Creation
Deathface Ginny was created by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Emma Rios in Pretty Deadly #1.
Major Storylines
The Shrike
Whether Ginny’s origin recounted in Pretty Deadly #1 is literal or metaphorical, her mother died in childbirth. Ginny’s birth became a part of folklore, in no small part because of the storytelling of Fox and Sissy, the Vulture Girl, who tell the tale of her mother, who married “a Mason man” who paraded her around in front of other men until he became afraid that she’d abandon him. He trapped her in a stone tower, where she opened her wrist. Death came for her and fell in love, taking her but leaving her child, Ginny. According to Fox and Sissy’s story, Death raised Ginny as a spirit of vengeance who could be summoned by those who had been victimized by “men who have sinned” with this song:
“If you done
been wronged,
say her name,
sing this song,
Sound the
bell’s knell
that calls her
from hell
Ginny rides
for you on the
wind, my child…
Death rides on the wind.”
In the issues that follow, Deathface Ginny arrives in time to save Cyrus, Sarah’s youngest child, from mutilation by Big Alice‘s men. Alice declares she’s been sent by Death to bring Ginny home, and the two fight with sabres, ending in Alice transmogrifying in death into a flutter of butterflies.
Ginny coerces Sarah into taking her to Fox, and the folklore turns out to be true as Fox is revealed to be “the Mason man,” the husband of Ginny’s mother. Death had made Fox a deal for Ginny many years before that if Fox would slay “the spawn of a thousand violent deaths” meant to replace Death, and in return Ginny would be bound to the spirit world for the length of Fox’s life, only allowing her to visit the living, and when Fox died he would have the opportunity to beg his wife’s forgiveness. However, the beast prophesied by Death is an infant with bi-colored eyes, and Fox cannot bring himself to kill the child (Sissy). Earlier in the series, Sissy accidentally destroyed the document binding Ginny, and so the daughter of Death pursued Fox to avenge her mother.
The first story arc concludes as Ginny, with Fox, Sarah, Sissy, and Johnny Coyote, converge on the Cavern of Death to face Ginny’s father and the restored Alice. Sissy takes Death’s place, but all of the players, including Ginny, seem to be killed as well. However, Bone Bunny reveals to Butterfly that Sissy sets Deathface Ginny back in the world. “To what end?” Butterfly asks. “That, Butterfly, is a story for another day.”
Powers
Deathface Ginny is a formidable fighter, both unarmed and with gun and sabre. Additionally, she is a skilled tracker, and was able to communicate with Sissy in her dreams.