Paper Girls – as I’m sure you know – is excellent, and while not without its flaws, the concluding run of Y: The Last Man is one of the most bruisingly emotive finales of any long-form narrative I can think of (I remember reading the most bitter moment of its not-happy-ever-after (though not hopeless!) ending late one night having stayed up “just one more just one more” many many chapters and just weeping and weeping and weeping and weeping (I mean that’s what I do most days isn’t it right lol yes fuck off innit yeah lol whoops)) and though I have tried a tiny slice of Saga and didn’t love it (but know I should probably try again as – I believe – it’s broadly considered better than the others mentioned above), when I saw the first volume of another comic book series by Brian K Vaughan on sale for only one pound (that’s a small amount of money in England, roughly equivalent to maybe like 10c in euro or dollars), I had to have it.
It’s strange that I didn’t write a blog post about any of those other three Brian K Vaughan texts, despite having read all of them well within the window of the ten years of this blog’s life. There aren’t many things at all that I’ve read and haven’t commented on here, so it seems strange that three entire books by the same writer have all, somehow, escaped comment. I’m sure there’s a reason for this but I don’t know what it is…
Ex Machina isn’t space opera, isn’t post-apocalyptic, it isn’t time travel (though it does tell the backstory of its protagonist in not-quite-but-nearly-irritatingly disordered flashbacks), it is instead a less sophisticated (and both less and more violent at the same time) attempt at a noughties Watchmen – yes, it is “what if superheroes in the real world?” and it tells the story of a superhero known as “The Great Machine” who is elected (as an independent) the mayor of New York City, after he – spoiler here for the tbf excellently-done final page reveal of issue one – stopped half (and crucially only half) of the NYC bit of 9/11 i.e. in the world of Ex Machina, one of the World Trade Center towers still stands.
The mayor – who was a former civil engineer before he was a former superhero – has the super power that he is able to talk to and control all machines (the more complex the machine, the more he can control it, but it’s mechanisms rather than electronics specifically (i.e. he can tell a gun or an old car to not function, but he cannot affect a bow and arrow)). I mean, it’s not “talking to”, but giving orders to, which is not the same thing. But the story isn’t really about the mayor using his powers while in office, it’s just about him being in office and the superpower adventures appear as flashbacks, including him doing his bit to limit the damage wreaked by Mohamed Atta and colleagues.
The Great Machine has/had a jetpack he had built in communication with its parts, so he could fly; he has a ray gun and possibly various other bespoke gadgets that will appear later in the flashbacks that I imagine continue to fill the issues of Ex Machina beyond the 11 included in this volume.
There’s discussion about power and politics, federal versus state versus city powers and lawmaking processes, there’s a lurking threat that whatever mysterious force gave the mayor his powers may impact NYC again. There are also foreign government agents trying to learn the secrets of the mayor’s abilities (though the US government seems to be pretty lukewarm about it as long as they’re able to know where he is…)
Is it spectacular? No. Am I desperate to read more of this story? No. If I were to see the second volume available for one pound (or free) would I get a copy and read it? Yes.
It’s not bad, but it’s not exceptional. And some of Vaughan’s work really – I promise – is.
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scott manley hadley aka SOLID BALD live
Here’s a video of me recently performing at the prestigious (it has a Wikipedia page) comedy night, Quantum Leopard. Listen to how much fun the crowd is having. You could have that much fun, too!
Forthcoming gigs include the following – there may/will be others:
18th February 2026, 7.30pm: Laughable, Wanstead Library
26th February 2026: Mirth Control, Bexhill-on-Sea
12th March 2025: BALD PERSONALITY DISORDER 30 MIN WIP at Glasgow International Comedy Festival
26th March 2026, 7.30pm: Comedy @ Cosmic, Plymouth
May 2026: BALD PERSONALITY DISORDER FULL LENGTH WIP at the BRIGHTON FRINGE
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