I used to think that comics were stupid. Really. I didn't want to read about superheroes and crime-fighting gadgets. I thought the whole genre was for stinky, acne-ridden, anti-socialites.
Then my friend lent me Alan Moore's Watchmen, a literary masterpiece. (This was before the annoying smudge-faced, sticky-fingered, dirty-diapered baby brother of a movie started tagging along.) It opened my eyes to an entire genre of genius works.
The second thing I read was Warren Ellis' Transmetropolitan. The work was crass, dirty, hard, critical, eye-opening. It felt like the cutting edge. It shadowed the Bush/Gore election scandal that at the time I was still hopping mad about. Spider Jerusalem is the unapologetic lead character, a gonzo journalist who's returned to the filthy metropolis to fulfill a book contract. I've seen it described as "mind-bendingly cool" and I whole-heartedly agree.
Warren Ellis is a media-tracking machine. He rips through news feeds like a mechanical velociraptor, biting off huge chunks, ripping them apart, and spitting the relevant stuff out here.
His most recent comic project is FreakAngels. He's teamed up with Paul Duffield and they're releasing it a week at a time online--for free. It reminds me of John Wyndham's The Chrysalids but with post-apocalyptic cyberpunks instead of kids. Anyway, it's got some adult content so watch the little ones: FreakAngels Episode 1.
I read to the end of book five in two days. He's on the last book.
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