Machina

WARNING: This review contains spoilers for the final issue of “Ex Machina”. Which is weird for a critical appraisal of a comic book, I know, but please bear with me. “Ex Machina,” when it started six years ago, was touted as a clever melding of ground level superhero stories and West Wing level political conversationalism. Suprisingly, Ex Machina has stayed very rooted in the superhero genre throughout its run. We’ve had supervillains throughout, mind control, and all kinds of other crazy stuff flanking the heavily researched debates over municipal funds and the New York City Subway System. The final issue, though, puts most of that aside and considers it resolved as we take a Last-Ten-Minutes-Of-Six-Feet-Under-Speed look at the next few years of Mitchell Hundred’s life and, by extension, his friends. On the first page, Hundred muses, “Happy endings are bull$#!%. There are only happy pauses.” This issue, almost overwhelming with pretty dire and sad circumstances certainly bears him