The Ministry Of Compliance #3 Review

 

Writer: John Ridley

Artist: Stefano Raffaele

Colorist: Brad Anderson

Letterer: Nathan Widick

Cover Artists: Stefano Raffaele and Brad Anderson; Ryan Sook; Tim Leong

Publisher: IDW

Price: $4.99

Release Date: February 14, 2024

 

Kingsley sits across from Yuzo in the noodle shop. Over their meal, she repeats what the Human assassin told Avigail after he killed Blake, the Minister Of Transportation. “Death to the fascist insect that preys upon the life of the people!” The captive Kingsley questioned in London confessed to working with an ALA cell in Tokyo. Yuzo has written online about aliens secretly manipulating events on Earth. Now, he claims his articles were clickbait, and she was a fool to take them seriously. Will Avigail, the impersonal, uncompromising Minister Of Compliance, forgive Kingsley if she returns empty-handed? Let's leap into The Ministry Of Compliance #3 and find out!

 

Story

For thirty-nine years, the Ministers of the Devolution guided Humanity toward Absorption. Yet, on the eve of their success, the Prime Minister was deposed, and the Shadow Cabinet took over Homeworld. After agents of the Antibiosis Liberation League (ALA) killed the Minister Of Transport in London, the alien ministers lacked the codes to find the hidden spaceships that could return them to Homeworld or any other member world of the Devolution. As Minister Of Compliance, it’s Avigail’s job to maintain their organization and its surreptitious control over Earth. Yet the ALA has marked her for death.

 

With her mixed parentage, Kingsley belongs neither on Earth nor on Homeworld. She's learned to hide her Biracial status to survive. But the Ministries rarely admit Biracials. To maintain her value to the alien organization, Kingsley meets with her fellow Biracial Israel in a Pachinko House. Israel tells her about an ALA cell in the Ueno District. But Kingsley must pretend the information came from Yuzo and convince Avigail to investigate personally.

 

One question swirling through The Ministry Of Compliance #3 is who’s calling the shots. After the Shadow Cabinet isolated Earth from the Devolution, Mathías told the other Ministers at the annual meeting in Vietnam that Avigail was in charge. Since then, she’s pursued the launch codes, and he’s consolidated the Ministry Of Finance with Nihid’s Ministry Of Work And Pensions. Human Resources Director Vance looks to Mathías for funding. When Kingsley reports the ALA cell in the Veno District to Avigail, the women must convince Mathías to let them pursue the lead instead of the Ministry Of Defense. Yet before the Shadow Cabinet took over, Mathías’ desire to return home threatened his commitment to serving the Devolution.

 

Mathías may have usurped control over the Devolution on Earth, but Kingsley is more concerned about her relationship with Avigail. Initially, the Minister Of Compliance viewed her as a discardable asset. Yet recently, Avigail’s placed more trust in Kingsley. Avigail even gives Kingsley a weapon in The Ministry Of Compliance #3. It's not in the same league as Avigail's sword, Greymatter, but the gift betrays Avigail’s growing trust and concern for her young charge. Although she knows she shouldn’t, Kingsley also feels a growing closeness with Avigail. Yet in John Ridley's story, the alien and the Biracial discover an all-too-human quality that detracts from their agendas and compromises their missions.

 

 

Art

Kingsley sits in the empty noodle shop across from Yuzo. She covers her shoulder-length hair with a hoodie. After they dine over their bowls, she walks along a crowded sidewalk with her face tilted forward. Money grants her a handful of tiny metal balls. Kingsley sits before a machine beside another hooded figure. The design of the machines has an organic, biological appearance that reinforces the throbbing life and energy of the Pachinko House.

 

By comparison, the spartan meeting room in the Tokyo highrise features no more than basic chairs and a conference table. After Avigail and her assistant Quinn depart, closeups show Mathías and Kingsley before the busy city beyond the floor-to-ceiling plate glass windows. Attendants hold trays for Kingsley's inspection in an armory that evokes a high-end retail shop. Surrounded by handguns and rifles, Kingsley chooses a weapon. Her mouth drops open, and her hair flutters as she activates it.

 

Brad Anderson’s limited palette highlights characters and compliments Stefano Raffaele's highly detailed artwork in The Ministry of Compliance #3. The dominant orange and brown of the noodle shop contrast with the vivid yellow, orange, pink, and purple of the Pachinko House. Kingsley's grey and black outfit compliments those of Avigail and Quinn and blends in with the gray armory. The handle of her weapon is gray like Avigail’s sword, Greymatter. Yet Mathías, their presumptive leader, wears a blue suit that compliments the dark blue night sky outside the office windows.

 

Nathan Widick places black, uppercase letters in white dialogue balloons. His font is thinner than Ariana Maher's and shrinks, grows bold, or enlarges for inflection and volume. Sound effects enliven Avigail, Quinn, and Kingsley’s battle with chimp-faced guerillas outside an abandoned house. Thanks to IDW for providing a copy of this sword-wielding saga for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

As Avigail seeks the means to escape Earth, Humans, Biracials, and aliens question their loyalties and where they belong in The Ministry Of Compliance #3.

 

Rating 8.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.