This final issue of Ellis and Rolston's tale of sci-fi counter-culture stands out as the strongest of this brief series, and it's because it's the most unexpected and shocking of the three. No, it's not because of the action, gore or destructive technologies that are paraded before the reader. It's because Ellis surprises me with his characterization. I thought I had Sarissa Leon pegged, but I was surprised -- and pleased -- to discover that I had her all wrong. Ellis adds an even darker edge to an already dark worldview.
Sarissa Leon now knows who killed her former lover, R.J., and she sets out to exact her revenge. But her rage boils over, targetting not only R.J.'s killer, but the Mek movement she inspired and founded. She rains the fury of the city's police force down on the Mek community. She doesn't do it because the rebellious self-improvement trend she sparked has been tainted, nor does she do it out of a sense of guilt for having abandoned her "followers." No, her motives are not at all what one might have expected.
Rolston really gets to strut his stuff when it comes to the personal technology referred to in the title of this limited series. Sarissa's rampage is cold but devastating, and the colors really reinforce the energy and power that pulses within the weapons. More impressive, though, is how Rolston subtly shifts from flashbacks back into the "present." The changes in setting are almost imperceptible. You can tell that what's different are the characters... not how they're dressed, but how they feel.
The action here boasts the same extreme quality that we've come to expect from the writer of Transmetropolitan and The Authority. But all of the carnage, blood and violence just reinforces the quiet but intense anger of the story's protagonist. We finally see Sarissa's rage, but it's not her in words. It may seem as though Ellis is just writing a gratuitously bloody action sequence, but he's really exploring a character.
The most fascinating aspect of this issue is the exploration of Sarissa's motives... why she's after R.J.'s killer, why she started the Mek movement and why she's handed it over to the establishment for the purposes of eradicating it. Instead of the idealistic leader of young, rebel hearts, we meet a woman motivated by self-interest, greed and ambition. She's just as much a villain here as the killer and the hypocrites who hope to suppress the Mek movement.
