If a former action star can become governor of California, why can't a former superhero become mayor of New York? In the Manhattan of Brian K. Vaughan and Tony Harris' Ex Machina, Mitchell Hundred, once a crusader called "the Great Machine," has hung up his jet pack and run for office. Vaughan cannily plays the starry-eyed decisions heroes make off the compromises politicians are forced into. In these panels, Hundred, who can talk to machines, uncovers a clumsy blackmail plot concocted by the governor's office. As the Great Machine, Hundred would have busted the blackmailers; as mayor, he has to suck it up and keep dealing with the lackey who tried to strong-arm him for the sake of interadministration peace.

Violent, sexually explicit, and studded with wonky policy debates, Ex Machina is a comic for grown-ups. Vaughan is so committed to realism that Hundred's plans to legalize gay marriage are treated as dramatically as his former crusading adventures.