I Hate It Here

By Warren Ellis
Illustrated by Paul Gulacy, JH Williams, John Cassaday, Igor Korday, Phil Jiminez, Colleen Doran, Eduardo Risso, Tim Bradstreet, Lea Hernandez, David Mack
Published by DC Vertigo

Spider Jerusalem is an angry man.

Seriously. Really, really angry. It's a wonder he's even alive--it's a wonder he doesn't starve to death. How can he digest, considering that his stomach must have little room inside of it for anything other than pure bile?

You get a plenty big taste of Spider's anger in the regular Transmetropolitan title, which we adore and venerate and demand that you all buy on a regular basis, but the pure stuff, the unadulterated venom of Spider Jerusalem, is in I Hate It Here, a collection of his columns for the Word newspaper. Writer Warren Ellis' words for Spider are accompanied by a gallery of artwork from a gaggle of fine artists who don't usually get much chance to draw Spider and friends.

The biggest disappointment about I Hate It Here is that the columns all seem way too short. Based on the advance word about it, one might have expected longer columns along with the fine artwork. Which begs the question--are these excerpts of full Spider columns, or does he really just write two to three hundred words in each column? If the latter is true, then damn, I'd love his job. The brevity of the columns do make the book seem somewhat slight.

On the other hand, it's a bound, prestige format book, and with a $5.95 cover price, it's a solid value. The artwork is universally strong, offering viewpoints of the world of Transmet that range from the brutally realistic to the vividly surreal. And if you read through the book once and toss it aside, you're probably missing the point anyway. Spider's writing may be short, but it's very dense, and benefits from repeated readings.

If you had to compare Spider's writing style to any real-life, modern-day writers, the first to spring to mind would probably be Hunter S. Thompson. Spider certainly seems to preach Thompson's gonzo lifestyle in his own futuristic way. The writing's also reminiscent of Lester Bangs as well, in the sense that you'll read a sentence and move on mindlessly, before realizing that you've just passed by a really awesome sentence packed to the rafters with meaning, and you should probably go back and re-read the sentence before you miss anything. Finally, considering the source, there's also probably a fair bit of Ellis' writing style in Spider's screeds. Maybe Ellis takes the opportunity to funnel all his lingering frustrations into Spider's venom-packed missives.

I Hate It Here is perhaps most exciting as a unique look at one of the most provocative and clever characters in comics today. It's rare that any of the fictional veils in comics storytelling are pulled back to reveal deep insights into the characters, and that's exactly what this book does. The writings may be too short, but their impact goes a long way toward making up for their length. It's a full exposure of the vicious anger--and compassion, and frustration--lurking in the heart of Spider Jerusalem.