The book stars what Deodato Jr. loves to draw, the femme fatale (in this case Nina) and mushes it together with what Milligan loves to write – the essence of what both punk and hip-hop derive from : counter-culture. The basis of this issue stars Nina, complete with her mohawk and skin tight battle gear, attempting to raise her “Absolution” score, which is essentially a plot device that works like Glaser’s “The Running Man” or Niccol’s “In Time” so that way this trained killer Nina can be free. But her slavery to an extent works for a good cause as she is forced to put her training to good use to murder societies deplorables, live on demand like so many porn request sites or Roth’s “Hostel” film series for the uninitiated.
Nina comes complete with her own Microchip, no battle van though (yet!), and a lair that looks like something out of Cyberpunk 2077 meets Leslie Thompkins office. In this issue Nina starts things off by murking a low level drug dealer, then as the action amps up she gets to going head on with the stereotypical Wall Street banker with a rap(e) sheet.
Reader’s are treated to the political talking heads of Miller but with the voice of Spider Jerusalem injected with the cartoonishly aggressive mannerisms of a Stephen A. Smith with in-between inserts to give readers a break from the gore. However, the hardcore is still there in the speech from these asides that are no holds barred commentary on rape culture that has been a symptom of an undersexed society.
The minor characters on their computers are willing participants in paying to see the action of what this puritan society would consider smut, but the violence is only encouraged in a world where the act of procreation has become a marketing tool for the pillars of such a society intent on using individuals up, putting them into groups, then breaking them away from those groups … to have the individual work towards the betterment of a group that inherently is self-centered.
Milligan captures this mulligan in his creation of “Absolution”. Making his misogynistic corporate backed villain something I could only envy.
The amorality of an individual like that is a winner in the physical realm that I currently dwell in. So when Deodato Jr. draws a punch to this antagonists’ face delivered by Nina like Captain America to Hitler, I found myself disappointed. Which is a testament to Milligan’s work to be able to create a villain to root for more than the protagonist, a feat in fiction that must always be celebrated. Not since Rick Remender’s “A Righteous Thirst For Vengeance” have I been so in awe in envy of an otherwise degenerate (who again in the physical realm I dwell in) many would recognize as elite.
Loughridge’s color are a spectacle. The ruddy pink that is Ann Genie’s afro that is dissimilar to Nina’s own pink that covers her mohawk, not the same as the blazers the antagonist or even the newscaster wears. Pink has always been an important color in counter-culture, so much more than femininity. Loughridge understands this, as much as Milligan understands why rape culture and white slavery go hand in hand to make it into a focal point of this book, shedding a light on the normalcy of what is supposed to be depraved in modern society. Black humor colors every piece of political scrutiny and the abuse has a lighthearted kick to it when the main antagonist of the issue takes these feminist jabs, that give weight to the euphemism “who hurt you?” in modern relationship culture.
Nods like these are just further evidence that Milligan is no dinosaur, his pen is still as sharp as his commentary on the poisons of society as they were when he wrote up The American Scream. This with Deodato on pencils who has mastered the art of capturing effeminate allure is a signal that “Absolution” is truly that in a meeting of two of graphic art’s greatest finally come together to create something in the vein of what their art always has been panned for : the realities of rape culture and violence towards women. They aren’t guilty of it, they’re just reporting it.
Score : 4/5
(W) Peter Milligan (A) Lee Loughridge (A/CA) Mike Deodato
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