Redemption #3

Redemption #3

AWA Upshot Studios 2021

Written by Christa Faust

Illustrated by Mike Deodato Jr.

Coloured by Lee Loughridge

Lettered by Steve Wands

The dusty desert town of Redemption survived the apocalypse but is hanging on by a thread. A despot rules the town with an iron fist and controls its most precious resource: water. When that strongman marks her mother for death, young Rose Obregon ventures into the perilous wasteland to seek the help of the legendary gunslinger Cat Tanner, only to discover that the so-called "Butcher" is long retired, living in solitude, far from what's left of the world, and preferring to keep it that way. When Rose arrives on Tanner's doorstep, with gunmen hot on her trail, the Butcher has a choice to make: sit on the sidelines or pick up her guns and do what she does best?

This issue seems to change the game for me and by that I mean there’s a whole different vibe going on with the characters and it’s pretty amazing to see. Rose is changing in her time with Cat and it’s becoming more and more obvious what it is that is happening. I’m excited by this because it changes the direction of the story and it is something I wasn’t expecting to see.

I love the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is extremely well presented. Seriously what I see here has impressed me beyond all belief and turned what was one thing into another and by George is it glorious! The character development that we see is utterly phenomenal as well. There is this subtle shift i what we are seeing and I have to sa that it’s plotted out beautifully. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing more and more of the story it’s easy to get swept up in the possibilities that are unfolding.

How we see this being structured with the layers within the story strengthening, weaving through and growing is really something to see and changes the direction of the river we’re on. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how this is able to move the story forward is amazingly well rendered.

The interiors here are insanely good. The linework is phenomenal and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level and quality in the detail work we see is astonishing. Some of my favourite scenes are seeing the gas station and that downed plane from above as it just has this odd and creepy sensitivity to it that is hauntingly gorgeous. Backgrounds not only enhance the moments but bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and that overall sense of size and scope to the book is marvellous. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masters eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is stupendous work. The darkness of night with pops of light for not only colour but a light source is well utilised.

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If you haven’t been aware of this, you haven’t read all my reviews for starters, you need to be aware of this. The writing is phenomenal and the characterisation is so well conceived and executed alongside some of Mike’s best work when ti comes to the interior artwork. For the first time I am seeing a story that I can watch change direction in such a strong way that if it doesn’t go the way that I think i’m going to be totally gutted. Regardless this is some of the finest storytelling around right now.