Up next...Transmetropolitan!

It's time to get the Randomizer to give us another pick. We'll have to make it quick today, as I'm still slogging my way through this week's new comics. It was a huge week, with big events and a bunch of new titles starting.

Blackest Night #2 was good, but the Aquaman zombie family reunion lacked the gut-punch that was the Elongated Man/Hawkman scene from the first issue.

Adventure Comics #1 had a fantastic Superboy story. I'm so glad we got him back. I can even get over the loss of having a decent Teen Titans book to read if some of the good titans show up here every now and again. The Legion co-feature was relatively disappointing. Not much happened and the art was decidedly middle-of-the-road. I guess I just got spoiled coming off of Gary Frank and George Perez.

The Marvels Project #1 was a strong read. I was a little worried with the humdrum nature of Cap these days, but I shouldn't have been. Brubaker and Epting together again was worth the wait.

I haven't made my way to Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1 and Avengers #1 yet, but they are next on my list...just as soon as we see what book the Randomizer has in store for us.


...and that book is Transmetropolitan #12 from August 1998, published by DC Comics.

Last pick we ended the streak of Marvel/DC dominance, and with this pick we end the reign of the almighty superhero. You have to go back close to two months for our review of Dark Horse Presents #58 to find a superhero-less title. An argument could be made that Hitman #47 wasn't really a super-hero comic, but when your first appearance was in a DC annual from the line-wide Bloodlines event from 1993, you've already lost that argument.

This is also another non-DC/Marvel pick as well, but that's not altogether true as Helix was an imprint of DC comics. With the success of Vertigo, DC was looking at getting into other genres where they could develop another imprint that would more or less stand on it's own.

Helix was the result, and it focused on tales that had a decidedly science-fiction or science-fantasy bent. As an experiment, it was ultimately a failure as the line folded after only a year or so. I believe Transmetropolitan was the only title to make it out alive, spending the next 48 issues over at Vertigo.

This was also the series that turned me into a Warren Ellis fan...an Ellisaniac?...an Ellis head?...an Ellis zombie? I feel that as rabid as his fan base is, there should be some sort of clever nickname for them. I'm surprised there's not, although maybe I just haven't been invited into the club and been given the secret handshake yet.

So consider my upcoming review my thesis, or term paper, or application for the club. Would it help my bona fides if I showed you all eight of my DV8 #1 covers?

No? You sure?

All right then, see you in a day or two for the full review.