Self-sufficient, cynical, bitter, grizzled, dangerous are words that can describe Cat Tanner. She might never have had any fucks to give and she certainly doesn’t have any now living in solitude in a repurposed gas station in the desert wastelands decades after the collapse of government and society in the post apocalyptic fictional world of the Redemption mini series. In a kinder more stable world Tanner might have channeled her energy in all sorts of positive directions but she is first and foremost a survivor. Finding herself on the street at the same time as everything had started to fall apart left her with a stark choice: live or die. It’s a situation all too familiar to queer youth who find themselves homeless even when the world at large isn’t going to hell. She turned to pickpocketing and petty crimes.
The story of how Tanner met Inez Obregon remains to be told. They’re deeply in love and passionate and guarded about their relationship since misogyny and anti queer sentiment and violence is increasingly more prevalent. A charismatic man named Stonewater will assert a message of isolationism and protectionism that appeals to enough of the townspeople to raise concerns for Tanner. Her “healthy distrust of authority figures” instinct kicks in. Repeated attempts to persuade Inez to strike out on their own fail. As a doctor, Inez feels obligated to remain and care for people whereas Tanner’s obligation is ultimately to herself. Inez will become a mother to a daughter named Rose and her life will stay on the same trajectory providing medical care skirting Stonewater’s authoritarianism as best she can.
Whether out of necessity or to fill the new void in her life or both, Tanner becomes a hired gun and killer to make it outside the walled town of Redemption that now passes as “civilization”. People near and far will nickname her the Butcher. Being pragmatic, she’ll use that to her advantage. It’s all about survival and always has been.
Tanner will be the first to tell you she’s a “fucking monster”. She isn’t one hundred percent right just as she isn’t one hundred percent responsible for becoming one.
Read a review of Redemption here.
Cat Tanner and Inez Obregon both debut in the first issue of the five part Redemption mini series published in 2021 by AWA.
Created by Christa Faust and Mike Deodato Jr. Art by Deodato Jr and Lee Loughridge.
All rights reserved Christa Faust and Mike Deodato Jr
