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Let's read the cyberpunk transhumanist comic book series written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Darick Robertson; it was published by DC Comics in 1997–2002.
> In college I stayed the night at these peoples' house after a party and waking up earlier than anyone else, I didn't have much to do except read the first issue of this comic. I remember liking it but I never saw it again and didn't think about it for a long time.
I'm going to be reading here. https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Transmetropolitan
Cross over with the cyberpunk thread maybe? https://goeshard.org/main/0x000003/
The theme of this volume is sharp transitions and juxtaposition. Spider Jerusalem is crusty hermit man in the mountains called back to the city. I remember reading this part well -- it's actually about the only thing I remember.
There are some unique themes that seem like they could be commentary about today despite being written back in 1997.
He's an ex-journalist who has to go back to work. One of the things he was bitter about that made him leave the industry is not being able to get at the truth anymore, which is such a prophetic thing in the current era where journalism is basically 100% dead.
I love the part where he is so stuck in traffic that he just abandons the car and everything in it.
Also shout outs to the guy hooked up to an IV bag of drugs on the street corner.
Besides the mountain -> city transition, we also see Spider go from vagabond -> professional.
And one thing I didn't remember at all from when I first read this is the Transients, which is basically trans-species people. I didn't go into this prepared for how similar that is to modern contexts and I'm excited to see what kinda direction it will go.
Most cyberpunk I've seen with commentary about trans-humanism is in regard to becoming a cyborg as you replace your body with machine parts. This is completely different than that and seems more close to real, modern life than anything else I've seen so far.
We learn how it's possible for transients to change their species into an alien. I just read it and even I couldn't explain it to you. Everyone hates the transients. They're holed up in a ghetto, moving around convinced they've seized control but they're just waiting to be slaughtered. Kinda remind me of anarchists from the Spanish Civil War.
Their leader is a douchebag.
Transients are suffering. Guy leading the revolution is an idiot. Spider adopts a mutant cat. Nothing on TV but bullshit. Fin.
This comic is really at its best when it's showing and not telling.
It's not that the writing is bad or anything. The monologues of Spider Jerusalem bring the whole thing together. But that's where it really shines: Spider the journalist telling the story.
This comic is sweet. You should go back to reading it.
