Pretty Deadly Volume 1 TP

Kui üldiselt kipub ameerika koomiksimaailm olema meeste pärusmaa, siis seekord on kõik koomiksi nö. võtmefiguurid tekst/sisu autorist kuni fondi valijani välja naised. Kelly Sue DeConnick peaks Marveli maailmas olema mitmete koomiksite taga, “Captain Marvel vol. 7” näiteks.

Algus on intrigeeriv, liblikas ning jänese luukere räägivad omavahel sellest, kuidas Surm (mitte segamini ajada SURM’aga) on kunagi tütre saanud. Edasine siis ongi justkui siis tolle tütre lugu, sekka loomi, näiteks üks vana pime rebane. Jahimee… st jahinaine Alice, loomanahas Sissy (kes ongi siis too tütar) ja mitmed teised tegelased vilguvad lehelt lehele ning mul oli ikka väga raske aru saada, et mis nüüd siiski toimub. Kusagil poole peal tekkis mul vägisi kahtlus, et kas ma olen ise loll või mis värk nüüd on. Aga kui võtsin interneti lahti ja hakkasin vaatama arvustusi, kus ka sisu võimalikult palju lahati, siis leidsin samasuguseid arvamusi küll ja küll. Mõned karvustajad isegi rääkisid, kuidas nad hakkasid ühel hetkel lugemise ajal tegema märkmeid, keerasid lehti tagasi, alustasid uuesti… ning ei, ei. Ei saa aru, mis sünnib.

See on visuaalselt ilus vaadata, tõesti. Kunstiline pool on väga kena. Aga sisu on pehmelt üteldes pretensioonikas, kaootiline, nõutusttekitav. Et justkui on üks tüdruk, kes on kinni püütud, siis Surma enda poolt vabastatud, vahepeale ohverdatakse suurema eesmärgi nimel kedagist ning kõige selle keskel on westerni stiilis muud lugu.

Ma ausõna ei otsi igaltpoolt lineaarset loojutustamist, kasvõi “Apocrypha: The Legend Of BABYMETAL” oli oma kohatises kaootilisuses päris äge. Aga see siin meenutab vägisi purkisittumist, kus keegi on ilmselt tõesti kõvasti vaeva näinud. Minusugune lihtne lugeja aga ei saa suurt midagi aru, kogu vaev ja aur lendas kõrgelt üle pea.

Aga ilus on, tõesti. Vbolla olekski endale meeldinud rohkem, kui sisupunnitamist oleks olnud vähem, olnudki rohkem visuaali ja vahel natuke vihjeid teksti näol. Siis jagunuks rohkem tööd lugeja fantaasiale. Oleks-poleks.

I kinda sorta liked this but at the same time, it didn't really grab me quite the way I expected. I'm not exactly sure why. I liked the characters we were introduced to and I loved the whole Wild West Supernatural kind of feel to it. The artwork is stunning, and I did like the narration by Bunny and Butterfly and the overall text which has a sort of lyrical murder ballad feel to it.

But... I feel that while I liked all the elements I just didn't quite like the overall package. I guess there was just something... missing? Needed? Maybe there is more to the story? I'm not sure. Anyway, I would like to read more, and the last part of this volume made reference to Volume 2 coming soon, but its been a year since Volume 1 was published so I guess its likely that we won't see it for a while, if ever. Fingers crossed!

Full disclosure: I received a free review copy of this book from Net Galley.

Pretty Deadly was my first exposure to “weird western”, a genre I knew existed but had never read. Things first get weird when we meet the narrators - a butterfly and a dead rabbit – and that’s only a taste of what’s to come. This first volume focuses on the adventures of Sissy, a girl wearing a vulture cloak, and Fox, an old blind gunman who sees more than you might think.

Fox and Sissy make ends meet by traveling from town to town telling the story of the Mason and his wife, Beauty, who he locked up in a stone tower. When Beauty despaired of her prison, she asked Death to come for her and take her away, but when he arrived, Death fell in love, and their union produced a baby.

That baby grew into Deathface Ginny, a relentless killer who comes to the aid of those in trouble if they sing her song. Needless to say, it isn’t long before Fox and Sissy are on the run from another killer named Big Alice and one of their friends summons Deathface Ginny. This results in a sword fight in the desert between the two women, one of whom has a skull tattooed on her face. It turns out that Fox and Sissy are on the run because there is more to Sissy than meets the eye, and all the players soon converge in a series of bloody gun and sword battles that lead them right up to Death’s door.

In some ways, Pretty Deadly reminded me of The Sandman’s penchant for dark supernatural stories set in the intersection between myth and reality. However, the characters were a bit flat, and I had a hard time keeping all of their motivations straight. Part of the reason for this is that the book feels overstuffed; we’re introduced to a decently large cast of characters in a very short amount of time, and none of them are given much depth. The pacing felt rushed, and the story relied more on bloody mayhem than genuine character moments.

Also, this volume reads like a fairly complete story arc. I’m not sure where the next book might go from here, and I’m also not sure who the viewpoint character(s) will be. The last page implies that Deathface Ginny will be the focus of the next volume, but that feels like an odd choice, simply because we spend more time with Fox and Sissy. So far, Deathface Ginny is nothing but a one-note killer with supernatural origins, and I can’t see myself being invested in a story with her as the focus. However, I suppose it’s also possible that the author will use Ginny as a gateway character into stories about other characters, much like Dream wasn’t necessarily the main character of The Sandman for its entire run.

Ultimately, I wasn’t drawn into the world of Pretty Deadly, and I probably won’t pick up future volumes.