The Pilgrim

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Real name: Unknown


Date of death: Twelve years after the Burn
Place of death: The Marianas Trench


Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Other distinguishing features: Cross-shaped burn mark over his left eye
Race: Human


Occupation: Former major in the U.S. army.
Legal status: U.S. citizen with a criminal record
Marital Status: Single
Group affiliation: U.S. army


Story: The man who became known as the Pilgrim was originally a soldier. En route to a mission, the plane was hit by a lightning and he and his men had to jump out over the Pacific. The four men ended up in a life raft, where they had to eat each other in order to survive. When the life raft was finally found after more that 100 days on the water, only one man was left [2].

The soldier was discharged, loosing the only home he knew and he started drinking heavily. One evening on his way home he accidentally drove down a hobo. The only reaction he had to the corpse was that it looked underdone and he took the body home where he cooked and ate it. This apparently sent him on a killing-spree eating people and he was eventually caught and put in jail [2].

In the first year he was in prison a catholic priest approached him and somewhere within the next two years he found God. When the Burn happened and the Sun fried the Earth, the priest tried to save the former soldier but died and burned in the process. The only thing left was the metal cross he had worn around his neck, which was now red hot. The former soldier took the cross and burned himself leaving a mark to remind him of what he had done. He then set out into the World, intent on doing the Lord's work [2].

Eight years after the Burn, the Pilgrim met a group of settlers on the bottom of what used to be the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic floor was now a desert with dangerous creatures and marauders, and the Pilgrim offered to help them get to safety [1]. He did not succeed in saving the settlers but the death of the kid Billy Shepherd [3] profoundly changed him. As it was later revealed that he had really only used the settlers to kill the marauders, reading Billy's diary made him change his focus from eradicating evil to saving people [6].

Twelve years after the Burn, the Pilgrim found a group of survivors at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Protected from the searing Sun, a piece of forest had developed, where a group of people survived [4]. The environment was dangerous and they were loosing the fight to survive. Somehow they had salvaged a space shuttle and were going to leave Earth, searching for a new planet to populate [5]. The increased attacks from the predators in the environment ended with everyone in the settlement dying except for two people. The Pilgrim sacrificed his life helping the last two people escape in the space shuttle [7].


Powers: The Pilgrim was en excellent marksman and fighter.
Equipment: Various guns with a preference for the Anheuser-Buch 12 gauge shotgun.


Continuity: Just a Pilgrim
Publisher(s): Black Bull Entertainment
First app.: Just a Pilgrim (vol. 1) #1 (2001)
Creator(s): Garth Ennis
Country of origin: USA


References:

1. Just a Pilgrim (2001 series) #1
   Black Bull, May 2001
2. Just a Pilgrim (2001 series) #3
   Black Bull, July 2001
3. Just a Pilgrim (2001 series) #5
   Black Bull, September 2001
4. Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden (2002 series) #1
   Black Bull, May 2002
5. Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden (2002 series) #2
   Black Bull, June 2002
6. Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden (2002 series) #3
   Black Bull, July 2002
7. Just a Pilgrim: Garden of Eden (2002 series) #4
   Black Bull, August 2002