Preacher Book One Author: Visit Amazon's Garth Ennis Page | Language: English | ISBN:
1401240453 | Format: PDF
Preacher Book One Description
Amazon.com Review
Here's a book guaranteed to offend a bunch of people, not only because of its profuse profanity and graphic violence, but because it's the epitome of iconoclasm. Like a brutal accident, you can't watch but you can't turn away. The story follows an ex-preacher man, Jesse, who has become disgusted with God's abandoning of His responsibilities. So Jesse starts off into the wilds of Texas with his hitman girlfriend and new best friend (a vampire) to find God so that he can give Him a piece of his mind. Despite its superficial perversity, this book contains what may be the most moral character in mainstream comics. A cult hit in the making. Fans of Quentin Tarantino take note.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Just about the best thing to come along since comics started finding their way into books."—
The Washington Post "Features more blood and blasphemy than any mainstream comic in memory. Cool."—
Entertainment Weekly "The most intense adult comic in ages."—
Spin
"It will restore your faith. In comics."—
The New York Daily News See all Editorial Reviews
- Series: Preacher
- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Vertigo (June 18, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1401240453
- ISBN-13: 978-1401240455
- Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
- Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
This is an extremely difficult review for me to write. I'm an evangelical Christian, and, hard to believe as I'm sure it seems to a lot of people, I still think it's the best (and only) way. Preacher was going to be the enemy for a long time - that strange, pretentious book about a man of the cloth taking on God. And then I read Gone to Texas. And the next day, I read Until the End of the World. And the next day, I read Proud Americans. In case the pattern had escaped you, I had a very hard time putting these down. More to the point, I did not put them down, and have just finished Alamo. Did the book shake my faith? No. It made me think a great deal, and a great deal harder about things that had not previouly occurred to me. Was I offended by it? Sure. Find me someone who wasn't. Did I love every single page? You bet. The book has so much going for it that I probably won't be able to fit it in here - Ennis and Dillon did every single issue - that's NEVER been done before, as far as I know. You can start with Gone to Texas, and finish up at Alamo with a clear understanding of how each of them became better at what they do. It was smart without being pretentious, which put it head and shoulders above most of DC's Vertigo line - anyone can read it, anyone can understand it. Most importantly to me, though, the characters were as real as you or me. Ennis peppers the story with horrific violence and some incredibly disturbed images, but I wouldn't have batted an eyelash if I hadn't known that it was Tulip at gunpoint, or Jesse hanging out of the plane.
***SPOILERS AHEAD!!!***
"Preacher" is brilliant and frustrating at the same time. The completely oddball plot involving conspiracies, angels, demons, vampires, possession, and a search for an absconded Yahweh certainly is an entertaining and occasionally stimulating mix of elements, and the three main characters are appealing, deep, and well written. The problems come from Garth Ennis' laziness as a scripter. First, unlike Neal Gaiman, who writes deep complex plots that reflect his erudition and research, Ennis is inclined to just sort of fake his way along and allude to theological and mythological concepts with which he has little familiarity and no motivation to learn more. So we have a story written about a renegade preacher, ancient secret conspiracies, and the politics of Heaven and Hell that is at times cartoonishly simple and at other times obtusely complex. The ultimate effect is not convincing, and the reader soon learns that the plot for any given installment of the series depends more on Ennis' moods than on any coherent storytelling impetus or overarching plotting. Think of it as the "Twin Peaks" of graphic novels, with the creator making stuff up as he goes along. The series is both choppy and ultimately unsatisfying as a result. We have the feeling that a lot of this stuff won't be tied up cogently, and sure enough, a lot of it isn't when all is said and done.
The other big problem with Ennis is his need to pay homage to pop junk culture. The violence, sex, profanity, and generally unpleasant vileness is often chucked into the series for no other point than to stroke the jaded cynicism of "extreme" media fans and to horrify the prudish. We see endless scenes of massacre, torture, and mutilation, which all has its place in art (and comics!
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