Ex Machina, Book 1: The First Hundred Days

Ex Machina is a current project of the writer of Y: The Last Man and writer/producer of Lost, Brian K. Vaughan. It's an interesting political drama with a superhero twist, although the first volume didn't grab me like some other things have. My main problem with it is the art style. Tony Harris can draw, but at first glance the art looked strange for some reason, and a feature at the back of the book explained why - every panel is drawn from reference of people posing in photographs. It's an interesting idea, but it doesn't really work. Things are detailed in unnatural ways, and it just looks wrong - more like people posing than a drawing of something happening, because that's what it is. It's just a little awkward and off-putting, though it didn't hurt the experience too much.

Briefly, it's about a man who gained a super power through strange circumstances, but after realizing his attempts at heroics weren't really helping he decided to run for mayor instead. He only got elected thanks to one final act of bravery, though now he's forced to keep his powers in check and act as a normal politician. In the first few issues a couple problems arise he has to deal with, and it feels more like a political story with a comic book twist instead of the other way around. Some obstacles are pretty mundane civil stuff, others are more sinister and tie in to his past, which is revealed in flashbacks. I got enough out of reading to want to continue, but it's not as immediately impressive as Vaughan's other work.