During the entire Transmetropolitan series up to this point, Spider Jerusalem's status as someone with so much power and sway was a bit questionable. He's a psychotic, unlikeable lunatic who spends most of his time pissing people off and behaving very bizarrely. He's entertaining as can be, but seriously unhinged and not really hero material. Vol. 0: Tales of Human waste finally sheds some light on what captivates the denizens of The City - dozens of excerpts of Spider's column are presented and it's like light peeked out from behind a bunch of clouds and illuminated everything. I wish these had been included in each trade paperback, because it felt like a crucial missing piece of the story, a part that made everything else make sense.