Monk and Steve Horton more or less shoved the first trade (THE FIRST HUNDRED DAYS) of this series into my hands at Wizard World six days ago. It cost me $6.50.

Best frickin six-fitty I've spent in a very long time. On my run to the LCS on Wednesday I bought the second trade (TAG) and burned through that in one sitting, just as I had the first. TAG was the only other trade the store had in stock, but I asked the guys working there to get the other two (or three; they weren't sure) trades into my pull box by next week -- courtesy of the store's numerous sister locations -- and I snapped up the most recent back issues of the series, which likely have not yet been collected. I'll read those after I've read all existing trades.

I love love LOVE this series. The premise is fascinating. I hate to sound like one of those scumbag movie executives from THE PLAYER, but this series takes the political "What if?" fun of THE WEST WING and mixes it with the "flashback/flash-forward/flash-wherever-the-hell-we-want-to, because we'll be giving you backstory in drips and drabs to keep you guessing and drooling for more" structure of LOST, and gives the reader just enough super-hero action to remind us that we're still playing around with that genre.

I only knew Brian K. Vaughn from his ULTIMATE X-MEN run, and those issues didn't exactly blow me away, so EX MACHINA comes as an extremely pleasant surprise. As a STARMAN fanatic, I was of course already quite the fan of Tony Harris' gorgeous art...although I was a tad disappointed to learn -- thanks to "extras" in the first trade -- that Harris now works off of photos of models, much like Alex Ross. Maybe I'm being a snob, but that kind of makes me less impressed with an artist. In that arrangement, it's the photographer who's handling panel design and "camera angle" (assuming that said photographer is not also the penciller), and one could accuse an artist who works from photos of being a "tracer," much like the oft-maligned Banky Edwards from CHASING AMY.

The photo stuff aside, I am very much looking forward to picking up the remaining trades next Wednesday...and, once I catch up, I now have a kick-ass new (to me, anyway) monthly title to anticipate every month.

Many thanks to the Monk and the Hort. Good call, boys!

Glad you liked it, Frank. I only read it in trades, so you'll soon be caught up to me. As for Harris, I don't know how much he used photo-ref in STARMAN, but I know that he's a dead ringer for Jack Knight, so he probably used some. That said, it took me awhile to warm up to his art in EX MACHINA.

ULTIMATE X-MEN is my least favorite Vaughn comic. I'd put Y: THE LAST MAN even with EX MACHINA, and RUNAWAYS very close behind those two.

And since you're reading NEW AVENGERS, you might want to check out THE HOOD. It's a MAX miniseries that Vaughn did with Kyle Hotz that introduced the character.

I may have to check it out. How close is it to being as good as Booster Gold?

Way better, Jay. And I liked BOOSTER GOLD.

Since I think Booster Gold is a douche bag of a character, I'd have to say that EX MACHINA is better than the new BOOSTER GOLD series, even though I haven't read any of the latter.

=)

The fact that he's a douche bag is very important in the new series. It's really very good. And I say that despite HATING DC right now.

I forgot all about that mini!

It was really, really good.

Since I'm not impressed, of late, with either NEW AVENGERS or this Hood character, I'll probably wait on that mini.

Is this Leinil Yu guy leaving the book anytime soon, or do I need to write a letter to someone? Butt-ass ugly art.

I don't know what happened to his art, back when he was on the first Wolverine series and then X-men it was good, it may be the lack of inks(it looks like they're shooting from the pencils from what I've seen).

Agreed. His art has destroyed what was a borderline book for me anyway. I shall be a Mighty Avengers man only for the time being methinks.

As for BKV I love all his stuff apart from Ultimate X-Men that book is just not working for me at the moment.

EX MACHINA is a great book! Always good to hear more people are picking it up. Kudos to Monk and Steve for getting Sisko into the book. Everyone else not reading please follow Frank

Seriously. EX MACHINA is nothing short of brilliant. It's totally worth your money.

Absolutely!

Glad you like it! Don't kill me, but I never read past the first trade - not that I didn't want to, just never got around to it. I knew it was good enough to recommend, though, and I'll be picking up the rest now to refresh my memory.

You mention you haven't read other BKV, which means you haven't read Y: The Last Man yet. I've read over 50 issues of that one, so it gets an even more educated recommendation. If you're not a Y addict by the last page of the first book, then I never knew you.

Ex Machina is great and I was EXTREMELY happy to see that Brian K. Vaughn is now a writer on "Lost." One of my favorite comics writers now on one of my favorite shows. TV shouldn't be that good.

You've never read it, but you will be reading it to "refresh your memory?"

Are you from the future? Does Ex Machina become the basis of our society in the future?

Can someone comment on the raciness, i.e. the "adult factor?" I usually read my comics with three wee ones bouncing all over me, asking "what's that?"

(p.s. Steve -- Strongarm did not survive this test)

I try to flip trough a book and see if it will be okay. For example, Criminal is adult work, but it's generally dark and obscure, and they don't even ask about it. (Thought the most recent issue had boobies that my daughter kind of saw, got to be more careful -- for that reason, Criminal is on probation in my book).

What do you think?

I tried the first few issues last year but it wasn't grabbing me. Maybe I'll try it again.

EX MACHINA is definitely adult. I don't remember any boobies, but one storyline involves use of the N-Word, and some of the violence is a bit graphic at times.

Dude, that's like saying "how close is this actor to being as good as Samuel L. Jackson"

Some thing are just beyond normal human comprehension. One in a million events. Like Sam Jackson. And Booster Gold.

Still, Ex-Machina is an excellent read. Definitely adult, though. But pretty good.

The "F word" is also quite prevalent in almost every issue.

GAH!!!!!


BKV is goodness.