Travel Advice for a Journey Into Comic Books

The Humorous: Red Rocket 7 and Transmetropolitan

I was first attracted to Red Rocket 7 (seven issues, 1997, written/drawn by Michael Allred) by the artwork. No, let me take that back—first it was the title, and then the artwork, and then the fact that although it’s an adventure about an alien clone who hides out on Earth, it’s completely devoted to rock music. Allred’s art is precise but softened, like the missing link between cartoons and hyperrealism, and his storytelling is exciting and emotional. Seven arrives on the planet in the 1950s as rock & roll is born, and wanders from place to place throughout the years, always managing to find himself on the scene of historical musical moments, like the British Invasion or Ziggy Stardust’s Farewell Concert. Seven’s history is told in diary format as he tries to avoid destruction by the Enfinites, who tracked the original Red Rocket to Earth.

It’s an exciting story, and if you’re a fan of rock music and its history, you’ll definitely find a lot to enjoy. Allred’s devotion to historical detail is apparent, and his regard for the “fallen” heroes like Stu Sutcliffe and Mick Ronson is touching. Meanwhile, lasers! Robots! Adventure! Red Rocket 7 is collected in a single volume, which was reprinted for the story’s tenth anniversary. If you’re lucky, you may also run across Son of Red Rocket 7, a CD recorded by Allred’s band The Gear.

I had Transmetropolitan (Transmet for short) recommended to me by a friend whom I consulted about where to start in the modern comics world. Transmet was at the top of his list, and I soon found out why. The 60-issue series (1997 – 2002, written by Warren Ellis, drawn by Darick Robertson) is hilarious and painful and triumphant and just plain ornery. Spider Jerusalem is a pain-in-the-ass journalist who returns from a self-imposed exile to write for the newspaper of the largest megacity in the world because he has run out of money. The world is that of the near future, where technology has grown and shrunk to incredible proportions, and the citizens let themselves be ground beneath the feet of the powerful. Spider, being the only voice of Truth in a city made of lies and advertisements, decides to disturb the garbage heap to see what crawls out. Along the way, he acquires a pair of (in his words) filthy assistants and countless enemies.

The best tangible part of Transmet is the art. Robertson packs an infinity of ideas, characters, and technology into every panel, which reminds me of Kevin O’Neill’s work on the 1980s British comic Nemesis the Warlock. There is a hypersensitivity to detail that makes the art deeper than the page itself, so you can read the comic several times and see something new each time. You don’t get the sense that Robertson is relearning the proportions of the human frame in each new panel, as you sometimes see with other artists; each take on the characters is constant.

The best intangible part of Transmet is the emotion behind the work. In Spider Jerusalem you can feel a burning anger—even hatred—towards the greedy figures who run roughshod through the general populace in their mad scramble for money and power. This anger fuels his column, “I Hate It Here,” as well as his personal actions, which include the use of a handheld bowel disruptor set on “prolapse.” But at the same time as he hates the beasts loose in the marketplace, he loves The People (though he professes not to) and works overtime to get them justice, usually by exposing the beasts as the evil creatures they are. In the end, he just wants to write The Truth and get paid for it. I have a feeling that Warren Ellis is showing a lot of his inner (and outer) self in Spider.

Transmetropolitan is collected in ten volumes which are all in print.

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