17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The best thing Garth Ennis has ever written, Aug 8 2004
By Ellen Pellnat "Not really Ellen, she's my wife" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Just a Pilgrim (Paperback)
I love PREACHER. HITMAN is stroke after stroke of black-humoured genius. THE PRO is good fun. THE PUNISHER is the most fun to come out of MARVEL in years. But JUST A PILGRIM is, to me, the greatest thing put out by Garth Ennis. What I loved in PREACHER, the characters, the obvious love of Ennis for his characters, the romance of the settings and the timeless quality to it; everything i love from Preacher, from 66 issues, taken out, compressed, put into 5 issues and losing none of its poignancy.
Of course, the book is still full of that twisted humour and absolutly obscenely funny situatuations, and just the one liners ("I'll shove me hook up your poop-chute") make it a book you cannot put down. The story is mind-bogglingly simple, proving you don't always need a complex, winding story to be great. It's an absolutely dedicated religous man, travelling the desert of the earth with his gun, taking a group of wayfarers and travellers under his protection. It sounds boring, but it's not. It's a story with some of the deepest characters ever created by Ennis with the most genuine emotions and actions taken by a character under his writing ever. And he writes some damn realistic characters all of the time.
It's a real treat of a book, even for someone as non religous as me. As Ennis. You can tell that he doesn't believe this stuff, but he, like many other people, can respect someone who stands besides their morals no matter what the cost, regardless of who's around and what comes their way. It's a book that has to be read to be belived, it's the food of the mind, and you have to be careful. Don't look for much more than face value. You might start hating it.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Another crafty work from Garth Ennis, May 26 2010
By aka_Sabretooth - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: GARTH ENNIS JUST A PILGRIM COMPLETE TP (MR) (Paperback)
Not a literary or comic book jewel but decidedly another crafty job from prolific comic book author Garth Ennis and artist Carlos Ezquerra. I delayed reading this one for years for no particular reason (I love Ennis work though it has it ups and lows, I am not a fan of "The Boys" for example) and the timing for reading this was perfect as a few weeks ago I had walked out of the cinema after having suffered through "The Book of Eli" -actually I think I ran out of the cinema at the first hint of the end titles- and I found in "Just a Pligrim" all the things I had sought to find in the movie and more: a post apocalyptic scenario, a lonesome warrior, and plenty of guns and fights and Ennis' own sense of humor embedded in the story telling (I reviewed "The Book of Eli" at IMDB, you will easily recognize my review if you want to read it).
Not the perfect "first book" to read if you have not read anything from Ennis (though are there any "perfect first books" anyway?), but if it is your introduction to Garth Ennis and you found some odd bits here and there, well, I can tell you you will come back or refer to it for sure, whether you read other books by Ennis or not.
Praise goes to Ezequerra too, as fortunately it is difficult (and pointles) to dettach the "author" from the "artist" in this book, in which the dialogue, the humor, the narrative, the visual concepts, the characters and the scenarios, they all flow nicely and professionally with none of the bumps comic books reader have learn to dread and fear in the past 20 years -fortunately this is not the case. A great and fine comic book job between author and artist.
Oh, about the humor, I did laugh with this book -something I always expect from Ennis' works: the humor and the laughter it invites to. Typically when you are reading Garth Ennis and you start laughing, and someone nearby asks what are you laughing at from what you are reading, you will find yourself in a very awkward position -unless the person asking is another reader of Ennis' work. I think that sums it up nicely.
I give it a 5 stars out of 5 for Ennis readers, a nice gem from Ennis, but 4 out of 5 for the general comic book reader and others.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Pilgrim, The Eastwood Of The Future, Mar 8 2010
By Jonathan Wash - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: GARTH ENNIS JUST A PILGRIM COMPLETE HC (Hardcover)
I'm a big fan of the post-apocalyptic genre so when I came across Just A Pilgrim in my current comic stint I was very interested since it was created by Garth Ennis, who is very popular in the comic industry for his work on Preacher, and set in a post-apocalyptic future that could actually happen. And I wasn't not disappointed.
Just A Pilgrim is set in a unknown future time when the Sun starts to die and expands and consumes Mercury and Venus and causes the seas to boil and dry up on Earth and makes the planet a barren wasteland. It starts and semi-narrated by a young boy, via journal entries, that comes across a lone man, known only as Pilgrim, that helps out the group of travelers the boy is with to a place to try and start life over again. As they group is traveling they are attacked by a group of pirates that is lead by a blind, dual peg legged, dual hooked captain. Pilgrim thwarts the most of the attack and the rest of the comic series is the group trying to get away from the pirates, figure out the origins of the Pilgrim, and just trying to survive.
The art for the series is great looking that leans toward more realistic look but not trying to be too serious, much like the look in Preacher, and gives the dreary look that should come with being in a post-apocalyptic setting.
I really liked the story, setting, art, and some of the subtle jokes and would recommend to any Garth Ennis or post-apocalyptic fans.