The Preacher series, conceived by Garth Ennis, is my favorite series of comic books. It is published by the Vertigo division of DC Comics.

Preacher primarily concerns the exploits of Reverend Jesse Custer, a man who's body is also occupied by a demon called Genesis, which allows him to wield to power of God. When he uses "the word", whatever he says people are forced to do. For example, in one comic, Jesse tells a man, "Go f*ck yourself", and the man ends up ripping off his penis and sticking it in his rectum.

The other main characters of Preacher are Tulip, Jesse's girlfriend, and Cassidy, an Irish vampire. However, none of the three main characters show up in Ancient History. Instead, this book collects three storylines showing the origins of some of the more prominent background characters in Preacher

The first story shows the origin of the Saint of Killers, a demonic man sent from Hell to kill anything that gets in his path. It tells the story of the tragic death of his wife and daughter, and how when he lost them all he wanted to do was kill. His hatred was so great that when he finally died he froze hell. The devil and the old Angel of Death decided he would make a good candidate for a new Angel of Death, so they sent him back to earth. After massacring the town where he died, the Saint goes to rest on Boot Hill, to later come back to try to dispose of Jesse Custer in the other Preacher books. This section is excellently done, as it gives the reader real insight into why the Saint of Killers acts the way he does. After reading it he will no longer seem like a complete homicidal maniac and his actions will begin to make more sense.

The second book, and my favorite, tells the story of Arseface. Arseface was the teenage son of a local sherrif. He and his only friend, Pube, are constantly picked on by their peers, and suffer abuse at home. The only way they find solace is in marijuana, Nirvana, and pornography. After learning that Kurt Cobain has killed himself, Pube and Arseface lose hope, and decide to take their own lives too. Pube does it successfully, but Arseface does not. He places his father's shotgun under his chin and blows his face clean off. Six operations later, he is alive again. However, he is terribly ugly, drools constantly, and no one can understand a word he says. As he wakes up out of his coma, his uncaring father comments, "Should have put it in your mouth, you dumb little f*ck." Still, Arseface's suicide attempt gave him a new lease on life, and he is determined to improve his relationship with his father. Unfortunately, he doesn't get much of a chance because his father won't talk to him, and soon after the incident his father has a run in with Jesse Custer, when the Preacher utters the immortal line of "You're gonna go f*ck yourself." After that, Arseface's father killed himself and Arseface swore revenge. Later on down the line, however, Arseface and the Preacher became good friends, and Arseface even became a famous recording artist.

The last story in the book is that of Jody and TC, a pair of good ol' boys from Texas. It chronicles their adventures fighting an international drug smuggling ring, romancing a beauty (and a dog, for TC), and basically just having some very violent Dukes of Hazzard-esque hijinks. This is definitely the most "fun" section of the book, in terms of how light hearted it is, although it's still full of graphic violence. Jody rips a man's head off with his bare hands, and uses a boat mortor to scramble a few guy's faces.

The stories in here are fun and vulgar. They are full of horrifying violence, crude language, and frank sexual content. The Preacher series is definitely not for small children. Don't think that just because this is a comic book it's children's entertainment.

However, for older readers this series is one of the best of today's comic books. The art is richly done and vivid, the dialogue is hilarious, and the story is deep and complex, drawing you right into the plot. The Preacher is always an entertaining and gripping read, and I would recommend these books to any fan of comic books, or anyone who thinks comics are just children's entertainment. These books will definitely change your mind and show you just how powerful a comic book can be.






Recommended: Yes