Wednesday is Comic Day!

Writer: Garth Ennis Artist: Steve Dillon Publisher: Vertigo Price: $14.99

Follow up:

As I've said in other reviews, Garth Ennis, for me, comes in two incarnations: the brilliant writer with a gift for character, dialogue, and dark reality or the childish writer with a penchant for pointless shock value. This volume is clearly the former.

I don't know how to give the basic idea for Preacher in one sentence. It will take a few more, so bear with me. God has gone off on a trip, to Earth, and no-one in heaven knows where he is. In heaven are the two factions of angels. The Adephi sit on the left of heaven's throne. They are passive and thoughtful. The Seraphi sit on the right side of heaven's throne. They are the warrior angels. One of the Seraphi, long ago, mated with a demon, creating an offspring called "Genesis". This offspring is extremely powerful and considered a danger and thus was imprisoned in heaven. Genesis has escaped and gone to Earth.

On Earth, our focus is on three characters. Jesse Custer is a minister in a small Texas town. Tulip O'Hare is Jesse's former girlfriend whom has somehow gotten mixed up in organized crime. Cassidy is, well, an alcoholic vampire.

Events transpire that result in our three characters on the run from a heavenly hitman and an angry sheriff's department. The framework becomes clear that Ennis wants to make this a road story. The formula that is common on television, dating back to The Fugitive, of having the characters constantly on the move allows Ennis to tell their story while at the same time putting them into different environments to tell other stories with other characters. The one in this volume involves a serial killer in New York.

This is definitely a mature readers story. There is strong language and very, very graphic violence. One of the biggest factors behind the success of Garth Ennis is that he seems only interested in writing about very flawed people. This certainly makes the characters interesting, however when Ennis is not careful, these characters become repulsive caricatures and stereotypes. Jesse is by no means your typical preacher nor Cassidy your typical vampire. Tulip, in this first volume, does not receive as much character development.

The art is my one difficulty with this book. I do think the art suits the text, but I've long not been a fan of Steve Dillon. The faces he draws always look a little odd to me, and often look similar from character to character - leaving it to the hairstyles and clothing to distinguish who's who. That problem isn't as noticeable here, and I think it may be that Dillon is more comfortable away from superhero books. A reader needs to also come to this book realizing that coloring has come a long way in the last decade. The coloring in this book is underwhelming.

The last issue of Preacher was published nine years ago. I had heard of it, but it never got my attention enough to pick it up. That I bought this trade is evidence of success of the "After Watchmen" marketing campaign DC is doing (Vertigo is a division of DC). DC/Vertigo have been reprinting the first issues of several titles with a common banner and selling them for $1. A couple of weeks ago they did this with the first issue of Preacher. I figured $1 was a good incentive and picked it up. The next Wednesday I went back to my local comic store and bought the first trade paperback. Next week I plan to pick up volume 2.