One of the most enjoyable things about writing for The Flickcast is having early access to new products like comics, movies and video games. Along with that, sometimes comes the chance for exclusive access to their creators as well. Recently, I was given the chance to interview Christos Gage.

For those not familiar with him, he has quite an extensive resume both in television and comics, from Law and Order: Special Victims Unit to Avengers: Initiative from Marvel. And of course we can’t forget the Flickcast favorite miniseries he recently was a part of through IDW, G.I.Joe: Cobra. Now, Christos is taking on a new challenge, but one he is most certainly looking forward to.

Coming out in August, Christos will debut Absolution from Avatar Press. The same people who brought us Crossed by Garth Ennis will be giving Christos free reign on his creator owned property. The following is the conversation we were able to have with Christos about this exciting new project.

The Flickcast: Thank you for taking the time to answer some of our questions. For those not aware, you have your first miniseries from Avatar Press coming out in August called Absolution. Would you mind giving a brief idea of what the book is?

Christos Cage: Absolution is about John Dusk-a superhero in a world where superheroes are a sanctioned branch of law enforcement-who starts secretly executing criminals.  There comes a point where he’s seen one too many of them end up beyond the reach of the law, whether because they’ve served their time, or there wasn’t enough evidence to convict, or whatever.  He’s seen them go out and re-offend, which he and everyone else knew would happen.

This is the second part of John’s pull list comic reviews for the week. The first part was posted yesterday.

Kick-Ass #6 – Icon – $2.99
Score: 8.0

Kick-Ass itself is a contradiction of sorts. First, it is always one of–if not the most anticipated book of the month–even though it is usually never the best book of that month.  At the same time, it claims to be a super hero story about people in the real world, even though the actions taking place would never exist in what we consider the “real world” (or at least this writer hopes won’t actually take place).  Despite that, Kick-Ass does what all comics aspire to and sadly few consistently achieve in every issue; to please the reader and leave them wanting more.

On the surface, Kick-Ass has violence and vulgarity out the @$$ (that phrase being tamer than anything said in the entire book).  Digging down further, it is still pretty violent, but unlike a Hollywood gore film, there is substance hidden somewhere the buckets of blood and bodies, drawn with consistent art and beautifully illustrated splash pages by John Romita Jr. In the coming pages, the reader is taken through Hit Girl’s childhood and training that explain why she had no qualms about slicing and dicing criminals or loading them into car crushers in previous issues.

It’s hard not to crack an uncomfortable smile as this little girl tells her father they need to form a team, “‘Coz you’re the funnest dad in the world.” Like the rest of the series has been, this issue brings us intense imagery, including the blood-soaked cover, also from Romita, and ends on a great cliff hanger, keeping it atop everyone’s pull list for May.