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After six years one of my all-time favorite titles has come to an end. Ex Machina has finally run its course. The interesting thing for me is that I almost never even picked up the first issue. It was just off of a recommendation of someone that worked at the local comic shop that I picked it up. Usually his taste in comics wasn't even close to mine, but in this case it led me to what would be an incredible series. I believe what he said to pitch the title to me was, "Hey Wally, I know you keep up on politics and stuff so I'm thinking this might interest you." I knew Brian K. Vaughan had quite a following from other titles but I hadn't read anything of his that I was aware of at that time. Needless to say I was hooked from the start and never looked back.
What was it about the title that kept me as interested as I was? That's actually a very simple answer. It was the title's examination of topical political issues. While it could be downright serious at times, for me it was never heavy-handed. Brian K. Vaughan does something that even most politicians won't do (if they can), which is actually look at the complexity of issues. He looks at the contradictions within the issues themselves. While I may not always agree with the final decisions of Mayor Mitchell Hundred I was always impressed with his (Vaughan's) explanations of how he arrived at his decision.
The premise of the story was also great. An "everyday Joe" happens to gain super powers and then decides to run for Mayor of New York, and gets elected. Someone who simply wants to make positive change in the world starts out doing so with a mask, only to continue doing so by taking political office. I'm sorry, but I don't think you could pay me enough to make such a change. I'll stick with the mask, thank you.
Perhaps that is part of what made Hundred such an incredible politician during his time as mayor. Despite the "super hero" things that happened (like people who could talk to animals, crazy adrenaline junkies and time/dimension shifting people and madness and machines) during his term Hundred was able to stay focused on what he took office for, to make a better place for all. Of course Hundred knew one thing very well, and that is that you can't make everyone happy all of the time. He also knew the other side of that, which I believe most people don't know, and that is that you CAN piss everyone off all of the time. He did that, usually because he was able to see things others couldn't, or as is usually the case, wouldn't.
Still, all good things come to an end and Ex Machina did so in issue #50. Some will not be happy with how the title comes to an end. I really had to sit and ponder it myself for some time. I wondered if Vaughan had taken an "easy out" in how he finished things, but the more I thought of it the more I saw he didn't. During the title we saw Mitchell Hundred's rise and fall as a super hero, as a mayor, and in his own eyes. The title ends where it started out, with Hundred not appearing to be in the best of places. By the end, we know why. When we pick up a torch for a cause we must be willing to always give what we have, but the question we rarely ask is what will we and others lose in that process. Issues #1-49 (and the special issues) of Ex-Machina are the battles Hundred fought in. Issue #50 is the loss.
At the start of issue #50 Hundred talks about why he likes comics. He talks about the difference between comics and stories with "real" endings. It was well established during the title's run that Hundred was a comic fan. He had been one since he was a child. Yet, despite all of that his path did not go the way he thought it would. Despite all the people he had in his life (wonderfully written by Vaughan and drawn by Tony Harris) he still found himself going down a path that even he did not foresee. For better or worse, by the end of the title the "Great Machine" had become a "political machine" like so many others.
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