Editing Transmetropolitan (section)

== Story synopsis ==
{{See also|List of Transmetropolitan story arcs}}
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.<ref>{{cite book | last = Bukatman | first = Scott | title = Matters of Gravity | url = https://archive.org/details/mattersofgravity0000buka | url-access = registration | publisher = Duke University Press | location = Durham | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-8223-3119-3 | page=[https://archive.org/details/mattersofgravity0000buka/page/209 209]}}</ref> Following a call from his irate publisher demanding the last two books, per his publishing deal, Jerusalem is forced to descend into the City.

Jerusalem returns to work for his old partner and editor, [[Mitchell Royce]], who now edits ''The Word'', the City's largest newspaper. 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. The leader of the movement, Fred Christ, is paid to incite a riot and provoke the police, who use it as an excuse to clear out Angels 8. Jerusalem, however, publishes a story revealing the truth and brutal methods used by the police. Soon, Royce publishes it live all over the city, and the public outcry forces the police to withdraw. Jerusalem is brutally beaten by police on his way home, but defiantly says that he's here to stay.

The first year of the series consists of a set of one-off stories exploring the City, Jerusalem's background, and his often-tense relationship with his sidekicks, [[Yelena Rossini]] and [[Channon Yarrow]] (referred to as his 'filthy assistants'), who, as the series progresses, become full-time partners in his journalistic battles.

The main storyline of the series, the election and corrupt presidency of Gary Callahan (or "The Smiler"), begins in the series' second year and lasts for the rest of its run. Spider initially considers Callahan the lesser evil compared to the incumbent president ("The Beast"), but his investigation into Callahan's past and ties with a right-wing hate group lead to Callahan having his own campaign manager, Vita Severn, a friend of Jerusalem's, murdered. In a one-on-one meeting, Spider realizes that Callahan is not merely corrupt, but a complete lunatic who wants to be President solely to hurt people with his new power. To Jerusalem's horror and disgust, the people vote Callahan into office by a wide margin.

Once elected, Callahan begins to use his presidential power to torment Jerusalem, the source of his trouble during the campaign. Jerusalem narrowly escapes a police massacre of people protesting how a recent hate crime was investigated. The police refused to release video of the incident because it reveals three police officers watching the crime occur without interfering. Jerusalem writes a story revealing the truth about the crime and subsequent engineered massacre, but Callahan spikes it via "[[D-Notice|D-Notices]]", government censorship of stories that could "embarrass" the country and the Callahan administration. 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. When Royce runs the story, Callahan forces the paper's board of directors to fire Jerusalem, who makes an agreement to publish his future stories with ''The Hole''. Callahan arranges for the City to be left defenseless from a hurricane-like "near-near-near superstorm" (an actual superstorm can skin anyone caught in it) that ravages the City and kills thousands, using the chaos to destroy the evidence Jerusalem has gathered against him, and places the city under martial law after the storm ends. Royce reveals that he had archived most of Jerusalem's evidence and delivers it to him on disk, but during the storm, Jerusalem collapses and is diagnosed with an incurable degenerative neurological illness with similar symptoms to [[Alzheimer's disease|Alzheimer's]] and [[Parkinson's disease]], caused by two-time exposure to the now-defunct informational substance known as I-Pollen. 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.

In the final issue's epilogue, Jerusalem returns to his mountain home. Royce comes to visit, and the assistants show him around the house while explaining that Jerusalem's disease is progressing. It is revealed that Channon has a book deal, and Yelena is taking a journalistic role similar to Jerusalem's; Channon and Royce note that Yelena is his spiritual successor, displaying his trademark rage and passion, as well as his talent. In the garden, Jerusalem tells Royce that the disease is so advanced that he cannot light his own cigarettes, and he forgets one day out of seven. When Royce leaves, Jerusalem pulls out a package of cigarettes and what appears to be a handgun. He appears to be placing the barrel under his chin, until it is revealed in the next panel that it is a lighter. He lights the cigarette and then spins the lighter on his finger, suggesting that he was, in fact, one of the 1% of patients who recover from the disease, and is now merely faking his illness so that he may enjoy his retirement in peace.