InsaneJournal

Absolution #1
Avatar has approached several well-known comics writers in recent months, looking for fresh takes on the superhero. One result was Ellis's Black Summer limited series.

Christos Gage is now taking a turn at it with Absolution. According to the #0 issue, it draws its inspiration from a friend of Gage's who left the police force. Gage's friend told him that in his daily life, he dealt with a variety of criminals who he was legally prohibited from touching for one reason or another, and that he knew, sooner or later, he was just going to shoot one of them.

Absolution is about a superhero named John Dusk, who is essentially a superhuman SWAT cop; he's called in to deal with rogue "enhanciles." #1 is a flashback, showing the first time Dusk - suffering from post-traumatic stress after seeing several horrifying crime scenes - voluntarily crosses the line.

While Absolution is somewhat tame by Avatar's standards, it's still a gory book. I'm not showing the worst bits, but after the cut, there is still a dude who's been dismembered. That's your warning.



This guy has John in a bear hug until John lashes out with his "aura," a sort of Green-Lantern-esque telekinetic field, and takes off both the guy's arms. Keep in mind that the guy was about to kill him and obviously had superstrength.

I like John's outfit, while I'm at it. It's obviously a superhero uniform, but it also looks very practical.







A superhero policeman isn't a new idea, but I can't immediately recall a superhero book that's also been a police procedural. It's one of the things that I find of interest about Absolution; the hero isn't a vigilante. In fact, he's a decorated police officer with a good relationship with command.

Just for chuckles, here are his co-supercops, the Servant and Alpha. The Servant gets very little characterization in #1, but I like Alpha; the subsequent scene shows her at home with her husband and kids. (Also worthy of note: the Servant has religion and Alpha has a family.)



(I cut the page of them making an entry into the meth lab for page-count considerations, but they bust down the door yelling "Freeze! Police!" A couple of meth heads get punched in the face. Their methods, going from this, do not appear to be any more brutal than those of average policemen.)