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Once upon a time, a great writer named Garth Ennis teamed up with a mediocre artist named Steve Dillon. The result was the Preacher comic book, published by Vertigo. Starring a preacher named Jesse Custer, he literally goes searching for God along with his girlfriend Tulip and vampire friend Cassidy.
The story of the Preacher comic is that a forbidden soul named Genesis inhabits the body of Jesse Custer, a preacher in a crummy southern town. Jesse was forced into being a preacher, and thus sins constantly anyway. This includes cussing, having sex and even killing people. Genesis gives Preacher “the power of God”, which means that he can command nearly anyone, mortal or immortal, to do anything.
Something that makes the Preacher comic far more interesting is Jesse’s friend Cassidy. Cassidy is an Irish vampire that becomes Jesse’s best friend when they repeatedly save the lives of each other. However, Jesse is not your typical vampire. He does not have fangs, and can be satisfied by simply eating a medium rare steak. But what makes Jesse so cool is that he can regenerate any part of his body, including his limbs and penis, both of which are blown off in the course of the Preacher comic series.
Some parts of the Preacher comic can be slow and boring, however the high points make the writer Garth Ennis seem like a genius. There is also some brilliant humor that is hard to overlook. The artist Steve Dillon does a decent job, however Dillon tends to make his characters look generic and similar. The Preacher comic has been printed a million times in graphic novel form, so finding the omnibus or whatever shouldn’t be difficult.
Preacher is such a classic that it is worth reading more than once, for sure. The characters are lovable, Cassidy especially. Have you read Preacher? Leave your comments below.