I’ve lost touch with Ex Machina a bit lately. Not that I haven’t been reading it, just that as each new issue has come out, I’ve found myself failing to remember what happened in the previous part, or even if there was a story arc currently ongoing. My buying habits over the past few months have been so erratic that I honestly can’t tell you if there have been delays on it or not – but it certainly feels like there have been. Just as it feels like Brian K Vaughan hasn’t really been firing in top gear on it since the harrowing “March to War” storyline, presumably focusing most of his energy on finishing Y : The Last Man and writing for Lost.

But I’ve got a lot of residual affection for what was once my absolute favourite title on the shelves, and I’m also aware that unlike, say, Powers (with which there are a lot of parallels, actually), there is a genuine conclusion being aimed towards. It’s easy to forget, but the very first issue of Ex Machina began with a post-Mayoral Mitchell Hundred telling us his story in flashback. And I still want to know how he gets there.

It might be slightly unfair to draw the comparison, since flashbacks have been an integral part of the series since day one, but it’s hard not to see similarities to BKV’s telly work – this being a standalone issue that rattles through flashbacks of a supporting character’s life in order to round them out a bit. In the case of Police Commissioner Angiotti, it’s long overdue – and while her life story (wanted to be a cop as a child, became a bloody good one, and married a guy who worked in the WTC, was saved by Mitchell on 9/11, and cheated on her) isn’t particularly interesting, it at least humanises her somewhat, her role in proceedings up until now being little more than “by-the-book top cop and frequent clashing point for Hundred both as superhero and as mayor”.

Marketed by Wildstorm as an “ideal jumping-on point” (which strikes me as strange – Ex Machina is a beginning, middle and end story which is well into its second half, and the only real jumping on point is the first issue), it’s a nice change of pace, at least – largely inconsequential, but with a very neat last couple of pages that redraw the lines of Angiotti and Hundred’s relationship, with an excellent bit of comics pop culture referencing to boot. I get the impression a big storyline is on the way soon, and the series is building to a climax – and so issues like this one (and the next, which is also apparently self-contained) make for something of a breather. Although when issues are coming out so slowly, you start to wonder how necessary that is. Ex Machina remains a superb series, despite the recent stuttering, but I suspect it’s one that reads far better in trade than waiting for it every month or two.

Tags: Brian K. Vaughan, Ex Machina, Tony Harris
Publisher: DC, Wildstorm