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Comics

Vaughan’s ‘Ex Machina’ Grinds to Halt

This is a bittersweet day for comic book fans. After six years, we get to find out how Ex Machina ends. But the 50th and final issues of that series may be the last comic written by Brian K. Vaughan that we get to read for the foreseeable future. There’s no way to dance around this: I have a man-crush on Vaughan. The dude is my literary hero. I haven’t read every comic he’s written, but I’ve loved every comic of his that I’ve gotten my hands on. And I’m not the only one. Vaughan’s work on Ex Machina and Y: The Last Man earned him a writing gig on a little TV show called Lost. He’s also a hot property in Hollywood, penning original screenplays and ones based on his comics, such as Runaways. Vaughan swears he’ll never walk away from the medium that made him famous, but I have no idea what his next comic book will be, much less when it will be published.
By Dan Koller |
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This is a bittersweet day for comic book fans. After six years, we get to find out how Ex Machina ends. But the 50th and final issues of that series may be the last comic written by Brian K. Vaughan that we get to read for the foreseeable future.

There’s no way to dance around this: I have a man-crush on Vaughan. The dude is my literary hero. I haven’t read every comic he’s written, but I’ve loved every comic of his that I’ve gotten my hands on.

And I’m not the only one. Vaughan’s work on Ex Machina and Y: The Last Man earned him a writing gig on a little TV show called Lost. He’s also a hot property in Hollywood, penning original screenplays and ones based on his comics, such as Runaways. Vaughan swears he’ll never walk away from the medium that made him famous, but I have no idea what his next comic book will be, much less when it will be published.

If you’re not familiar with BKV’s work, congratulations. You’ve got a treasure trove of material to devour for the first time while us fanatics wait fitfully for our next fix. Here are a few of my favorites:

EX MACHINA

Publisher: WildStorm

Format: The 50-issue series began in 2004 and ends today. It will eventually be collected in 10 trade paperbacks.

Concept: Mitchell Hundred, who used to be a superhero named the Great Machine, gets elected mayor of New York City after stopping the second plane on 9/11.

Why it’s so great: Vaughan manages to make a comic book about the inner workings of City Hall interesting, and not just because each issue features a flashback to Mayor Hundred’s days as the Great Machine. On the second page of the first issue, Vaughan came right out and told us that Hundred’s time in office would end in tragedy. Now we get to see what he meant. And the art by Tony Harris, which is inspired by photographs he takes of a troupe of actors, is outstanding.

Y: THE LAST MAN

Publisher: Vertigo

Format: A 60-issue series that began in 2002 and ended in 2008. It has been collected in 10 trade paperbacks.

Concept: A Gen-Y slacker named Yorick Brown travels the world to figure out why a global plague instantly killed every male mammal except him and his pet monkey.

Why it’s so great: Stephen King has called it “the best graphic novel I’ve ever read.” I’d have to agree with him. Like the best hourlong TV dramas, this is a series of small stories that tell one larger epic story. With his pop-culture obsessions and roots in Cleveland, Yorick is an obvious avatar for Vaughan himself. But Vaughan puts his fictional counterpart in one dangerous situation after another, creating a cliffhanger at the end of nearly every issue. What killed all the men isn’t the point; what happens next is.

PRIDE OF BAGHDAD

Publisher: Vertigo

Format: A hardcover graphic novel published in 2006

Concept: A group of lions wander the Iraqi capital after being accidentally set free during the U.S. military’s “shock and awe” campaign.

Why it’s so great: Vaughan’s first stab at anthropomorphic animals is sad, beautiful, and poignant. The lions’ liberation from the Baghdad Zoo, for which they are ill-prepared, is a metaphor for the Iraqi people’s liberation from the Saddam Hussein regime.

THE ESCAPISTS

Publisher: Dark Horse

Format: A six-issue series published in 2006. It’s been collected in one volume.

Concept: It’s a sequel to Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer-winning novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay. Years after that book ended, a trio of aspiring comic book creators buy the rights to the Escapist, the superhero created by the novel’s title characters.

Why it’s so great: This is Vaughan’s love letter to the comic book industry, just as Kavalier & Clay was for Chabon. In the end, Vaughan’s Cleveland-based protagonists figure out the best way for them to honor the creativity of Kavalier and Clay is to come up with their own original characters (as opposed to telling more Escapist tales). That’s not surprising, considering Vaughan has pledged in several interviews to do the same for the rest of his career.

DOCTOR STRANGE: THE OATH

Publisher: Marvel

Format: A five-issue series published in 2006-07. It’s been collected in one volume.

Concept: Doctor Strange, who was a physician before he was a sorcerer, gets back to his roots when he stumbles upon a cure for cancer.

Why it’s so great: Although Vaughan has vowed to focus on his own characters, this is the best example of the wonders he can work with other writers’ creations. A Marvel C-lister for decades, Strange has never been depicted as such a witty and clever hero as he is here. Yet Vaughan’s version doesn’t seem the least bit out of character.

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