Preacher is an American adult supernatural comic book series created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon. The series follows a disillusioned Texas preacher who is bound to a Biblical entity and journeys across America to literally find God. It was published from 1995 to 2000 by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint.
The title consists of 75 issues in total – 66 regular, monthly issues, five one-shot specials, and a four-issue Preacher: Saint of Killers limited series. It was celebrated for its dark humor and religious satire, and won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 1999.
An epilogue to Preacher was published in Ennis' subsequent series The Boys in February 2009. A television adaptation aired on AMC for 43 episodes over four seasons from 2016 to 2019.
Plot
Preacher tells the story of Jesse Custer, a preacher in the small Texas town of Annville. Custer is accidentally possessed by the supernatural creature named Genesis, the infant of the unauthorized, unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon.
Genesis has no sense of individual will, but since it is composed of both pure goodness and pure evil, its power might rival that of God Himself, making Jesse Custer, bonded to Genesis, potentially the most powerful being in the universe.
Driven by a strong sense of right and wrong, Custer journeys across the United States attempting to literally find God, who abandoned Heaven the moment Genesis was born. He also begins to discover the truth about his new powers, allowing him, when he wills it, to command the obedience of those who hear and comprehend his words. He is joined by old girlfriend Tulip O'Hare, as well as a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy.
During the course of their journeys, the three encounter enemies and obstacles both sacred and profane, including The Saint of Killers, an invincible, quick-drawing, perfect-aiming, come-lately Angel of Death answering only to "He Who Sits On The Throne"; a disfigured suicide attempt survivor turned rock-star named Arseface; a serial-killer called the 'Reaver-Cleaver'; The Grail, a secret organization controlling the governments of the world and protecting the bloodline of Jesus; Herr Starr, primary enforcer for The Grail, a megalomaniac with a penchant for prostitutes, who wishes to use Custer for his own ends; several fallen angels; and Jesse's own redneck family — particularly his nasty Cajun grandmother, her mighty bodyguard Jody, and the Zoophilic T.C.
Characters
Collected editions
Additionally, the book Preacher: Dead or Alive (ISBN 9781563898488) collects Fabry's covers to the series.
Adaptations
Adaptation attempts
Garth Ennis, feeling Preacher would translate perfectly as a film, sold the film rights to Electric Entertainment. Rachel Talalay was hired to direct, with Ennis writing the script. Rupert Harvey and Tom Astor were set as producers. By May 1998, Ennis completed three drafts of the script, based largely on the Gone to Texas story arc.[4] The filmmakers found it difficult financing Preacher because investors found the idea religiously controversial. Ennis approached Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier to help finance the film under their View Askew Productions banner. Ennis, Smith and Mosier pitched Preacher to Bob Weinstein at Miramax Films.
Weinstein was confused by the characterization of Jesse Custer. Miramax also did not want to share the box office gross with Electric Entertainment, ultimately dropping the pitch. By May 2000, Smith and Mosier were still attached to produce with Talalay directing, but Smith did not know the status of Preacher, feeling it would languish in development hell
Legacy
Stephen King has said that his comic book series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, based on his The Dark Tower series of novels, was influenced by Preacher.[27]
The character Yorick from Y: The Last Man, has a Zippo lighter with the words "Fuck Communism" engraved, identical to the one owned by Jesse Custer in Preacher. When asked about it he says it is "from this book I read once... a graphic novel. You know, like a comic book." The phrase originated as a 1963 satirical poster produced by The Realist magazine's Paul Krassner.[28] This lighter appears later in the series when Yorick and Agent 355 are being held by Russian agents at gunpoint, who find the lighter and take offense to it.[29]
In February 2009, an older now-human Proinsias Cassidy appears in an epilogue cameo role in the fourth volume of Garth Ennis' first ongoing comic book series after Preacher, the DC Comics
External links
- at the Big Comic Book DataBase
- Analysing article at The Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies
References
- Absolute Preacher, Vol. 1 at DC Comics 21 December 2015^
- Absolute Preacher, Vol. 2 at DC Comics 17 October 2016^
- Absolute Preacher, Vol. 3 at DC Comics 21 August 2017^