and very informative at the same time. If you’re looking for something different in your comics, you’ve found it.