A study in masculine narrative: Transmetropolitan - Introduction

See the Preamble for context.

A few details on the books examined, my history with comic books, and a disclaimer of sorts.

To date, I've only read two Transmetropolitan books, which consist of several numbered strips bound together to make one volume. Vol. 1: Back on the Street is comprised of strips 1 through 3, and Vol. 0: Tales of Human Waste is a sort of tear sheet of our protaganist-journalist's columns. The latter includes the strips titled "I Hate It Here" and "Filth of the City".

I don't know if I'll read the complete Transmetropolitan series, however, these two volumes provide me with plenty of material to write about.

Not a review

This is not a review, nor should my commentary on the kinds of masculinity Transmetropolitan portrays be mistaken as criticism of the work as a whole.

For the record, I unexpectedly enjoyed reading Transmetropolitan, and encourage others to investigate it for themselves. I found the visual storytelling much more sophisticated, dramatic, and clever than I thought it would be. The illustrations are extremely well done and it took me much longer to read the books than I'd anticipated because I spent so much time exploring each scene and admiring the artistic decisions.

I should also probably state that I'm not a comic book reader and I can't remember the last time I explored comic books, although I'm certain I must have in the past, probably in my teens, and rejected it as a genre. I do remember the critical acclaim and public embrace of Maus in the late 80s.

My main reference point for comic books is Superman.

Guilty pleasure

Transmetropolitan turned out to be a guilty pleasure, and proved to be a nice alternative to novels; in fact, I'm embarrassed that I enjoyed this comic so much. I plan to talk about why that would be, but part of it has nothing to do with this specific comic strip, and more with the stigma attached to the comic book genre.

If you don't immediately recognize what I'm referring to, see American Splendor or the comic book nerd from The Simpsons.

But leaving that aside, another aspect is directly linked with Transmetropolitan: the strip is obviously calculated to deliver periodic shocks that, whilst gratifying to the reader, are also heavily laden with taboo. I'll address this as well.