Nice Collection With a Different Structure

books:

	• Ex Machina, Vol. 3: Fact v. Fiction Brian K. Vaughan Wildstorm, 2006 - 144 pages average customer review:based on 16 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Does Not Disappoint

The third volume of Ex Machini is consistent with the first three. The hostage situation was extremely intriguing, but the whole thing about Hundred and his mother was a little boring to me. I am, however, a big fan of Ex Machina, and Brian K. Vaughn, and will definately continue reading each volume.

More development in a good comic

Despite its slight super-hero flavor, Ex Machina sustains a fairly believable story line - NYC's new mayor, an ex-engineer, in way over his head and trying to apply rational logic to political machinery. His super-thing isn't what keeps the reader interested, it's his very human doggedness and determination to do what he thinks is right in problems with no right answers.

This time, that includes the everyday drama of jury duty (with a wild turn of plot), family revelations, and flashbacks to the kind of scene that no one could ever forget. The artwork excels, not in an out-there and edgy way, but as a vehicle for carrying the story across a jagged and varied terrain. Color sets moods well, but the dynamic and varied figures and faces really make it work.

Ex Machina doesn't blaze new trails in visual storytelling or exotic conjecture. Instead, it delivers credible characters and recognizable-enough situations - an enjoyable moment away from my otherwise busy world.

-- wiredweird

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Not bad.

Brian K. Vaughan, Ex Machina: Fact v. Fiction (Wildstorm, 2006)

Mitchell Hundred keeps trying to run New York City his way, and people keep wanting him to stop. As usual, there's a mini-mystery running through the volume (and, as usual, it's the weakest part of the book); it's predictable, and you can ignore it, but the rest of the book is just as interesting as the series has been so far. Vaughan continues to impress me with his ability to take the much-overdone "post-9/11" genre and make something worthwhile of it. ***

Political intrigue with superpowers

For those who've grown beyond "Hulk smash" and "With great power comes great responsibility" comes ex-machina; an alternate history story about a NYC mayor who happens to to be able to talk to and command any machine to do anything. Meanwhile, he also has a city to run, which makes for amusing and thought-provoking fun. The characters are well-drawn, the dialogue is crisp and the art is direct and good. The series shows every sign of being consistently good (I've read the first four graphic novels so far) and unique.

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Nice Collection With a Different Structure

There is a trend in modern comics that I've really come to like. Around the third or fourth collection, a lot of regularly arc-oriented comics hit readers with a few shorter tales. One-shots, shorter arcs, whatever the case may be, it happens a lot, and I love it. Gaiman did it with The Sandman, Willingham did it with Fables, Mignola did it with Hellboy, Whedon is getting read to do it with Buffy, and Vaughan does it in this volume of EX MACHINA. We take a break from longer story arcs to get a one-shot, a three part mini, and a two issue mini. Each of these are consistent in the quality of the material, which is no less than what we've come to expect from Brian K. Vaughan.

Vaughan continues this character study of Mitchell Hundred, who is as much Clark Kent as he is a The West Wing character. Hundred has to make tough decisions, both in his political career and personal life, and it's engaging watching the directions the character is being taken. The weakness of this volume is that the supporting character don't get much screen time, and in a series that is still as new as this one, doing that sort of makes the reader forget that character a bit. I'd like some more Dave scenes than this book offered just to keep the character active, but other than a few nits I've picked, the book is very solid.

Tony Harris's art is wonderful and very realistic, which vibes well with the story. Vaughan's writing is as consistently entertaining as it always is, but this story has still yet to register the same emotional significance as Vaughan's other stories have. That being said, it took four volumes of Y: The Last Man for that to happen, and I now consider that one of the best comic series of all time. I know one day Ex Machina is going to stop entertaining me and start WOWing me.

8/10

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

EX MACHINA tells the story of civil engineer Mitchell Hundred, who becomes America's first living, breathing super-hero after a strange accident gives him amazing powers. Eventually Mitchell tires of risking his life merely to maintain the status quo and runs for mayor of New York City, winning by a landslide. This new collection features three unique storylines of the Eisner Award-winning series which Playboy calls "a two-fisted blend of super-hero action and political debate!"

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