Just a Pilgrim

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Just a Pilgrim is a comic series by Garth Ennis and Carlos Ezequerra. It follows the tale of a mysterious Christian in a Post-Apocalyptic setting. The storyline, however, is anything but christian. It also has a sequel, Pilgrim: Garden of Eden, and a movie adaptation.


Tropes used in Just a Pilgrim include:


  • After the End: The world has been reduced to a desert by the sun expanding into a red giant.
  • The Atoner: Pilgrim.
  • Badass Longcoat: Pilgrim's Duster. Also: Castenado's pirate coat.
  • Badass Normal: Pilgrim
  • Bad Boss: "Thassa good lad, to die for Castenado."
  • Biblical Motifs: Dozens, but one of the funniest is Christine being given an apple by her pet snake Ozzie in the garden.
  • Blob Monster: Sliders
  • Catch Phrase: "You and me, Lord. You and me."
  • Crapsack World
  • Disability Superpower:Castenado's eyes have been burned out of his head by the sun. However, his hearing and sense of smell are so good, he can track a person without needing to see their spoor. How he got so hideously dismembered (Two hook-hands, two peg-legs, no eyes and no genitals) is anyone's guess.
  • Flat Earth Atheist: The biblical apocalypse has clearly begun, with the sun being much hotter, no more sea, a "dark time unlike any other before or shall ever be again," and strange and dangerous monsters and corrupt humans roaming the land. However, most people scoff at Pilgrim's faith (which is just another piece of evidence).
  • I'm a Humanitarian:Pilgrim, but he's not proud of it by a long shot.
  • Grey and Gray Morality: For a Christian, Pilgrim is pretty harsh. Forget bible-thumping, if you reject God, he says you're possessed and shoots you.
  • Groin Attack: Used by Pilgrim against Castenado, who cheerily informs him that there's "Nothin' there!"
  • Knight Templar: Pilgrim kills a Bucker (raider) as he's grovelling and repenting of his sins.
  • Mark of Shame: Pilgrim branded himself on the left eye with a mental hospital chaplain's cross.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: Rather than being shot in the head, they have to be shot in the heart, which has been replaced by a parasite evolved from a bioluminescent jellyfish. The light from the parasite glows through a hole in the chest, and the victim's mouth and eyes.
  • Puppeteer Parasite /PeoplePuppets: Sliders
  • Rage Against the Heavens: When a little girl gets infected with a Slider parasite, Pilgrim loses his faith and shouts obscenities to God.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Subverted, Pilgrim reverts to Atheism before he dies.
    • Not really, given who wrote it -- for Ennis, this is the Pilgrim being redeemed.
  • Ribcage Ridge: "This is where the giants came to die"
  • Saharan Shipwreck: With a speedboat, an Aircraft Carrier, and the Titanic. Yes, the Titanic.
  • Take Our Word for It: See "Naughty Tentacles" and "Squick" entries.