A review by sp1derfairy
Pretty Deadly, Vol. 3: The Rat by Emma Ríos, Kelly Sue DeConnick

4.0

I had to read this book twice to really feel like I could review it it’s such a cool comic I love all of the imagery and the commentary it makes on noir and society in general.

I love the visual motif of obsession with butterflies because butterflies generally represent hope, and that mislead is soooo good I love it so much. The butterflies swarm the characters, swarm them with hope, making them obsessed. I also love the nature of obsession’s reaper as self-defeating. It’s quite cool how the reaper’s spell their own destruction. This definitely makes me think of the noir genre and the last bit at the end is fascinating. Forgiveness as a tool that can only be useful and truly exist in the face or in opposition of treachery. It’s so hard to think about forgiving something treacherous as not absolving them. I like how forgiveness frees the person, but not the one who hurt them. Or I guess maybe it does in a way. It doesn’t free them, but it opens a door, you can’t free someone without them wanting it too. Really cool stuff to think about as a whole. Also the line, “there’s no defeating shadows, there’s only walking towards the light”. gosh i love that. also ginny makes me sad, there’s two instances right after each other saying that rest and forgiveness are not “what she’s for” but i also see that ginny escapes the traditional bounds of her own identity as a reaper a bit in helping the guy (albeit for absolution of a sort). cool characters.