I’ve started ploughing my way through Brian K Vaughan’s Ex Machina, a comic book series in which the world’s only superhero becomes New York City’s mayor in a post 9/11 America. An alternate history, political satire and down-to-earth superhero tale (well, as down-to-earth as you can get with a superhero), it’s smart, snappy and well-plotted. It’s easy, then, to see why Vaughan was made co-producer of Lost so that its flabby plot could be tightened up. (More on that here.)

Vaughan’s other big work is Y: The Last Man, a recently concluded graphic series following the only male to have survived a plague that wiped out all the rest. It’s an expensive business catching up on collected comic books; Ex Machina averages at about €15 per paperback of five issues. But it’s damned addictive. You can download a free PDF of Ex Machina #1 at DC’s website. And you can download Y: The Last Man’s first issue here.

Doonesbury readers will know that it abandoned the punchlines for the storyline in which BD lost a leg in Iraq. Since then, the character of Ray has acted as the window into the minds of some of those serving in Iraq - much of it based on Garry Trudeau’s correspondence with serving soldiers and vets.

Judging by today’s strip today’s strip, though, things may be about to get very bleak indeed.

250 comics free for a limited time. Somebody come get me in about a week.