Ex Machina, Vol. 4: March to War

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
Ex Machina, the Eisner Award-winning series that Entertainment Weekly voted "One of the 10 Best Fiction Books of 2005," tells the story of Mitchell Hundred, who becomes the Great Machine, Americas first superhero, after a strange accident gives him amazing powers. Eventually tiring of risking his life merely to maintain the status quo, Mitchell retires from masked crime-fighting and becomes the mayor of New York City.

In this volume, a shocking tragedy strikes an Iraq War protest in downtown Manhattan, and Mayor Hundred must choose between the liberty of his constituents and the security of his city. Plus, a tale from the past finally reveals the origin of his mysterious archenemy, Jack Pherson.

Customer Reviews: Read 4 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

War and War December 6, 2006
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

Ex Machina seems like it can do no wrong, and is constantly improving. In the fourth volume of Brian K. Vaughan's political superhero tale, Mayor Mitchell Hundred has to deal with controversy over a protest over the Iraqi war. After he gave the protestors a marching license, he immediately became the target of conservative backlash. However, none of that really matters after someone releases ricin gas at the protest, killing and injuring many demonstrators, and landing a friend of Hundred's in the hospital.
Hundred and Angotti work closely together to find the person who released the gas, and though we don't see too many flashbacks to Hundred's days as the Great Machine, we see a new side to Hundred and Angotti's relationship.
The second story is the two-issue special that introduces Hundred's old nemesis, Jack Pherson. While doing a radio show, Mitch is reminded of his final showdown with Pherson, and we learn his origins. Pherson was a sound technician who was working with someone who wanted to replicate Hundred's ability and market it. A freak accident caused Pherson to gain the ability to talk to animals, much the same way Hundred talks to machines.
Having Pherson communicate with animals is, in my opinion, the perfect mirror to Hundred's ability to talk to machines. Each represents one extreme side of human consciousness; machines are cold, calculating, and logical, while animals are instinctual and wild.
The political stories and superhero events are expertly intertwined; Vaughan is able to masterfully blend these two genres and create something unique. Ex Machina is always great, and this volume is no exception.

4 out of 5 stars

Best volume yet February 1, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This book has never been able to fully engage me, yet I always pick up the trades. While the writing has never really sold me, there has always been obvious potential and the art by Tony Harris is very nice. So even if the book has failed to live up to expectations set by others, it is still better than a large number of other books that I buy (I'm not a very hard guy to sell a comic book to), so I continue to support the book.

This volume experienced a noticeable and substantial improvement - particularly over the third volume (which I didn't care for). There are essentially two stories in this trade. The first deals with Mayor Hundred trying to support the rights of protesters of the Iraqi war while at the same time trying to keep them safe from terrorist themed attacks. I thought Vaughn did a fine job of playing with the balance between these two sometimes conflicting goals (political freedom and physical security) without sinking to the use of cliches.

The second story gives us some back story on Hundred's nemesis. This portion of the trade was not as strong as the prior story arc, but still did an excellent job of tying together Hundred's super-hero exploits with his subsequent political career.

Either the book spiked in quality, or I'm just finally coming around - but I really enjoyed this trade paperback. I hope the next volume continues in the same direction.

5 out of 5 stars

Quite excellent. December 12, 2006
2 out of 7 found this review helpful

I finished this book less than eight hours after it arrived at my door and immediately after reading the last page, I checked to see when the next volume of this series will be published. That should say all that needs to be said about the quality of this work.

1 out of 5 stars

i'd recommend this book heartily to my enemies... December 7, 2006
1 out of 73 found this review helpful

so they could be bored to death by this poseur.

5 out of 5 stars

Bouncing Back February 25, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

After a disappointing volume 3 'Ex Machina' is back in top form with Volume 4 'The March to War'. The Iraq war was a subject that Vaughan would have to tackle eventually in this series and here he does it with a fine even-handed approach.
One of Mayor Hundred's staff resigns to participate in an anti-war demonstration and Hundred is left to figure out how to provide security for the city while not trampling on the rights of free speech of the protestors. The ending of this story leaves Hundred at his most disheartened about his ability to change the world through public service.
A second story that includes the 'Ex Machina' special flashes back to Hundred as he is campaigning for the Mayor's office. In an interview he is asked about the death penalty which prompts a flashback to a fight with a super villian who Hundred is locked in a battle to the death with. Both stories together make for the best trade so far for this series and a must read for fans of intellegent and sophisticated comics.

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