Transmetropolitan: Spider's Thrash (2002) Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson & Rodney Ramos, Titan Books, £10.99, trdpbk, 144pp, ISBN 1-84023-457-1
Collecting issues 37-42, this volume sees outlaw journalist Spider Jerusalem (very loosely based on Hunter S Thompson) lose his job. Maybe that has something to do with having made an enemy of Callahan, the new President of the US, or maybe it has to do with having made an enemy of everybody else (including his own assistants). Whatever it is, Spider's on the street again, avoiding assassination attempts, and landing a job at an independent web-server where his work won't be censored. But perhaps Spider's biggest problem is that, after a lifetime of drug- and self abuse, he's dying. Can this be the end of our hero..?
This is the 7th collected volume of Transmetropolitan and it seems to be stomping towards some kind of conclusion. The charm of the book is in its black (and sometimes sick) humour, and in the social observation (more appropriate to the US, but the UK is catching up fast). Ellis, Robertson and Ramos have lovingly steered the title into many contentious areas and Vertigo/DC are to be commended for sticking with the title. All the single issue covers, by Tim Bradstreet and Matt Wagner, are included.
Tony Chester
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