Ex Machina Vol 7: Ex Cathedra

Ex Machina Vol 7: Ex Cathedra (2008) Brian K. Vaughan, Tony Harris, Jim Clark, JD Mettler

I’ve been reading Ex Machina for awhile now, and I’ve been pre-ordering the collections since then. I have yet to regret these pre-orders, yet I also feel like the more I read, the less I know about Mitchell Hundred and The Great Machine.

As with previous volumes, we get flashes into Mitchell’s past. These glimpses relate–in some way–to what is happening currently in Mitchell Hundred’s life. And what is happening in Hundred’s life right now is that the pope has asked Mitchell to come to Rome for a private audience. Although it is supposed to be an apolitical event, there’s a spin on everything, and Mitchell can’t see what the pope’s spin on.

Things become even more confusing for him when he meets the pope’s chief astronomer.

Story-wise, things are slowly moving forward. We’ve learned how Hundred came to office, but we’re still not sure where he’s going. Though we get a big glimpse here of where the powers that be believe he is supposed to go, which is pretty fascinating.

One thing that bothered me is that for some reason Mitchell looked very different in this volume than he did in other versions. On the cover he looks the same, but there’s something a little off about the way he’s drawn.

And at some point I made the comment that I think the actor who plays Nathan Petrelli on Heroes looks a lot like how Mitchell Hundred has been drawn. Well, although the artwork is difference, there were other parallels between the two in this volume. I wonder how Brian K. Vaughan feels about Heroes, considering I believe he has Ex Machina plotted out.

Although the way this story is written continues to frustrate me, I’m still sucked in, and will pre-order the next volume as soon as it appears.
Rating: 7/10

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