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Saturday 10 December 2016

Just a Pilgrim Review (Garth Ennis, Carlos Ezquerra)


In this dystopian future the sun has expanded and burned off the water from the face of the Earth… but somehow not wiped out humanity at the same time. A band of survivors sets out to cross the vast desert formerly known as the Atlantic Ocean only to encounter land pirates. Their only hope to live? Just a pilgrim. 

This is one of Garth Ennis’ lesser efforts. All of his usual storytelling features are here: gory violence, juvenile humour, post-Apocalyptic setting, a gleeful mocking of the Bible, a Western flavour, and an unstoppable gun-toting anti-hero, and he’s done it all better elsewhere. Here it just feels like he’s spinning his wheels predictably and it’s not interesting to see.

The one variation is that Ennis gives us a morally complex character in Pilgrim, a man with a chequered past who is, in his eyes, doing the Lord’s work now - but can he make up for what he’s done and is he really doing good? His backstory was compelling though that was the only part of the book that was. The main story is just one-dimensional villain pirates vs Pilgrim and the group he’s protecting. Pew-pew shooting ensues, who do you think survives? The end. 

I always enjoy seeing Carlos Ezquerra’s art and parts of Ennis’ story are somewhat entertaining but mostly Just A Pilgrim is unfortunately just a bit too crappy.

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