Ex Machina #42 - WildStorm

Brian K Vaughn and Tony Harris are brilliant. Here's this series about the Mayor of New York City . . we're 42 issues in to it, some 5 years later, and we're stilling learning new stuff about his honor every month. The book starts off in flashback mode. Mitchell is thinking about a man that he fought back in 2001. The reason this guy is so important is because he seems to have the same powers as the Mayor. The exception being that he talks to animals instead of machines. Anyways, long story short he takes him down and puts him away. This is all back when he was the Great Machine. So now we're some 3 to 4 years later and the Mayor is dealing with all the normal stuff . . graft and corruption from the Governor's office, trying to clean up the city for the upcoming New Year's Eve celebration, and now it appears that there's someone out there killing transients. Also we know that January is working behind the scenes to try to take him down because she blames him for her sister's death, and Kremlin is working with a reporter trying to give away all of the Mayor's secrets. Recently he's turned her on to something called the White Box. We don't really know yet what that is, but I think it has something to do with the Mayor's powers . . maybe how he got them? Anyways, she went to Bradbury to ask him about it and it spooked him so now he's brought the concern to his boss. The Mayor sends him out to destroy it right away, but that may have been a bad move because the reporter is hot on his tail. Meanwhile, we find out that there's someone in the sewers, I think that animal guy from 2001, that's sending all the rats in the tunnels up to kill the tourists that are gathering for the festivities. This guy just can't have a normal day, can he? I almost feel sorry for him. It's almost as if a target has been painted on him just because of his position. That never happens . . right? Anyways, this is a fantastic series. Brian and Tony have done a great job with it right from day 1. Anybody out there who's looking for something to read . . this would be a great book to pick up.