Grovel

Written by: Garth Ennis
Art by: Carlos Ezquerra
Publisher: Vertigo (US), Titan Books (UK)
First published: 2005
Originally published as: Bloody Mary 1-4, Bloody Mary: Lady Liberty 1-4

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Art:

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Garth Ennis has some amazing work under his belt, not least of which is Preacher. However, some of his shorter works haven’t had quite the same impact. Bloody Mary follows a similar path to this previous work, including Pride & Joy and Just a Pilgrim: mixing genres (in this case horror, sci-fi and war) with a promising concept that loses something along the way.

Mary Malone is a special-forces operative of the highest calibre, fighting a third world war for an Anglo-American alliance against a Europe unified under a facist dictator. She’s tall, blonde and aggressive - if this were a film from twenty years ago, she’d have been played by Brigitte Nielsen.

There are two story arcs collected in the book, previously published in two four-part comics. The first serves as a decent introduction to Mary’s world and shows how she became a top soldier - she’ll go to any lengths to complete her mission, but if it involves dressing up as a nun, so much the better.

There’s more nun outfits in the second story, which is stronger than the first and carries through some of the themes and characters, but only adds a little depth to them.

In fact, despite the potential for farce, the stories are relatively humourless affairs. The future portrayed in the book is a bleak one, and while these are fair action stories for those who like a bit of politics and sci-fi with their guns and nuns, it left us only semi-entertained and wishing that Ennis would spend more time on his master-pieces and less on the semi-interesting asides.

Other titles by Garth Ennis:

• War Stories Vol. 1
• War Stories Vol. 2
• Preacher 1: Gone to Texas
• Preacher 2: Until the End of the World
• Preacher 3: Proud Americans
• Battler Britton
• Boys, The Volume 1: The Name of the Game
• Preacher 4: Ancient History
• Preacher 5: Dixie Fried
• Preacher 6: War in the Sun
• Preacher 7: Salvation
• Preacher 8: All Hell's A-Coming
• Preacher 9: Alamo
• Bloody Mary