Terminal Motter

Dean Motter is one of those comic book creators that you will never know exists until you stumble across him yourself.  He doesn't fit into the mainstream or indy scene, and isn't a name like Howard Chaykin or Frank Miller who somehow combines them.  He's his own brand.  Brand X, as it were.

He originally gained notice creating Mister X in the '80s, and to a certain extent that's exactly what Motter is still known for today.  Dark Horse has in recent years actively joined the effort to spread Mister X awareness, the second company to reissue the original stories and actually allow him to publish new ones.

Motter also worked on Terminal City for DC's Vertigo imprint.  His more recent Electropolis was originally meant to be a third volume of these stories, but he ended up working on that project at Image (though it was subsequently reprinted through Dark Horse).  Like all his stories, Terminal City is about retrofuturism, or in other words the shared vision of tomorrow as conceived in the early 20th century, whose footprints can be found in The Jetsons and Futurama, among notable popular interpretations.

In The Compleat Terminal City, both the original nine issues and the five issue followup Aerial Graffiti explore a population existing in the remains of the Brave New World's Fair (we're several generations removed from the relevance of World's Fairs, but they used to be the Olympics of culture).  Motter chooses to put the narrative thrust on daredevils whose relevance fell apart as the boldness of the vision for the future started to fade.  As the vision lingers, so do these daredevils, notably Cosmo Quinn, the so-called Human Fly who once scaled terrific heights merely for the thrill and spectacle of it but now to clean the windows of skyscrapers.

His notable compatriot and greater exile is Monty Vickers, who's the last great anthropologist, who locates living specimens of humanity's evolutionary past, and exploits them like P.T. Barnum getting his hands on King Kong.

There's a host of supporting characters and subplots, though few of them receive satisfactory arcs, and perhaps that's the point, that there will always be a hole in this story.  It's all an illusion, something Motter conjured from the broken pieces of someone else's dreams.

Is it worth visiting Terminal City?  Absolutely.  It's arguably Motter's most complete vision.  Yes, he's playing with the toys of other people, but in such a whimsical fashion (with Mister X he's always grim; in Electropolis traditionally hardboiled) that you can't help but be sucked in.

Perhaps all his nostalgia limits Motter's audience, but it also helps locate one.  Once you discover Dean Motter, it's hard not to love him.