Country: United Kindom
Genre: Graphic Novel/Urban Fantasy/Horror
Pages: 337
Writer: Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon are both Brits that got fished out of the pond by DC Comics and their Vertigo collection. I want to acknowledge both guys and get that out of the way first, because we'll concentrate on the creator and writer who is Ennis. It's arguable that the artist has as big of a role to play and you're right. But it's beside the point for literary reviews. So Ennis is the man we'll talk about. He collaborated to many great characters such as Judge Dredd and invented great characters too, but Preacher was where it all started.
Hah, don't let the beginning fool you. Jesse Custer is a priest undergoing a faith crisis, but he's not a stereotype. Hell, he's everything but that. Custer never felt fine as a part of the christian minister and that for a good reason. He's got possessed by a creature named Genesis, who is the product of a sexual relationship between an angel and a demon. Genesis is made out of pure good and pure evil and inhabits Jesse.
The first volume portrays two things. First, the inception of Jesse Custer's chase for a forsaken god that abandoned heaven when Genesis was born. The morally iron willed priest embarks on a journey with Irish vampire Cassiday and his old girlfriend Tulip in order to find the coward God who turned on mankind.
The second portrait is a lot more interesting than the first. The reader discovers the tortured relationship Jesse Custer has with religion. Born from an unlikely wedding in between a Marine and the runaway daughter of a religious nut, Jesse has always been prisonner from his Grandmother's grip and her religious views. Whenever she felt like he wasn't following the path of God, she put him through horrible tortures in order to keep him in line. The first volume of Preacher is about Jesse, with the help of Genesis, coming to terms with this turbulent past of his.
Preacher is most definitively unique. Despite being gorged in blood and guts, Jesse Custer's tale doesn't deviate from its goals of moral retribution. The drawings of Steve Dillon make faces small and sad and represent the true desperate face of manking. Ennis' narration is sometimes hard to follow as the Acts of God are interrupting and not making any sense. I was sometimes left to scratch my head and had to turn the pages to understand what was going on. It's an effect that grew on me, but it might rebuke a few. Other than that. Preacher is a gritty tale that doesn't spare you, without being hollow in it's violence. So gear yourself.
There are VERY strong and VERY weak characters. Tulip, for example is supposed to be that warrior princess who would take a bullet for her man, but the graphic novel is so centered around Jesse that she comes out as a cardboard henchman. So it Cassiday, the Irish Vampire, who has no depht to speak of. He's your tongue-in-cheek sidekick who doesn't have visceral involvement in the story.
Jesse Custer though is so multi-faceted and complex that he makes up for it. Ennis and Dillon have worked dilligently to make him deep. I particularly enjoyed his visions of John Wayne, who guide him in moments of intense stress. They are an embodiment of his true self of the world as he should see it. His interactions with Wayne are an amazing read.
Custer's family also makes for a demented bunch of vilains. Unlike your typical DC vilain hell bent on committing crime, they want nothing but Jesse on their side. Their methods are twisted but their goal is surprisingly not violent. They are some of the most original vilains I've seen in comic books.
Tired of spandex and male ego getting in the way of the story? Try Preacher. Garth Ennis takes a little time to find his aim, but when he starts to develop his story with Jesse Custer as the center, things get interesting to say the least.
You'll need a very good suspension of disbelief for the adventures of Jesse Custer, but if you're into comic books and graphic novels you're most likely having a good one.
