MADreads

September 11th reinterpreted

September 11th, 2007 Kelly - Central

Imagine that only one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed on September 11th.  This is the opening premise for Brian K. Vaughan’s Ex Machina series.  Mitchell Hundred was a civil engineer in New York City in 1999 and while working on a suspecious device near the Brooklyn Bridge was maimed by an explosion that gave him the ability to control machines.  As time progressed Hundred begins to use his powers under the alias “The Great Machine” and begins a crime fighting spree throughout the city.  On September 11, 2001 he is able to use his powers to land the second plane before it hits the World Trade Center.

Following his act of heroism, Hundred decides to leave his super hero days behind and run for the mayor of New York City.  Mayor Hundred wins in a land slide and Vaughan’s first book, Ex Machina:  The First Hundred Days, is a look at how the former super hero is adjusting to running the largest city in the country.  The storyline focuses on corruption in government and is peppered with flashbacks to how Hundred’s actions as “The Great Machine” have effected his new position.  A strong cast of supporting characters round out a well thoughtout political drama in graphic novel format.  Tony Harris’s full color art grounds the reader in the New York landscape and adds to the drama of the text.  Want to know what happens after the first hundred days?  Don’t worry there are more Ex Machina graphic novels in the library’s collection and if you can’t wait for the next graphic novel this book is published as individual comics.

Entry Filed under: Graphic Novel