It’s hard to believe that Transmetropolitan, one of the most important comic book series ever, came out 20 years ago this year, and yet it is even more relevant now than when it came out.
Warren Ellis created a science fiction comic about a drug addicted, profanity spewing journalist (inspired by Hunter S. Thompson) named Spider Jerusalem, set in a post cyber-punk world. It was the greatest political satire ever in comics, and in the 5 years it ran, every panel lead to the brilliant conclusion.
That book helped me through the Bush years and now I am telling everyone to read it now! Warren Ellis has also written many comics and a few novels. Planetary is one you must read. RED was even turned into a movie (Kind of, it has the same name as his book and if you squint, a similar plot, but the comic was a violent condemnation of the reactionary plutocrats who aren’t qualified to be in positions of power that Bush put into office.)
The irony of this quote is that the inspiration behind Transmetropolitan was the election of 1992. The Beast was basically George H.W. Bush and the Smiler was Bill Clinton (And was also made to look like Tony Blair.) Warren Ellis wrote this book to be a critique of Clintonism but it ended up being a rebuke of George W. Bush. The Smiler was everything that Bush was, an authoritarian who used his spy agencies to shut down criticism he didn’t like. Images of protesters getting shot by police looked like the 2004 Republican National Convention. (Or the police firing flash bang grenades as they escalated things during the Trump coronation.) Spider Jerusalem’s flight from government agents had later parallels with Julian Assange, James Risen, or Michael Hastings. The craziest thing was the September 2001 issue of the series contained a building being destroyed. (I can’t seem to find anything about this online.)
Now we have a different era. Where the Smiler, who was inspired by Clinton and became a stand in for Bush by a different generation, now looks tame compared to Trump.
Now, we have an president who’s gas-lighting the media with “Alternative Facts,” who claims a mandate not given to him and is put in a cabinet of corrupt individuals.
When Warren Ellis was inspired to write Transmetropolitan, it wasn’t because Bill Clinton was such a wonderful guy. I was 15 when that election happened. I remember he wasn’t even the most progressive candidate, but he had great speeches. However, he was constantly contradicting himself. In the 70s he ran as a pro-union candidate, and then he lost. The lesson he learned? Become pro-corporate. His time as governor didn't match up with his rhetoric.
Hillary Clinton was a part of the “New Democrats” and was helped for that with money from the Koch Brothers. So I am under no illusion if she won we wouldn’t be still in the streets forcing her to listen to the will of the people. However, I feel she could have been moved. As Ben Jealous said, “You never elect somebody to make change happen for you. You elect somebody to make it a little easier to keep on making change happen.”
I am under no illusion that Clinton will try to run again, however, we do need two things:
1) We need someone who is as progressive as Bernie Sanders. Someone who is grace under fire (Which, sadly, at times Bernie was not.) Who starts preparing and introduces his or herself now. One of Bernie Sanders failings was not introducing himself to the country a year earlier. 2017? Let’s find this person. 2018? They introduce themselves to the country. 2019? Announce the run for President. The only problem is, I’m not sure who this person is.
Even if Clinton had won, we should have been preparing to primary her because her instincts are always to go right-wing.
2) As Warren Ellis also said (Also from Transmetropolitan) “Don't look for media-approved ideologically sound Right Causes where there are none. Look out of the window instead, and do something about what you see there.” We need to work locally.
I am doing my part to get Easthampton, MA declared a sanctuary city. I am supporting the resolution and am doing my best to get the word out there because the racists in my city seem to be better organized.
Sadly, I missed a meeting because I was sick.
What are you doing?
There is so much work to do, but not all of it is media-approved.
Also, we should all read (Or reread) Transmetropolitan. The beauty of fiction is, as long as something rings true, it doesn’t matter what inspired it, the truth will make it timeless. Transmetropolitan, a book inspired by Clinton, the book we needed during Bush years has lessons we need in the age of Trump.
I will end this with one last pearl of wisdom from Transmetropoltitan that I won’t expand on. “Journalism is just a gun. It’s only got one bullet in it, but if you aim right, that’s all you need. Aim it right, and you can blow a kneecap off the world.”
As I was about to finish this, I saw that there was a Warren Ellis quote that went viral. There will be an image of this soon: “Yes, it is always correct to punch Nazis. They lost the right to not be punched in the face when they started spouting genocidal ideologies that in living memory killed millions upon millions of people.”
Brilliant stuff.
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