History ComicBook / Transmetropolitan

** The Frost Biter 7-K. Who ''wouldn't'' want a big snowball cannon... thing?

* NotSODifferent: Spider gets this with many people

* CoolOldGuy: Oscar Rossini, Yelena's dad, turns out to be a lot tougher than you might think.

* DirtyCop: The CPD are a secret police staffed by psychos.

* ExtremeOmnivore: Near anything is eaten. There's a restaurant chain devoted to cannibalism. (And the ''powdered children''. [[ShoutOut Powdered]] ''[[Creator/JonathanSwift Irish]]'' [[Literature/AModestProposal children.]]) Justified - everything can be cloned or replicated with the Makers without having to bother with killing creatures/people for their flesh and organs. Baby seal eyes for a light snack... yummy...

* GetTheeToANunnery: Channon [[RunningGag fucks off to a nunnery]] after she's had enough of being Spider's assistant, joining the Brides of [[{{Jerkass}} (Fred) Christ]]. She leaves mainly because the sex was shit and Fred is ''really'' an ass.

* LipstickLesbian: One of the representatives for reservations, living areas of history. Spider punches himself in the groin when she tells him (after he's just asked her out).

* BestialityIsDepraved: On an entire society level. We know the future is seriously depraved when we see [[{{Squick}} ads for intelligent dog prostitutes]]. It's still apparently a taboo, as exemplified by Bill Chimpfucker.

* CoolOldGuy: Oscar Rossini, Yelena's dad, turns out to be a hell of a lot tougher than you might think.

** Issue 33 has Channon and Yelena sneak out to have a day to themselves. They go out, have fun, talk about Spider, and even get into an adventure. The perfect catharsis before the climactic arc of series 3.

* DirtyCop: The CPD are pretty much a secret police staffed by psychos.

* ExtremeOmnivore: Damn near anything is eaten. Heck, there's an entire restaurant chain devoted to cannibalism. (And let us not forget the ''powdered children''. [[ShoutOut Powdered]] ''[[Creator/JonathanSwift Irish]]'' [[Literature/AModestProposal children.]]) Justified - pretty much everything can be cloned or replicated with the Makers without having to bother with killing creatures/people for their flesh and organs. Baby seal eyes for a light snack... yummy...

* GetTheeToANunnery: Channon literally [[RunningGag fucks off to a nunnery]] after she's had enough of being Spider's assistant, joining the Brides of [[{{Jerkass}} (Fred) Christ]]. She leaves mainly because the sex was shit and Fred is ''really'' an ass.

** Played straight with the Smiler, who engages in this frequently throughout the comic, and essentially starts his political career by doing this literally. Well, to a kitten.

* LipstickLesbian: One of the representatives for reservations, basically living areas of history. Spider punches himself in the groin when she tells him (after he's just asked her out).

* NoPartyGiven: Two political parties exist, but they're referred to by whether they're in office or not. (The Beast's party is referred to -- by Spider, mind you -- as the [[FunWithAcronyms Party In Government]].) It's still implied to be a Liberal vs. Conservative sort. Notably, despite the general adherence to the "Opposition party"/"Party in office" descriptors, Callahan is identified in his first appearance as "D-Cal." Of the two Opposition party candidates shown, Callahan's campaign shows traits of the modern Democratic party (such as hiring Vita as a showpiece for women's representation despite giving Schact more power), while Heller's campaign shows some aspects of the modern Republican party (with an exaggeration of said party's neoliberal economic ideals). Further obscuring the issue, Callahan and Heller's party is red on the election map, while the Beast's party is blue.

** The Smiler. [[spoiler:He grows his own vice president to make sure his record's clean while appeasing a rabid right-wing group that literally has Nazis in it; he assassinates his campaign manager to earn polling points for sympathy; and he arranges for the death of his wife and children when they start coming out against him. He even admits to Spider that he wants to be president just so he can fuck with the American people -- but only when he ''knows'' Spider won't be able to obtain a record of the conversation. However, he's mentally unstable and Spider takes one potshot after another at him, gradually wearing him down.]]

* SubvertedKidsShow: Two of 'em in the setting. "Anthrax Cat" is WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry as a torture {{Gorn}} show, and "The Sex Puppets" is pretty much Sesame Street puppets and people doing hardcore pornography.

* TakeThat: As might be expected for an AuthorTract based on Hunter S. Thompson and making frequent references to ''Literature/AModestProposal'', pretty much every issue has this to some extent about topics ranging from shallow mass media, to political corruption, to religion as a means to oppress and abuse people rather than comfort them. The biggest, most ongoing TakeThat, though, is probably for the audience itself.

* TransHuman: Pretty much everyone on some level (even 'regular' humans usually have gene modifications and some sort of implant), but the Farsight Enclave takes it to extremes, even by the standards of Transmetropolitan.

* {{Tsundere}}: [[spoiler:Yelena]], who noticeably helps Spider out routinely despite being adamant that she hates his guts, also subjects him to a hellride of an emotional rollercoaster love affair throughout the series: she has sex with him; denies that she had sex with him (he was too drunk to remember); when she finally admits it, she of course has to do it in a way that deliberately publicly insults him at his own party; she acts possessively over him when sensing rivals ([[spoiler:Vita]]) but still refuses to admit having feelings for him; and [[spoiler:they only end up together when she's one hundred per cent sure (or should we say ninety-nine per cent sure) that he's dying. And even then, nobody else is allowed to know that they're together]].

--->'''Spider:''' [[{{Batman}} Messianic fuckheads are a superstitious, cowardly lot, and I must strike fear into their hearts.]]

* [[EvenEvilHasStandards Even Bastards Have Standards]]: Spider goes through a lot of work to get an interview with [[spoiler: the Smiler's wife]], up to and including using an experimental ''teleporter''... He uses a lot of the interview to cause a lot of trouble but leaves out [[spoiler:the part where Mrs. Callahan explains that she knows that the Smiler is unfaithful, and moreover that he knows she knows and just ''doesn't care''. Spider eventually releases the clip, but only after the Smiler has murdered her.]]
-->'''Spider:''' She seemed so sad.
** Shortly before the election where The Beast and The Smiler are the biggest candidates, Spider has an interview with The Beast. He explains his standards: If 51% of the people have food on their table at the end of the day and 49% do not, he's succeeded at his job. After the interview Spider muses, "Turns out The Beast has some morals after all." The Smiler ''doesn't''.

* [[spoiler: NiceJobBreakingItHero]]: [[spoiler: Congrats Spider. You managed to get The Beast out of office. Problem is that his replacement is a million times worse to the point that he can't even hold an animal for a few minutes without killing it.]]

* [[ShowSomeLeg Show Some Tits]]
** Channon averts this the first time we see this (her nipples have been "temped" to have barcodes instead), but then goes straight with a "peek" late in series two and a full-on flash in Series 4.
** Yelena in bed in series 2.

* ProtectionFromEditors: Used as a plot point in-universe. Royce, the editor at the newspaper Spider writes for, doesn't actually edit Spider's writing, nor does anyone want him to. He does occasionally suggest topics, but mostly he runs interference and protects Spider, finally getting a CrowningMomentOfAwesome for it in the runup to the finale.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: Spider's shades hold 2 gigs of memory and can take pictures and interface wirelessly. [[http://www.zioneyez.com/#/specs/ There are now sunglasses cameras that hold 8 gigs of memory, take pictures ''and'' film video with HD audio. Complete with WiFi and Bluetooth capabilities.]]

** The Smiler. [[spoiler:He grows his own vice president to make sure his record's clean while appeasing a rabid right-wing group; he assassinates his campaign manager to earn polling points; and he arranges for the death of his wife and children when they start coming out against him. He even admits to Spider that he wants to be president just so he can fuck with the American people -- but only when he ''knows'' Spider won't be able to obtain a record of the conversation. However, he's mentally unstable and Spider takes one potshot after another at him, gradually wearing him down.]]

* CreatorCameo: The two lowbrow bar patrons who discuss the sex lives of reservation residents and then accost Spider for a mention in his column in "Wild in the Country" bear a striking physical resemblance to Warren Ellis and Darick Robertson.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Bill Rose, the man who runs the orphanage most of the child prostitutes come from in "Business". Spider thinks he's responsible for their actions... only to learn Rose, while not at fault for it, is perfectly aware of what they're doing, but has ''no'' ability to stop them. He tries to protect them and gives one of the most intelligent speeches in the series.

* {{Nanomachines}}: "Makers", matter-creating engines that can be powered by trash. There's even a whole community of people who download their entire consciousness into a colony of floating nanobots.

* {{Nighthawks}}: An homage in issue #32.

It's only when Spider gets truly involved in politics that things start to get serious. He can't wait to get the current president, Bob Heller, nicknamed "The Beast", out of office, and to usher his competitor, Gary Callahan, a.k.a. "The Smiler", into office. When it turns out that Callahan's willing to get his hands ''very'' dirty to become president, Spider realizes just what a monster he's released... and sets out to bring the entire government crashing down.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName: Bob Heller. Complete with one of the attendees at his rally being physically identical to AdolfHitler, just in case the reader wasn't paying attention to his rhetoric. Then later, ''just'' to make sure, Spider invokes Hitler's name in describing Heller.

It's only when Spider gets truly involved in politics that things start to get serious. He can't wait to get the current president, nicknamed "The Beast", out of office, and to usher his competitor, Gary Callahan, a.k.a. "The Smiler", into office. When it turns out that Callahan's willing to get his hands ''very'' dirty to become president, Spider realizes just what a monster he's released... and sets out to bring the entire government crashing down.

* RefugeInAudacity: Oh, boy. It starts out taking refuge in audacity and very quickly progresses to building a holiday home there.

** Another subtle one: the cigarettes Spider smokes are called "Carcinoma Angels"--which is the title of a story by Creator/NormanSpinrad, originally published in Creator/HarlanEllison's 1967 anthology ''DangerousVisions''.

* TheUnseen: Spider's old publisher who gets him to come out of retirement. The writing never even refers to him/her using gender-specific terms, so even that is unknown about the character.

-->''[[spoiler:Fred]] stands up. Spider knocks the REST of this crap out of him, and them some.''