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The conclusion of the “Dirty Tricks” storyline certainly lives up to its namesake.

It’s Ex Machina time once again, and what a glorious time it is. I’ve been reading this book since it first came out, and month after month it goes right on the very top of the ‘Read Me First’ stack. For the uninitiated, this is the story of Mitchell Hundred, a man who discovered after a bizarre accident that he could talk to machines, and decided to use that power to become a vigilante in New York City by the name of ‘The Great Machine’. In this alternate version of our world he actually saves the second tower of the World Trade Center from attack on September eleventh, and uses that victory to run for mayor of the city. Now here’s the part where you really have to suspend that disbelief: he WINS. So now as mayor the weirdness doesn’t let up one bit, but now he also has to run the city that never sleeps, so the book is a fantastic mix of superhero fare and politics-two things that rarely get lumped together, and certainly not in as skillful a way as Brian K. Vaughan and company present it here. So now you can go and buy all the trades(someone somewhere nearby must be having a ‘Holy Crap Our Economy Is Ruined’ Black Friday sale, so you can whine less about the initial investment) and get all of the rest filled in for you. For those of you who also pick up the floppies: on with the show.

This month’s flashback puts us right in the middle of September 11th, after the first tower goes down. On the street, stumbling and reeling through the debris and ash, is Monica, the tour guide who is currently terrorizing the mayor as ‘Trouble’. In just these few pages we relive the horror of that day all over again, and come to understand why someone would become so obsessed with any self-styled hero who would step forward to do something to about it. Then we get to the final showdown between Hundred and this creepy new fan of his, and the end result is pretty hilarious. Afterward there’s an unusual offer put on the table by the Bush administation, and our old pal Kremlin is out stirring up trouble again. Once again there’s a ton a story getting juggled around, and all of it can be followed with no trouble at all, and it does what good serialized stories do: makes us drool all over ourselves for more.

There’s not really anything I can say about Tony Harris’ art that hasn’t been said a thousand times before by a thousand other fanboys, but you can’t talk about this book without mentioning just how important he is, so I guess this makes one thousand and one. It’s perfect for this title. The whole package-the layout, the linework, the backgrounds, the mood, the emoting of the characters-all of it is done so skillfully and then given that final polish by inker Jim Clark and colorist JD Mettler. This is one of the greatest art teams in comics right now. It’s always a joy to crack open the latest issue and see what they have come up with.

Another fantastic storyline comes to a close, and there’s so much more looming on the horizon. So many questions still unanswered, so many plots and schemes-it’s all just another day at Gracie Mansion, and it’s one politician’s term you never want to see ending. It’s also that rare comic that you also never want to see ending, for that matter.

Ex Machina #39
“Dirty Tricks” conclusion
Written by: Brian K. Vaughan
Pencilled by: Tony Harris
Inked by: Jim Clark
Colored by: JD Mettler
Lettered by: Jared K. Fletcher
Published by: Wildstorm/DC Comics

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