{"id":31378,"date":"2025-01-21T09:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T09:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=31378"},"modified":"2025-01-20T18:33:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T18:33:15","slug":"the-complete-just-a-pilgrim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/01\/21\/the-complete-just-a-pilgrim\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complete Just a Pilgrim"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Garth Ennis<\/strong> & Carlos Ezquerra<\/strong> with Paul Mounts<\/strong>, Ken Wolak<\/strong>, Chris Eliopoulos<\/strong> & various (Dynamite Entertainment)
\nISBN: 978-1-60690-003- (HB\/Digital edition) 978-1-60690-007-9 (TPB)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

As the entire planet ruminates on what about to happen and ponders how many different kinds of \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d can coexist, let\u2019s go back to a future that never happened – yet – but look less like harmless fiction every day…<\/em><\/p>\n

Like its troubled protagonist, Just a Pilgrim <\/strong>is a much-travelled item that never sat comfortably anywhere, but still has much to recommend it. Originally miniseries Just a Pilgrim<\/strong> (2001) and sequel Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden<\/strong> (2002), the property started at Blackbull Comics with Britain\u2019s Titan Books releasing trade paperback compilations, before this deluxe hardcover\/soft cover\/digital edition from Dynamite Entertainment.<\/p>\n

Fleetway veterans Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra have a long association with war comics and the apocalyptic visions of alternate lifestyle bible 2000AD<\/strong>, so combining their kindred sensibilities for near-future post-apocalyptic adventures always pays off in visceral hits and giggles. Since the 5-part miniseries spawned an almost immediate follow-up, they must have been more or less correct, but as the volatile state of the comics industry ended many indie companies at that time, this compilation comes to us via media\/intellectual property specialists Dynamite…<\/p>\n

Moreover, co-creator Ennis stated that even after past works and collaborations with Carlos Ezquerra (such as Bloody Mary<\/strong> and Adventures in the Rifle Brigade<\/strong>) he was keen to push the envelope on the mythology and iconography of the classic movie western hero\/antihero.<\/p>\n

The black sardonic ironies of Judge Dredd<\/strong>, Preacher<\/strong>, Hellblazer<\/strong> and True Faith<\/strong> are not present in this exploration of Christian indoctrination ascendant produced with veteran combat illustrator Carlos Ezquerra for Black Bull Comics way back in 2001 and 2002.<\/p>\n

This treat is garnished and flavoured with all the iconic spaghetti western tropes and themes of Clint Eastwood via traditional \u201ca man\u2019s gotta do…\u201d John Wayne nonsense taken to its outrageous but so logical extremes, but be warned: in this exploration of religious fanaticism there\u2019s not much room (some, not a lot…) for the cruel, ultra-violent gross-out stuff that made Hitman<\/strong>, The Boys <\/strong>and A Train Called Love <\/strong>such guilty pleasures.<\/p>\n

Behind that gripping Mark Texiera cover is a yarn steeped in classic western lore and references as an embattled wagon train picks its way through hostile territory and appalling predators. The kid who is our narrator and viewpoint is helplessly drawn to a charismatic stranger his parents fear but cannot survive without, and death is absolutely everywhere…<\/p>\n

The saga of this particular Man With No Name happens on a parched Earth that has been subjected to a vast solar flare that dried up the oceans.<\/p>\n

Following Mark Waid\u2019s text preamble \u2018If You Call This Introduction \u201cJust an Introduction,\u201d I\u2019ll F***ing Kill You\u2019<\/em> the story unfolds in little Billy Shepherd<\/em>\u2019s own diarised words. The kid is 10\u00bd and riding across the dusty Atlantic floor from sunken wreck to sundered bleaching hulk in \u2018Anno Domini\u2019<\/em> when raiders attack the convoy of migrant families in search of better lives. Thankfully, the sea floor foragers are singlehandedly driven off by a big guy with a strange long gun and crucifix-scarred face.
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\nThe newcomer is murderously pious and after despatching the bandits to their final judgement, offers to guide the trekker through the wastes and awful mutant beasts inhabiting the region to possible wetter climes. Sadly, his staunch resistance has made them all the sole concern of obsessive psychotic quadriplegic blind pirate king Castenado<\/em>, who diverts all his plundered resources and army of \u201cBuckers\u201d to destroying him and the intruders he\u2019s protecting beginning in \u2018To Reign in Hell\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Despite his upstanding Christian values, the Pilgrim terrifies everyone but Billy and as the brutal voyage and attacks continue, he is finally recognised for the monstrous infamous sinner he used to be – a grisly tale told in of cannibalism and redemption recounted in \u2018Bloody Baskets\u2019<\/em> before the inevitable showdown with Castenado and his horde in \u2018Firestarter\u2019<\/em> and blistering conclusion in the Alamo-like mouldering ruins of the Titanic in \u2018Pilgrim\u2019s Progress\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

One year later Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden<\/strong> sees the wanderer faithfully reading not only the Bible but also Billy\u2019s diary as he discovers a recess in the pacific ocean floor where water still exists; supporting abundant vegetation and a small colony of scientists. The \u2018Marianas\u2019<\/em> oceanic trench is a staging post where techs seek to fix up a space shuttle to take them all to a new less hostile world. However, under constant insidious assault, and picked off by mutant creatures that reanimate the dead, they are willing to suspend their distrust of the religious maniac if he can stop the killings. It\u2019s an ill-judged compromise as the deaths mount in \u2018To the Stars by Hard Ways\u2019<\/em> and the colonists are further split by the Pilgrim\u2019s ruthless and sanctimonious safeguarding actions. Most vocal is Dr Christine Page<\/em> who clashes with him constantly but after he gifts her Billy\u2019s diary she begins to realise how much the fanatic has actually already softened…
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\nWhen the dead-riders attack in force and torch the garden, little girl Maggy<\/em> is taken below ground and the Pilgrim leads a doomed rescue party after her. In face of their latest losses, and a most appalling act that has debased them all, the scientists make ready to leave Earth, giving the outcast one last chance to save Maggy and join them in a \u2018Last Supper\u2019<\/em> that only goes even more wrong. As fate signals the end of humanity\u2019s time on Earth and forces the fanatical zealot to reexamine his beliefs and ask \u2018Why Has Thou Forsaken Me?\u2019<\/em> the apostle of the apocalypse ends his crusade in the only way he ever could…<\/p>\n

If you were wondering, colours come courtesy of Paul Mounts & Ken Wolak, with Chris Eliopoulos lettering this violently engaging, sublimely cathartic and painfully accurate prognostication of what lies in store for us…<\/p>\n

Supplementing the iconographic saga is a map of the dry world and travel progress of the Pilgrim, a Cover Gallery<\/em> of 15 variants by Steve Dillon, Joe Jusko, Mark Texiera, Tim Bradstreet, J.G. Jones, Glenn Fabry, Kevin Nowlan, Bill Sienkiewicz, John McCrea and Dave Gibbons, backed up by an 8-page Pin-Up Gallery<\/em> from Amanda Conner, McCrea, Nelson, Darick Robertson, Paul Mounts and Jimmy Palmiotti, before closing with a Sketchbook<\/em> section packed with roughs and character designs by Ezquerra, Jusko and Jones.<\/p>\n

Excessively violent, trenchant, savagely satirical, gripping and never less than totally thrilling, this slice of dark, theology shows Ennis and much-missed Ezquerra at their anarchic best, offering an everyman view of all the hell-and-stupidity we can expect.<\/p>\n

These are grown-up comics at its very best and long overdue for their rightful place on your bookshelf or in your digital library.
\n\u2122 & \u00a9 2008 Wizard Entertainment. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Garth Ennis & Carlos Ezquerra with Paul Mounts, Ken Wolak, Chris Eliopoulos & various (Dynamite Entertainment) ISBN: 978-1-60690-003- (HB\/Digital edition) 978-1-60690-007-9 (TPB) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. As the entire planet ruminates on what about to happen and ponders how many different kinds of \u201cAmerican Dream\u201d can coexist, let\u2019s … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Complete Just a Pilgrim”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[191,42,105,111,107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-best-of-british","category-mature-reading","category-satirepolitics","category-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8a6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31378"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31383,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31378\/revisions\/31383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}