Pretty Deadly #2

Pretty Deadly #2

by Kelly Sue DeConnick (Writer), Emma Ríos (Illustrator), Jordie Bellaire (Illustrator)

The Old West is steeped in violence and strange magic in this macabre tale from the team behind the cult-hit miniseries Osborn, KELLY SUE DeCONNICK (Captain Marvel) and EMMA RÍOS (Dr. Strange). Gunfighters have it out with swords as the whole world burns. There will be blood, blood, blood.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Horror, Westerns

32 pages, Paperback

First published November 27, 2013

About the author

Kelly Sue DeConnick’s work spans stage, comics, film and television. Ms. DeConnick first came to prominence as a comics writer, where she is best known for reinventing the Carol Danvers as “Captain Marvel” at Marvel and for the Black Label standard-setting Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons at DC. Her independent comics Bitch Planet and Pretty Deadly (both from Image Comics) have ranked as New York Times best-sellers and been honored with Eisner Awards, British Fantasy Awards and Hugo nominations.

Ms. DeConnick’s screen work includes stints on Captain Marvel, a film that earned $1B for Disney worldwide, and 2023’s forthcoming The Marvels with Marvel Studios; in addition to having consulted on features for Skydance and ARRAY, and developed television for NBCUniversal, Legendary Entertainment and HBOMax. Her most recent stage work is the mythic spectacle AWAKENING, which opened at the Wynn Resort Las Vegas in November 2022.

Mission-driven, Ms. DeConnick is also a founding partner at Good Trouble Productions, where she has helped to produce non-fiction and educational comics including the “Hidden Voices” and “Recognized” series for NY Public Schools and Congressman John Lewis’ Run, in partnership with Abrams Comics.

In 2015, Ms. DeConnick founded the #VisibleWomen Project, whose mission is to help women and other marginalized genders find paid work in comics and its related industries. The project continues to this day and recently expanded in partnership with Dani Hedlund of Brink Literacy.

Ms. DeConnick lives in Portland, OR with her husband, writer Matt Fraction, and their two children.

Reviews

[Joseph Gagnon]

Hrm, I am not sure this issue explained anything much for me. There was another epic fight as told by Bones Bunny. I'm still not sure who any of the people are in this story, but by the end, we are assured by the narrative answers are coming. I hope so. The information feels aloft in my head. There is no ground for it yet. I am not sure what to think, or how to think of the story.

The artwork has me, that is for sure. I love the richness of the detail, the muted colors. I love the pace each page sets. So far, the art is the only thing that pulls everything together for me.

The narrative itself is still reminding me of Evelyn Evelyn, which is probably why the comic still has my attention ... if we don't get some cohesion soon, I might end up lost beyond interest. I hope that doesn't happen, because this is such a pretty book.

Read more commentary here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/pret...

[Andrómeda]

—¿Alguna vez recuerdas tus sueños?

—No si tengo suerte.

[Kylie]

I did get a little bit of a crush on Big Alice, which made this issue bittersweet. This series appears to have some similarities in storytelling style to The Sandman, which is great.

[Sierra]

OK... Still lost.

[Michelle]

Very intrigued and very confused at the same time.

[Octavia Cade]

Three and a half stars, rounding up to four. I didn't like this quite as much as the first one, partly because it's really violent, and partly because it didn't have the same level of rhythmic prose that the first one did, when it was telling the story of Death, Beauty, and Ginny. That being said, I'm still fascinated by the weirdness and the general story remains compelling. I do enjoy the fact that the two reapers with primary roles here are women, too - I'm not overly familiar with westerns, but the ones I have come across seem to have somewhat limited gender roles, so it's interesting to see Pretty Deadly play with genre tropes here, with Ginny and Alice having a sword-and-gunfight out in the desert. I do note, though, that there's still a prostitute featured fairly heavily here, which tracks with the westerns I know and which doesn't seem terribly innovative in comparison with the rest of it, although to be fair I'm still not entirely sure how much that particular storyline intersects with the rest.

[Daria Gray]

This was kind of disappointing. it seemed like that issue where there isn't any kind of back story of how the character meet or why they doing the things that they are doing. it just seem to be relying on aesthetics and a empty spot of a story. I really wanted to like the story but wasn't doing it for me.

[Fatima]

This keeps getting better and better.

I want to know what's happening. Everything is too confusing. Also, Ginny is just the best.

[Jessica L.]

My favorite graphic novel series. The art, the plot, the characters are all so satisfying.

[Ariana]

''Bones bunny tells butterfly the tale.

It begins with Fox, the blind man, Sissy the girl in the vulture coat.

Sarah and fox confer while Sissy gets to know Sarah's youngest, Cyrus. When he frets, she teaches him to sing to calm himself.

She teaches him the song of the deathface Ginny. ''

But, I also like a line of ''dead reckoning'' by DeConnick it just call my attention:

DeConnick:
''My son Henry Leo, who is six, is a gentle boy, for the most part, an artist and a peacemaker, but he's a boy --a child, I mean-- And he sometimes tries to catch honeybees just to see they'll do. I've pocket at stingers with tweezers at least three times now, and suggested that perhaps what the bees want is not to be touched. His eyes told me I am wrong and old and he pities me for my lack of understanding.''

Another line,(this was exactly my favorite.):

DeConnick:
''Henry Leo dreamt he shot a hummingbird with a water gun once. It fell and cracked its skull. He woke up sobbing.
''I tried to give him my breath,'' he said, ''But it was too late''

[Karen]

I think I like the Pretty Deadly series...it's hard to tell. I love that it's a popular non-superhero title created by two women, I love that it's Sandman-meets-Deadwood, I love the weirdness of it. I'm not always able to follow the art well enough to understand what's happening between panels. And I'm not familiar enough with the series to remember from Book 1 who all these people are, to put together all the moving parts. Still! I was actually moved by the story here, which is pretty great considering all those obstacles. And the style of the art is weird and appealing, even if I don't always follow its flow. This is one of the better, less problematic re-imaginings of mythic tales--maybe because women are doing it?

[Midu Hadi]

Thoughts about this Book

In the Old West, Deathface Ginny, the daughter of Death himself, is a ruthless executioner, hunting down those who have committed heinous crimes or attempted to cheat their own mortality.

Also reviewed at WP

Review of Book 2 here

[Homakp]

Just when i was giving up on comics!
One star less, only for unrequired nudity and sex scene. That aside, this is the very first comic book i've not put down after the first chapter and am actually looking forward to it.
the art is really unique and the story is deep. the whole thing feels like where Dreams meet Nightmares And i Love it!

[Jessi]

It's still gorgeous, but a little slow, plot-wise. Nice to see Ginny in action, though.

[Meg]

Bickety-bam.

[Amy]

I like the story till far... I think the books are too short tho =/

[Ash Obenstine]

3.5 Probably will continue with this, but right now it's at the bottom of the list.

[Brielle]

Now we're talking.
(By the way I adored Lily. She's the kind of woman I want to be some day.)

[Beth 'Misselthwaite']

Enjoyed the characters and art in this one. Still only just grasping the story but it is beginning to make some more sense to me