Okay, I’ll be honest... I could tell Ex Machina was falling apart with the last story and the latest story, Off the Grid, just goes ahead and proves it.
Brian K. Vaughan is a great writer--his Runaways is fabulous--but it’s obvious he’s lost grasp of Ex Machina. What used to be a tight book now has long, boring scenes with lots of talking and absolutely no action. Vaughan’s trying so hard to keep all his possible readers happy--issue #15’s reference to what a “good man” Dubya is--while still keeping the reader unsure of the main character in Machina. I mean, we think we like him, then he goes and does something shitty like getting people arrested for bullshit. Black people, no less.
One of my favorite little quips is about not letting the reader pass judge the character. We read to pass judgment, sure, but only at the very end. That’s the point of the journey, right? Ex Machina feels like Vaughan’s passed judgment on his character and he’s trying everything he can to keep the reader guessing about him. Of course, it’s all red herrings. The mayor’s not really gay--come on, Vaughan’s probably got a movie deal going on Ex Machina.
This story, Off the Grid, is such a waste of time--not only does the mayor learn a deep, dark secret from his past, he also squares off, Dirty Harry-style against a bunch of bikers--and I can see Vaughan’s foreshadowing fingerprints all over it. It introduces a few elements to be discussed and explored at a later date, they just exist here as something to refer back to in the future. It’s lazy writing and that’s going to hurt Ex Machina the most--Vaughan’s disinterest in the series. I can forgive a lot--because the series has established itself as good so well, so many times in the past--but even Tony Harris’ art is lazy in these issues. There are a couple frames in here where the body-shapes are inhumanly squat, which is incredible, since Harris uses photo-reference....
Considering the incredible quality of Runaways right now, it’s plausible that Vaughan might not be able to sustain two great comic books... but that doesn’t seem to be happening. He looks like he’s slacking on Ex Machina and you can feel it.