SCI-FI

This is just what Warren Ellis revels in, dark sci-fi with a nasty twist. And while Desolation Jones isn’t up to the standards of the blackly comic Transmetropolitan, it starts with a bang and is far bleaker than most of Ellis’ output. Used as a human test subject by the British military, Jones has been left a hollow shell of a man. He spends his time policing the washed out special services, military experiments gone wrong and retired undercover operatives all now secretly roaming the streets of LA - a huge, open prison, that none of the more ‘normal’ inhabitants are even aware of.

We open with a grim case involving Hitler’s porn, the NSA and exploding snakes. Williams III’s art is fluid switching from stark monochrome to fully painted panels to fit the mood and emphasise the action while Ellis has created an intriguing new world that can only become richer as more volumes are published.