Darick Robertson

Spider Jerusalem turns his gonzo journalism to cover the election in Warren Ellis’ demented future; while it was written in 1999, the lunacy depicted there looks like a superb curve fit to applying the classic science fiction “if this goes on” principle to modern politics. Sadly, the only thing that appears fantastical in this story is the reaction of voters to unpleasant truths being trotted out in front of them; Ellis’ world has a higher proportion of people willing to acknowledge show more observable reality than the one we live in today. show less

It's hard not to imagine the inspiration for this book coming on less like a lightbulb going on and more like some sort of brain aneurysm. Even for Grant Morrison, a hard-boiled, brutal, sordid and degraded crime character suddenly visited by a child's imaginary friend with the appearance of a blue horse with feathers is a bit wtf.

Nick Sax, ex-cop, current killer-for-hire kills a bunch of people and then has a heart attack or a stroke or some horrible thing, ending up in hospital and show more visited by cops and torturers and a blue horse called Happy who desperately needs him to get up and save Hailey, the girl whose imaginary friend Happy is. Hailey and some other children have been kidnapped by a horrific pervert monster Santa Claus and the clock is running out, but Nick is being chased by gangsters and torturers because he killed the wrong person and may hold a password that unlocks a fat bank account. Murder and bloody mayhem and bad langiuage and sleaze and drugs and horror are the stuff Nick wades through with Happy as his cheerful, if slightly desperate guide, trying to persuade Nick that he's real and to go save Hailey.

It's appalling. And brilliant. And funny. And I feel slightly guilty and unclean for having enjoyed it. But in a good way? I think this makes me a bad person now. show less

This was an excellent ending to a fascinating and engaging series, one of the best science fiction stories I've read in a long time.
If I were to have any quibble at all it would be that the final confrontation felt rushed but then everything felt rushed leading up to that point as things started happening faster and faster so it may be more that then anything. I found many of the themes in the book, as I saw them, fascinating. The importance of media and journalism in holding our leaders to show more task, the power individuals have in making a difference...if they are willing to pay the price, and how life just keeps moving on despite it all are just a few. For such a dark and at times depressing story there is a lot of hope, love and respect here as well. We don't' have to just accept the world as it is, we can make a change and it's worth it. show less

I know Ellis is blacklisted now for his own crimes, but there's no escaping the man always had something to say.

I was reading these volumes for quite a while, then just couldn't find a few of the latter ones. I've completed the collection now, so I'm working my way through Spider Jerusalem's later adventures. And, as my first foray back into this world, this volume kind of slapped me around.

There were far less shenanigans in this one, and far more serious thought thrown down. We're show more introduced to the dirty underside of both Spider's world and, in reflection, our own. And it's ugly.

Darick Robertson's art is simply perfect, yet again.

The funny thing is, in the intervening years between the first six volumes and this one, I've come to be good friends with a real-life Spider Jerusalem. It just makes me appreciate these pages even more. show less