Pretty Deadly Volume 1: The Shrike - Softcover

DeConnick, Kelly Sue

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1607069628 ISBN 13: 9781607069621

Publisher: Image Comics, 2014

Synopsis

Kelly Sue DeConnick (Avengers Assemble, Captain Marvel) and Emma Rios (Dr. Strange, Osborn) present the collected opening arc of their surprise-hit series that marries the magical realism of Sandman with the western brutality of Preacher. Death's daughter rides the wind on a horse made of smoke and her face bears the skull marks of her father. Her origin story is a tale of retribution as beautifully lush as it is unflinchingly savage.

"It's a perfect match for the gorgeous, dizzying artwork in a sumptuous palette-overlaid panels add intricate choreography to fight scenes, and detailed, whirling splash pages beg for long-lingering looks. Couple that, along with a handful of Eisner nominations, with a multicultural cast of tough-as-nails women who all fight for their own honor, and this is a series to watch out for." - Booklist

"It's ambitious and challenging (two qualities that are not often valued, but that probably should be), under a façade of violence and sacrifice. Rio's art is lush and detailed, and is more than capable of keeping up with the far-reaching story." - PW

About this title

About the Author

Kelly Sue DeConnick is best known for surprise hits like Carol Danvers' rebranding as Captain Marvel and the Eisner-nominated mythological western, PRETTY DEADLY; the latter was co-created with artist Emma Ríos. The sci-fi kidney-punch called BITCH PLANET, co-created with Valentine De Landro, launched to rave reviews in December 2014 and has since been nominated for an Eisner. She currently writes AQUAMAN for DC as well as develops television for Legendary TV with her husband and partner, Matt Fraction, as Milkfed Criminal Masterminds.

Emma is a cartoonist based in Spain. She shifted her focus to a mix of both architecture and work with small press publishers until working on comics full-time in 2007. Having collaborated with publishers like Marvel and DC, she was able to commit to working on her own creator-owned comics again since 2013, thanks to Image Comics, where she co-edited Island and created I.D., Mirror in two parts: The Mountain and The Nest with Malay cartoonist Hwei Lim, and where she currently co-creates the critically acclaimed Pretty Deadly with Kelly Sue DeConnick. The latter earned Ríos several Eisner Award nominations and a win for Best Cover Artist in 2020. 

Jordie Bellaire is a two-time Eisner winning colorist for acclaimed projects such as Vision, They're Not Like Us, Pretty Deadly, Injection, Auttumnlands etc, as well as mainstream hits like Batman, Deadpool, Moon Knight, and Hawkeye. She is writer and co-creator with artist Vanesa R. Del Rey on the ongoing Image Comics series Redlands.

She lives in Ireland with her famous cat, Buffy.

Reviews

Badass women populate the swirly, sunset-colored pages of this new series, a stirring, brutal, and macabre combination of classic western and a skewed Orpheus and Eurydice tale. Little heterochromatic Sissy and her guardian, the blind Fox, travel through canyons and frontier towns telling the mythical tale of death-faced Ginny, a vengeance reaper who has a personal score to settle—with Fox. When Sissy finds out, she demands to know the rest of the story of death-faced Ginny, but she gets far more than she bargained for. DeConnick’s slow-burn tale releases captivating details and secrets about Ginny, Fox, and Sissy at a bewitching pace as the scope of the quest grows to legendary proportions. It’s a perfect match for the gorgeous, dizzying artwork in a sumptuous palette—overlaid panels add intricate choreography to fight scenes, and detailed, whirling splash pages beg for long-lingering looks. Couple that, along with a handful of Eisner nominations, with a multicultural cast of tough-as-nails women who all fight for their own honor, and this is a series to watch out for. --Sarah Hunter

Edition details

• Publisher: Image Comics
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1607069628
• ISBN 13: 9781607069621
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 120