History Characters / Transmetropolitan

* BeneaththeMask: He presents himself as a man who holds America's best interests as the highest priority, but in reality, he's a weaselly, morally bankrupt psychopath who loathes everyone around him. Spider catches a glimpse of his real personality early on when he briefly stops smiling before he learns what kind of person Callahan really is.

--> '''Spider''': "His smile dies. Inch by inch, he abandons the room, his bickering fixers trying so hard to make each other bleed without looking bad for the press. He goes inside himself, sets his mind in motion. When the smile dies, he I'd utterly alone."

* PresidentEvil: He has people killed to promote his own image, and then invents a pseudo-religion based on them to further aid his career, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking he masturbates into the American flag]]. Definitely evil.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: ''Bitch'' would be putting it nicely, but underneath this kindly facade lies a sick monster.
* CardCarryingVillain: In private.

* PresidentEvil: Downplayed. He's not all a role model and is guilty of corrupt behavior. But he's mainly a burnt out human being who thinks the only possible thing he can do is ensure the vast majority of the population can survive.

* GonzoJournalism: He's essentially the TropeNamer in the filthy transhuman future.
* GoodIsNotNice: If we can even call him good. Maybe by comparison.

* [[spoiler:DyingMomentOfAwesome: Leads the charge against the police during the riots, and is first to fall.]]

** Spider figured the voters would easily see through Callahan's act and is appalled he wins the election in an epic victory.

* BoobsOfSteel: Much more voluptuous and action-oriented than Yelena, though it's implied they're fake.

* {{Foil}}: He's this to the Beast.
** The Beast is a corrupt jerk, but he's ultimately a bitter person who doesn't believe he's capable of anything besides ensuring the vast majority of the population can live. And he's quite candid about this as well.
** The Smiler wears a cheerful expression, but unlike the Beast, who seems resigned to the shittiness of the system, Callahan exploits that shittiness to indulge his sick fantasies while pretending to have the public's interest at heart.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Beast believes that the president cannot be reasonably expected to do anything more domestically than make sure 50-plus-1% of the population are doing all right. As long as that's true, then he's done his job. However, he at least believes in that much; he claims Callahan believes in nothing but that he should be president.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: He was ''supposed to be'' named Django Heraclitus Jerusalem, but he came out a skinny baby, his mother had very poor eyesight and three different neurological difficulties at the time, so he ended up as Spider instead.

* BaldOfAwesome: Spider loses all hair on his body in an accident with a shower (although the artists don't always remember).
* CheshireCatGrin

* BaldOfAwesome: Has exactly the same number of hairs on his dome as Spider and is just as awesome.

* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: While the Beast is clearly a terrible person, once Callahan takes power, Spider realizes that compared to the psychopath of the Smiler, the Beast is practically a saint.

* HatedByAll: He has been attempted for assassination so much that Secret Service started charging him for protection. Presumably he ''has'' supporters, but the comic never shows any of them.

* NotBad: Played with. While the Beast is clearly a terrible person, once Callahan takes power, Spider realizes that compared to the psychopath of the Smiler, the Beast is practically a saint.

[[folder:Fred Christ]]

* DyingMomentOfAwesome: [[spoiler:Leads the charge against the police during the riots, and is first to fall.]]

* DeadpanSnarker

* HateSink: InUniverse. He has been attempted assassinated so much that Secret Service started charging him for protection. Presumably he ''has'' supporters, but the comic never shows any of them.

* HiddenDepths: To Spider's shock, as much as everyone thinks he is, the Beast is no avatar of pure evil, for all his corrupt behavior, he's just an incredibly cynical - yet surprisingly eloquent - man who recognizes that [[CrapsackWorld society has fallen so far into debauchery and madness]] that his only remaining responsibility is to keep it from violently imploding. [[NotSoDifferent Not unlike Spider himself.]]

'''Spider:''' ''(Recoils)'' '''AAH!''' It moved!\\

'''Spider:''' '''Speak.'''\\

'''Spider:''' You've never met '''me''' before.

* ClusterFBomb: A lot of his dialogue consists of swearing or creative insults. ''A lot.''
** The most epic one would be the column he wrote when The Beast got re-elected. It consisted of the word FUCK. Typed ''EIGHT THOUSAND'' times.

* AxeCrazy: Besides his irrational paranoia, which caused him to order the needless massacre of a peaceful protest of college kids, he's also incredibly capricious with his dictations.

!Spider Jerusalem

!Channon Yarrow

!Yelena Rossini

!Mitchell Royce

!President "The Beast"

-->'''The Beast:''' I said before: just because you don't like what I believe in doesn't mean I have no beliefs.
-->'''Spider:''' Don't give me that. You don't-
-->'''The Beast:''' Shut up. You call me a liar to my face again, I'll fucking glass you.

!Senator Gary "The Smiler" Callahan

--> '''Spider:''' Does he move?
--> [{{Beat}}]
--> '''Smiler:''' ''The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks: / The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep / Moans round with many voices. / Come, my friends, / 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.'' "''Ulysses.''" Tennyson. My favorite poem. A new world. New opposition. New campaign. New politics. New president.
--> [{{Beat}}]
--> '''Smiler:''' ''(Extends hand)'' Gary Callahan. Nice to meet you.
--> '''Spider:''' ''(Recoils)'' '''AAH!''' It moved!

!Fred Christ

!Oscar Rossini

!Officer Stompanato a.k.a. Stomp

* UnknownRival: He gets called in to "check on" Spider, after the latter had to kill three hitmen who break into his apartment. Stomp spends three issues tracking down Spider, and Spider doesn't know about him until [[spoiler:he chucks his ex-wife's head off of a roof. Stomp, blinded, jumps at Spider from a blind angle, only to miss entirely and precedes Spider's wife's head off the roof by a few seconds]]. The most warning Spider gets is [[spoiler:a crunching sound before the "splooshing" sound of his wife hitting the water. Spider walks away, never aware that Stomp was trying to kill him]].