Ex Machina Vol 5: Smoke Smoke

Ex Machina Vol 5: Smoke Smoke (2007) Brian K Vaughan, Tony Harris, Tom Feister, JD Mettler

Okay, I must be missing something somewhere, because this is the second volume in a row of Ex Machina that I found to be only so-so. Between the title and the cover, it should be obvious that one of the threads of this volume deals with marijuana. Hundred has admitted that he smoked pot, and now everyone, from his staff to the press is in an uproar over what this means.

The other smoke thread has to do with a man going around dressed as a fireman robbing residences, which has not only placed emergency personnel at odds, but also created a danger for emergency personnel, as some in the public now fear the sight of a fireman at their door.

What I found frustrating, is that the direction the story was going didn’t necessarily make a lot of sense, and although we discover who the fake fireman is, and we see the parts of Hundred’s past that relate to the issues at hand, there were several story arcs that were started but not finished. Essentially, this volume asked far more questions than it answered, which is not my favorite kind of story. I prefer some resolution, and this volume didn’t give that to me.

I also really didn’t like the bits where we spent time with the fake fireman. Ew. That was way more graphic that I needed, and I really didn’t need to know about that particular kind of fetish.

But, we did learn more about Hundred’s past, and we did get to see Kremlin again, and learn more about Bradbury. But although we see a bit more about Hundred’s transformation, we don’t really learn anything more.
Rating: 6/10

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