He and his "filthy assistants" strive to keep their world from turning more dystopian than it already is while dealing with the struggles of fame and power, brought about due to the popularity of Spider via his articles.

[3] The series was later reprinted in an array of ten trade paperback volumes, and also featured two "specials" (I Hate It Here and Filth of the City) with text pieces written by Spider Jerusalem and illustrated by a wide range of comic artists.

Some time in the future (how long precisely is never specified, but said to be in the 23rd century) Spider Jerusalem, retired writer/journalist and bearded hermit, lives within an isolated, fortified mountain hideaway.

His first story is about an attempted secession by the Transient movement, people who use genetic body modification based on alien DNA to become a completely different species, and are forced to live in the Angels 8 slum district.

After being informed of this, Jerusalem leaks the story via a straight-text news feedsite called The Hole and follows it up with an article exposing Callahan's corrupt circle of advisers, one of whom is a pedophile.

With about a year before dementia renders him dysfunctional and only a 1% chance of escaping this fate, Jerusalem increases his vendetta against Callahan, ultimately exposing his evil deeds and bringing the President down.

Later, the burgeoning Internet boom led to an offer to create an online animated film series, with Stewart providing the voice of Spider Jerusalem, but the project never fully developed.

comic convention Ellis said that there is no chance of seeing Spider Jerusalem in a film adaptation, and Tim Roth was not discussed to play him, and explained that production costs would be too high to bring Transmetropolitan to the big screen.

[11] Some items of Transmetropolitan merchandise have been made, Robertson himself having produced one T-shirt: a black shirt with a three-eyed smiley face on the front and the text "I Hate It Here" in yellow on the back.

Early in the series they produced an action figure of Jerusalem wearing nothing but his trademark boxer shorts so as to show off his tattoos, and a variant that is giving the finger and holding a bowel disruptor.

The third is a statuette of Jerusalem, in the same state of near-nudity, sitting on the toilet growling into his cell phone and arguing with his editor Mitchell Royce, who is visible on his small laptop computer on the base.