If you've been following View from the Gutter for the past few weeks, you've learned about a couple of the more well known alternative comics, and a couple of hidden gems from the past few years. But this week we're going to talk about the mother of all alternative comics, and arguably the best comic book written in the last, well... ever: Transmetropolitan.

Of course, we can't really talk about a work of this magnitude without first discussing its creators, Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson. Primarily known for his original creations Transmetropolitan, Planetary, and last years ridiculously funny Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E., not to mention critically acclaimed runs on dozens of titles including Excalibur, Stormwatch, The Authority, Thunderbolts, and a non-rational number of Marvel's Ultimate line of comics, Ellis is one of the biggest names in comic books right now. It is at times difficult to walk into a comic shop and not find a half dozen titles bearing his name.

Combined with his internet blog, from which he dispatches links and articles espousing his futurist/transhumanist and counter-cultural ideas to legions of idolatrous fans, Ellis can seem less of an author and more some cosmic force of nature, dwelling deep in the blackest heart of the internet, unleashing heinous thought-bombs on an unsuspecting universe.

No slouch himself, Robertson has been around the comics universe a time or two, drawing for such titles New Warriors, The Punisher, Justice League, Spider-Man, and original creation The Boys, co-authored with writer Garth Ennis. Together, Robertson and Ellis created a thought-provoking series of unparalleled breadth and meaning.

Transmet (as it is known to fans of the series), is the only survivor of DC's short lived Helix line of comics. Designed as a home for science fiction and science fantasy comics, the imprint folded after a single year. Transmet, however, found a new home at sister imprint Vertigo, and went on for 60 issues, running from 1997 to 2002, and now available as 10 trade-paperbacks.

The story is set in a future world where popular TV shows include Sex Puppets and Ebola Cat. A world where food is anything from caribou eyeballs to dog to cloned human leg. A world where you can pick up genetic modifications at the drug store or download your mind into a ambulatory cloud of nanites, but nobody, and I mean nobody even knows what year it is.

In this world of tomorrow, we follow the trials and tribulations of gonzo-journalist writ large, Spider Jerusalem: a foul mouthed, tattoo-laden, drug-addicted, bowel-disruptor wieldin', hob-nailed boot wearing son of a bitch. Aside from those ever so lovable traits, he happens to be one of the last real journalists in a world that has been taken over by Fox News journalism. He is one of the few people left who really pays attention to what's going on in the world, and he wants everyone else to see what he sees. The horror, the beauty, and the madness.

The meta-plot of the series involves 2 presidential elections, and Spider's coverage thereof. However, the majority of the series is about watching Spider's life as he researches his newsfeed column, I Hate It Here. We get to see the world as he sees it—or I should say, the world as Warren Ellis sees it, as Spider Jerusalem is the poster child of the 'author avatar', a literary vehicle by which an author uses a character as a walking mouth-piece for the writer's views and ideas. Frequently when Spider speaks it's Ellis' voice making the point.

As we follow Spider we see some of the terrible things that man does to himself. But we also see good things, often found deep in the heart of the most disturbing scenes imaginable. We learn about a world were technology hasn't made us better people, but we aren't worse either. We're just human. Terrible, wonderful, imaginative creatures.


Transmetropolitan is of equal measure science fiction, social commentary, journalism, and pure speculative futurism. It probes the nature of the human condition, and asks difficult questions about the essential nature of what it means to be a human being, and to live in a society; what kind of ideas modern culture feeds us, what happens when we blindly accept what we are told, and what happens when we take a closer look at the things that happen around us every day.

Often overlooked, the brilliant artwork of Darick Robertson is essential to the nature of the comic. The art is both clean and busy. In every panel, dozens of details about the world become apparent through details almost effortlessly dropped into the background. Signs, shops, billboards, random trash on the ground, and especially the people of The City, where the series takes place, inform us about a world were everything is a thousand times bigger, faster, and brighter, but still recognizably our own.

I'm going to be totally honest with you here: This is not a comic series that you read to be happy. You aren't ever going to come away from this feeling great about life, in fact you're probably going to come away mad as hell, because you can't help but see the all the things that are fucked up about our lives reflected back at us through Transmet's weird little mirror. But it is by far one of the most amazing, original, meaningful works, not only in the comics medium but of literature itself, that you may ever read. Plus, it's really funny when the President shits his pants.