Ex Machina

RoboRoommate v.2 has a problem with superheroes, despite reading a lot of their comics.

"A superhero can fight crime, but who the fuck are they? They're not elected. They're vigilantes who do whatever they want. They don't actually fight the sources of crime."

I have to agree, in a way. What causes crime, how do we solve the problem. RoboRoommate v.2 had the answer:

"Hundred is kind of like a social superhero. It's great that he's more effective at mayor than he ever was as a superhero."

Mitchell Hundred, the protagonist in Ex Machina, by LOST and Y: The Last Man writer Brian K. Vaughn and artist Tony Harris, is, in fact, the mayor of New York.

A New York City civil engineer, life is fine-and-dandy (maybe too dandy, as the comic hints), when one day, out on a boat under the Brooklyn Bridge a mysterious floating object explodes in his face and he

is left permanently scarred (he has markings on the left side of his face and body remniscent of a circuit board or electrodes); and develops the ability to communicate with and command mechanical devices. This includes anything from guns, to cellphones, to cars (but not, as Hundred discovered, a device as simple as a bow-and-arrow).

(Wikipedia)

The machines can give him information, can listen to him. But they can also lie.

So he does what any man raised on comic books would do -- he becomes a superhero -- the Great Machine. Assisted by Bradbury and family friend (mentor) and enabler Kremlin, he sets out to right the wrongs in Pre-9/11 New York City. 

And he's terrible at it. He has no training, and flies -- sometimes literally -- by the seat of his pants. It's too much for him, he doesn't want to die looking like an idiot, and hangs up the suit. Decides to run for Mayor, where he can make real change until...

A hijacked plane flies into the World Trade Center. Then the Great Machine takes up the call one last time... and becomes a hero.

That's just the set up for the story. Because after saving the 2nd Tower, Mitchell Hundred, savior, is elected mayor of New York. But Hundred isn't a typical politician. He's a guy who grew up middle-class, raised by a politically active single-mom, and in the heart of New York. 

But that's not where the series starts. Rather, it starts in 2005, with a dejected looking Hundred telling us, "People blame me for Bush in his flight suit and Arnold getting elected, but truth is... those things would have happened with or without me. Everyone was scared back then, and when folks are scared they want to be surrounded by heroes. But real heroes are just a fiction we create. They don't exist outside of comic books. [...] Anyway, this is the story of my four years in office, from the beginning of 2002 through godforsaken 2005. It may look like a comic, but it's really a tragedy. That's life, huh?"

The rest of the series is structured similarly to LOST (appropriate that Vaughn was hired last season on staff), intercutting real-time drama with flash-backs in various moments in time. We see bits and pieces of Hundreds up-bringing, of his brief-stint as the Great Machine, and, of course, of 9/11. It works just as well in comic form as it does on the TV screen.

Hundred is a man who tries to fight the source of crime as mayor, rather than all gussied up as a superhero. But maybe the tragedy is... as horrible a superhero as he was... At least as that he was mostly harmless. The series is limited to 50 issues, and now that we're down to the last quarter, it seems to be building towards something grand.

The series is smartly written, and the characters are extremely dynamic. Mitchell Hundred is pragmatic, bullheaded, good-natured, and in over his head, though surrounded by people who think, maybe, just maybe, this is the guy that can really change things (sounds a lot like the real world, doesn't it?). 

Also, there is a mystery surrounding him that makes me feel like he's that friend who keeps everything bottled up inside. It's frustrating to spend so much time getting into his head, only to have him shut things off, keeping you at bay. For instance: is Hundred gay? It's alluded to... hinted at... but it's so ambiguous... It's frustrating, but at the same time forgivable. Hundred's our friend, and goddamnit, even if he won't let us in on his secrets, we have to respect his commitment to privacy.

Dave Wylie is a councilman of the city who is surprised with becoming the Deputy Mayor upon Hundred's election. A much smarter political maneuverist (is that a word?) than Hundred, he provides a counterpoint to his boss's full-speed-ahead attitude, and brings his attention to facets he wouldn't normally see. And, of course, Bradbury, head of Hundred's security now that he's mayor, is the only truly loyal person Hundred has. And Kremlin... well. You need to read it to see.

The point I'm trying to make is that, in a huge rarity for comics, the characters are well drawn (figuratively and literally), with depth and poise. Not only that, but Harris' art gives them an extra layer of truth. Using staged-photographs to compose each frame, Harris' style is so particular, and beautiful and exaggerated at the same time, that he gives his illustrations the quality of performance, like watching a great actor up on the screen. 

In a day-in-age where we focus so much on ineffective leaders making bad decisions, attacking the problems rather than their root... maybe what we really need, even if just in a monthly comic, is a superhero to run things for us. 

(You can find Ex Machina HERE on Amazon, or at your local comic-shop)

-RoboNixon