Reviewed: Transmetropolitan #34, by Warren Ellis, Darick Robertson and Rodney Ramos, published by DC/Vertigo.
The plot: Spider Jerusalem begins his attack on the president, interrogating and intimidating his way to information he can use against him.
After the three part "Lonely City" storyarc which gave a sharp new twist to the overarching story of Transmetropolitan, Ellis slowed the pace down and scaled things back, offering three issues of tangental tales which brought Spider’s inner life to the forefront and spotlighted different characters, culminating in last month’s I Hate It Here. The world of the comic is large enough and more than rich enough to handle these excursions into the margins, and now after this effective pause, the book begins a new multi-part story, the three part "Gouge Away."
While the last few issues have seen Spider passive, beaten by cops and "turned into a cartoon," this one finds him on the warpath, going out into the streets to pump people for information and letting loose with a little frustration. As Transmetropolitan approaches its final year, this story is the first time that finality has been palpable. Spider is preparing his attack upon the new president, and it has the feel of a final battle on the horizon, of the settling of old debts and personal vendettas. The fact that it takes place during the Ides of March, as Spider's’computer screen informs us, only heightens this feeling. As a singular issue, #34 is a little slight, a fight in the middle takes up a few too many pages and a couple conversations could be clipped, but for the most part it is not a complaint with the issue itself, but simply the fact that it feels so much like a piece of this three part puzzle that it will only be enriched by the other two. This issue begins with a kind of introduction for the storyarc in the form of one of Spider’s columns, along with the credit page which is a panel of Spider standing against a wall repeated twice and bathed in a dangerous red. It gives off the sensation that he is being watched, and that no matter how active he is in the coming pages, he still may not be in control, and it sets the mood for what will follow.
Darick Robertson, so consistently good month to month, slips a bit in a few panels, which look sketchy and empty. The only reason it is noticable, however, is because the rest of the panels set the standard so high. His overpowering sense of detail is still present in his crowd sense, and he handles the quieter moments of this over-the-top book with precision, especially in a scene where Spider receives a mysterious package. After its first installment, "Gouge Away" has the potential of being not only another excellent arc, but an important turning point as it wraps up Transmetropolitan’s year three.
