There’s one glaringly obvious element of Ex Machina that Brian K. Vaughan hasn’t revealed in the previous five volumes of the series, and that’s where Mitchell Hundred’s powers have actually come from. We know how he got them, when he got them and what he’s done with them since, but we’re still in the dark about the finer details.
Although this sixth book in the series throws in some information on the source of Hundred’s mastery over machines, it doesn’t conclude them, leaving the reader with more questions than they started with.
This is a bit of a shame since part of the rear section of the book is taken up with pages of art in various stages of completion, showing the process Tony Harris goes through to create his work. This is interesting enough but starts to feel like padding in a book with an unresolved storyline. Perhaps the next one will be super-long to make up for it – let’s optimistically hope so.
Ex Machina remains an unpredictable and entertaining series but if you’re following it closely you might be disappointed with the revelations but lack of resolutions occurring in this book. Bring on volume seven.