Broken Frontier

The mystery behind Mayor Hundred’s machine controlling abilities comes into focus when a citywide blackout frees him of them.

A mysterious figure clad in strange garb is haunting the streets of New York City during the blackouts of August 14, 2003. Conversing with someone from another timeline or reality this man, who calls himself Zeller, claims to have the answer to the question of who or what Mayor Hundred has become since a strange artifact blew up in his face and granted him control over the machine world.

Several fascinating things occur with almost every new issue of Ex Machina. First, the reader is typically treated to the exploits of Mitchell Hundred prior to his days in office. This issue we get a little more insight on Mitchell’s relationship with his mother, circa 1977 when he was just a boy frightened by his first experience with a blackout. Where little Mitchell felt trapped and afraid, the same situation has seemingly freed the mayor of his powers some sixteen years later. We see that the ability to speak with and hear machinery is a constant strain on his Honor’s sanity, and this new development is gleefully liberating. And then there’s Zeller—has this man come as friend or foe, and what on Earth could be his motivations for such a visit?

It always takes me a couple reads to truly appreciate an issue of Ex Machina. Brian K. Vaughan is one of the most talented writers in comics today, but even so, I find myself somewhat distracted by the amazing artwork by Harris, Clark (taking over inks for Tom Feister without it being noticeable) and Mettler. There is so much detail in every panel of every page that the eye scours the page in wonder.

Certainly that is not to say that the story is in any way a bore. In fact, this is one of the strongest issues the title has ever seen, which is saying quite a lot considering the accolades and critical acclaim it has received since its beginning. Vaughan is building a great mystery at a pitch-perfect pace around the most central plot piece of the book—Hundred’s powers. And as excellent as the politics of this book often are, this issue is devoid of political matters aside from how to deal with a power outage.

Ex Machina is perhaps the most courageous comic to be published since Maus in that it takes a terrible tragedy and changes the view to something more hopeful. In Hundred’s version of New York City, one of the World Trade Center towers still stands. While some may see this as a tasteless or disrespectful exploitation, others, including myself see it as a story about how one particular New Yorker was affected by the awful event.