A Few Random Thoughts About Ex Machina

1) I just caught up on the latest story arc "Dirty Tricks", featuring a PVC-clad-daredevil-stalker-fangirl of "The Great Machine" staging 2004-specific protests against the Bush government while trying to gather the attention of her idol. It was, by Ex Machina standards, a little overblown, but also coyly tongue-in-cheek. It's interesting to see how Vaughan starts sliding in superhero clichés over the course of this book, but doing so in a manner that fits with the a-step-away-from-reality Ex Machina universe.

2) I had only ever read Ex Machina on a month-by-month basis until now, reading the last five issues in one sitting. I can see why Vaughan was such a good fit for Lost, given his expert use of present day and flashback storytelling mix, driving two stories forward at once, presenting parallel themes if not a direct story correlation.

3) There was a moment there while reading issue #35 -- when Mitchell Hundred was talking about how cities are machines and how perhaps he can communicate with ghosts because of the part they play in the machine (yes it makes as much sense as it doesn't) -- that I thought... is Mitchell Hundred going to become, or father, or in some way/shape/form related to Jack Hawksmoor of the Authority? Seems absurd right? Think I need to check Vaughan's ownership of the title, make sure it's not work-for-hire at Wildstorm.

4) My brain want to a strange place for a while, and I began to ponder a story wherein in 1962 James Brown encounters a strange, alien-esqu microphone backstage before one of his concerts. He picks it up, sings into it with a "OWWWW" and it explodes, leaving JayBee unconscious on the floor. When he awakes he finds that electronics sing to him, and that he can sing back to them (with a "HUH" or "OW" or "HIT ME") and get them to do his bidding. He tours the country, and from city to city, town to town he dresses up as the bedazzled, jumpsuited Godfather of Soul, doing good deeds and saving lives and entertaining the masses. It's in Dallas when he stops an assassination attempt on JFK's life that his many brave actions puts him on the road to politics. The book follows his exploits climbing the political ladder, as well as flashing back his early hard-working showbiz days. I call it, naturally, Sex Machina. Tagline: "We never got the Big Payback, we got something better instead."