Ex Machina #10 Review

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Reviewer: Tim Sheridan
Story Title: Tag: Conclusion

Writer: Brian K Vaughn
Penciller: Tony Harris
Inker: Tom Feister
Colorist: JD Mettler
Letterer: Jared K Fletcher
Asst Editor: Kristy Quinn
Editor: Ben Abernathy
Publisher: DC Comics/Wildstorm

This is a series that gets better with every single issue. And that is saying a lot, considering it started with one of the best first issues I’ve ever read.

This is a pretty quick read, but that’s not to say you can fly through it. It’s just the way it’s paced and laid out that it really moves. The best issues of comics do this. But Ex Machina really pulls you along every month and lets go only at the end of the last page.

The timeline helps out with that. I’m uncertain as to what the present is in this book, because at the beginning of each new scene we are given a new date. But it’s not really confusing, because it all flows in a way for you to better understand the story as a whole. Trust me, this is a great use of non-linear storytelling.

So for a few months, there has been a killer loose in the book, and when we find out who it is, it’s quite shocking. But our “hero”, the mayor deals with it in a really brutal fight.

But that’s only half the issue. The other half is Mayor Hundred dealing with a political supervillian in the form of a gay marriage. I like how the controversy of the storyline is dealt with in a matter of fact way, rather than an exploitative way, as is the issue of Hundred’s own potential homosexuality. It’s just a part of the story, never becoming more important than the story itself.

The script is incredibly well crafted, as is the art. The art and story seem to be one of those situations where they are perfectly in sync.
I can’t recommend this comic any higher. Everyone can find something to enjoy in it.

Some may prefer to wait for the trades for Ex Machina. Do what you will, but please pick it up somehow. This is how great comics are done.