Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #142031 in Books
• Published on: 1997-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Customer Reviews

That fella's got a face like an...
Recently I decided to check out some new comic titles - by "new" obviously meaning ones I haven't read yet, as Preacher ran from 1995 to 2000. While Preacher is of course a well-known title among comics/graphic novels, it was mostly a shot in the dark. Well, when I turned the light on, there was a big smoking bullet hole right in the bullseye.

I started out skeptical. Take Cassidy: an Irish vampire. It felt pretty thrown together, but before long you're loving the guy for being such a reliable jerk. The craziest things happen in Preacher, but in the end all you can do is laugh your head off and turn the page.

Not that it's all smiles, of course. The sheer amount of flesh-rending gunshot wounds in the entire Preacher series is staggering. And pitting God Almighty as the antagonist is a pretty damn brave thing to do - we may live in a fairly liberal western world, but surely some things people still don't suffer to be taken lightly. Be warned, Jesse Custer is not strictly a moral man, and some may find offense in the comic's easily dispensed violence and unforgiving treatment of 'bad folks' (until they remember that it is, after all, just a comic, that is).

Preacher is a fresh take on the mythology of America, strong plot, surprises for even the most cynical among us, one-liners and panels that make you burst out laughing ("Paulie, you sure you're not just ****ed in the head?"), strong characters (Tulip must be one of the toughest chicks ever seen in comic books), and no compromises. Pick up Gone To Texas and be assured that every issue after it is at least as good as the last.

The best comic series I've ever read
It's weird. Back when I used to read classic Brit sci-fi comic '2000AD', my favourite story with my favourite art was 'Slaine', drawn by the amazing Glenn Fabry, and quite possibly my most hated story with my most hated art was 'Rogue Trooper', drawn by some guy called Steve Dillon.
Fast forward to the present, and I'm stunned, amazed and delighted by 'Preacher', which I've only just discovered. It has the most fantastic, hilarious and sharp writing by Garth Ennis, totally mind-bending covers by Glenn Fabry...and...what's this? Superb art by Steve Dillon! Yes, he has improved so much since those old 2000AD days, and I now love his work. All three of these talents come together perfectly to create what is, without a doubt, the best comic series I've ever read.
Although the central story of Preacher is something about demon/angel posession and a vendetta against God, most of the series' time is spent on a multitude of subplots and happy meanderings through insanity, perversion and numerous moments of ultra-violence as three of the most damn likeable lead characters you'll ever meet, wander around America encountering all kinds of weirdos and freaks, each with a twisted tale to tell. Every line that Ennis writes is as sharp as an eye-gouging needle and every frame that Dillon draws is just really great.
I don't feel I need to say anything else, except, if you have any interest at all in graphic novels and haven't yet read Preacher, do yourself a favour and pick up this first instalment now. It doesn't matter if the idea of the story doesn't really appeal to you (It didn't really appeal to me when I first heard about it) - Just trust me. You'll have a blast.

My love of Garth Ennis' work started here
Although I rather enjoyed the occasional issue of ‘Preacher’ that I’d flip through at the local comic shop, I never really got into collecting the series. Then I discovered the first trade paperback, and took a closer look at this legendary funnybook tale of a former Texas minister, his girlfriend, and their mysterious Irish vampire sidekick on their mission to find God. And I must say, I’ve got to go along with what many of the critics and fellow fans have said about it (well, the state-side ones, anyway). It truly is an amazing hybrid of road movie, western, & horror flick, with a bit of modern Biblical epic, and some cop drama & murder-mystery/suspense as well (in this particular volume, anyway). This four-color epic hits on practically every movie genre you can think of short of sci-fi! Well, without it being a movie, anyway. Of course, from the rumors running through the grapevine of comic-book geekdom, ‘Preacher’ may soon be hitting the celluloid as hard as it did the bristol board!

Although writer Garth Ennis was no stranger to conceptualizing some of comics’ darkest and most disturbing, yet unbelievably hilarious moments before he started this saga, ‘Preacher’ was the book cemented his reputation for these things. With the help of Steve Dillon’s renderings, Ennis proves himself the master of the kinda blood & guts that’d make the likes of Paul Verhoeven & Quentin Tarantino queasy, yet mixed with an amazingly dark & sick sense of humor that helps… um… lighten the tone a bit. His rep for creating some of the freakiest and whacked-out supporting characters also began here, with the introduction of Arse-Face, the hideously disfigured teenage son of an overbearing podunk town sheriff. Another great character intro’d here is the Saint of Killers, an indestructible, immortal killing machine, sent by God’s angels to deal with the reverend and his Deity-seeking quest. You can see more of his weirder & deadlier side characters in ‘Hitman’, ‘The Rifle Brigade’, and ‘The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank’, all of which I recommend as well.

There’s a whole lot more I could say about this ‘Preacher Vol. 1: Gone To Texas’, but I think you get the idea. And besides, I don’t want to give too much of the story away. If what I’ve written above has swayed you, feel free to check it out!

‘Late