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A review by dereksilva
Ex Machina: The Deluxe Edition, Vol. 3 by Tom Feister, Jim Clark, J.D. Mettler, John Paul Leon, Tony Harris, Jared K. Fletcher, Brian K. Vaughan
2.0
I expected a lot more from this volume.
First of all, let me give my opinions on the series thus far. I was unimpressed with the first volume but the premise was interesting enough to keep me going. The second volume was a huge improvement. There were new facets to the story and intriguing characters. I expected that Vaughan was building steam and would continue on with the strong from volume two. I fully expected to enjoy volume three.
Unfortunately, nothing really happened in volume three. Yes, there was some backstory on Hundred and Bradbury, but it wasn't enough to make this whole volume worthwhile. There was a weird new character who, some might argue, made Hundred's super powers more interesting. But the character said so little and was around for such a brief time that nothing truly noteworthy came from his cameo. Maybe the next volume will further explore that character and his role in Hundred's powers, but it seems just as likely to me that the next volume doesn't feature the character at all. What happened to the mysterious symbols that were killing people in volume two? I don't know because there was no mention of them in volume three.
On a more technical note, I'm not a fan of Vaughan's writing. It's clunky and unnatural at times. Hundred's powers also seem to be getting weirder. I mean, there's a point when he asks traffic cameras to delete all footage that features him and his friends. What? I get that he can talk to machines but that's pushing the line. Do his powers also make machines sentient enough to carry out commands like searching through footage and deleting the appearance of a few people?
That might not be so crazy though if we knew literally anything about Hundred's powers. I'm now about 30 issues into Ex-Machina and basically the only thing I know about Hundred's powers is that he talk to machines. I don't know anything about how they perceive him and I don't understand why he has those powers. Again, the new character kinda seemed like he would help to clarify something. In the end, he just made some vaguely interesting remarks.
The artwork was decent enough, though I don't think the artists always captured the full emotion of scenes. Sometime the characters are just staring off into space instead of showing true emotion. I also can't help noticing that as the series goes on, Mitchell Hundred is looking more and more like a generic Disney prince. It's getting to point where he's just too fake-looking for me to look at.
So in summary, Vaughan had built up some great momentum in volume two. I was excited to see him continue that momentum. Instead, Vaughan slowed everything down. He didn't mention the odd signs from volume two. He introduced a new character, but didn't do much with that character. The writing didn't improve and art continued to be just good enough (though the colors are nice if that counts for anything). I expect that we'll get some bombshell about Hundred's powers in the future of this series. Unfortunately, the potential of a bombshell just isn't enough incentive to keep me reading. I'll consider getting the next volume over the next few days but I think my Ex-Machina days are over.
First of all, let me give my opinions on the series thus far. I was unimpressed with the first volume but the premise was interesting enough to keep me going. The second volume was a huge improvement. There were new facets to the story and intriguing characters. I expected that Vaughan was building steam and would continue on with the strong from volume two. I fully expected to enjoy volume three.
Unfortunately, nothing really happened in volume three. Yes, there was some backstory on Hundred and Bradbury, but it wasn't enough to make this whole volume worthwhile. There was a weird new character who, some might argue, made Hundred's super powers more interesting. But the character said so little and was around for such a brief time that nothing truly noteworthy came from his cameo. Maybe the next volume will further explore that character and his role in Hundred's powers, but it seems just as likely to me that the next volume doesn't feature the character at all. What happened to the mysterious symbols that were killing people in volume two? I don't know because there was no mention of them in volume three.
On a more technical note, I'm not a fan of Vaughan's writing. It's clunky and unnatural at times. Hundred's powers also seem to be getting weirder. I mean, there's a point when he asks traffic cameras to delete all footage that features him and his friends. What? I get that he can talk to machines but that's pushing the line. Do his powers also make machines sentient enough to carry out commands like searching through footage and deleting the appearance of a few people?
That might not be so crazy though if we knew literally anything about Hundred's powers. I'm now about 30 issues into Ex-Machina and basically the only thing I know about Hundred's powers is that he talk to machines. I don't know anything about how they perceive him and I don't understand why he has those powers. Again, the new character kinda seemed like he would help to clarify something. In the end, he just made some vaguely interesting remarks.
The artwork was decent enough, though I don't think the artists always captured the full emotion of scenes. Sometime the characters are just staring off into space instead of showing true emotion. I also can't help noticing that as the series goes on, Mitchell Hundred is looking more and more like a generic Disney prince. It's getting to point where he's just too fake-looking for me to look at.
So in summary, Vaughan had built up some great momentum in volume two. I was excited to see him continue that momentum. Instead, Vaughan slowed everything down. He didn't mention the odd signs from volume two. He introduced a new character, but didn't do much with that character. The writing didn't improve and art continued to be just good enough (though the colors are nice if that counts for anything). I expect that we'll get some bombshell about Hundred's powers in the future of this series. Unfortunately, the potential of a bombshell just isn't enough incentive to keep me reading. I'll consider getting the next volume over the next few days but I think my Ex-Machina days are over.