FFB:Transmetropolitan Vol. 1: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis

Transmetropolitan Vol. 1: Back on the Street by Warren Ellis

Following on from last weeks Liam José FFB on Crooked Little Vein by Old Man Ellis as he is know in my family, I thought that I would point everyone towards his master work, the series Transmetropolitan (Transmet for short) and it’s introductory collection of the first three issues Back on the Street.

In this starter collection we are introduced to mad journalist Spider Jerusalem a kind of Hunter S Thompson malcontent looking at the future of what is extensively America. Over the course of the series Spider is going to take on religion, politics, and the media Establishment, but it all starts with these 96 pages.

from wiki (cause I’m too lazy to type my own story arc synopsis-- oh and here’s the link)

"Back on the Street" #1-3
Spider Jerusalem, the God-King of Journalists, is presented as having resided for five years on The Mountain, a tranquil and relatively unspoiled retreat, unmolested except for the odd murder attempt, where he has had time to grow his hair long and devote his attention unadulteratedly to exploring new drug experiences. He is contacted by the 'Whorehopper', an editor of the Driven Press group, to whom Jerusalem still owes two books out of a five book deal. To avoid lawsuits, Jerusalem returns to The City, where he finds work at his old workplace, The Word, as a newspaper journalist, loses all his hair in an incident with the shower unit, and manages to stop a major riot. And this is just the beginning...

Yeah that’s pretty much the start of it all, and it’s a great read, but what I really want to talk about is that way back before I was part of this little circle of noir and crime fiction fans, I was one of the Warren Ellis Forumites. I met other Ellis fans locally and around the world, I was in the WEF chat room as 911 was happening, and I was scolded by the old man himself several times. Ellis built a community and he created something, not only with the WEF, and Transmet, but with his other books The Authority and Planetary (which all of you pulp fans really should check out) that in many ways prepped me for what I do now on this blog and everything that I have done in the last 10 years on line.

and to think it all started when my local comic shop The Vault of Midnight pimped this slim 96 TPB to me on some random forgotten day.

[Check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmetropolitan for more info and all that jazz]

Thoughts, comments, spare change?