"Preacher" Comic Book Series Review

Who would have thought someone could sit down and make an absolutely fantastic comic about a man of the cloth looking for God? Well Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon apparently thought they could and apparently were right. It's a little comic book series called "Preacher."

That's mostly because the "Preacher" comic book series ain't what you think. Pastor Jesse Custer ain't your average preacher and he hasn't gone searching for the Almighty for the reasons that most people do. The preacher also isn't on a symbolic search. He wants a man-to-man confrontation because, thanks to something really, unbelievably weird that happens to him one day, he has uncovered the biggest scandal in Heaven. Actually the two biggest scandals. Kind of a cause-and-effect relationship.

Essentially, Custer is a cowboy. A cowboy with a preacher's collar. And a gun-totin' girlfriend. And a best buddy who's on a liquid diet and can't handle sunlight. Custer, Tulip and Cass-not to mention the rest of the cast-are some of the best characters I've found in any kind of a book anywhere. They are also some of the most disturbing. Part of the reason they're great is because the "Preacher" comic series is written by a...well, a writer. A good one, who isn't afraid of text and snappy, explicit dialog. The characters of "Preacher" are soulful and real, mean and petty, and try to make things better with a smile and a joke. They're so real you'll hear their voices in your head.

I have complaints about their characters too, which is probably a good thing. Good guys without flaws are just plain boring. You can't help but like Custer much of the time, but he has a pretty bad temper and likes to throw punches. He can also be pretty unforgiving at times, in weird, scary ways. Cass can also be a bit of an ass. You'll see what I mean. And Tulip? For such a strong woman, she sure can be a whiney little girl when she gets her feelings hurt, holding Custer to his "forevers" and then running at the first sign of neurotic male protectiveness. "Preacher" has grit. It even has John Wayne.

You gotta love a motley crew like this.

Dillon has some mad chops as an illustrator, too. I love the way he draws the "Preacher" comic book characters. He puts so much depth into the faces, it's downright creepy sometimes. The graphically blown-apart heads aren't nearly as creepy as the depth in the faces, and Dillon loves blown-apart heads. He also tends to draw the men of "Preacher" with features I tend to go for, which is a big, fat bonus. Lots of pretties. Lots of weird, scary pretties.

The one real artistic complaint I have about the "Preacher" comic book series is all about the covers. I don't like them. The concepts behind them are great. They are truly awesome illustrations of the story to come, but I don't like that they are drawn by not-Steve Dillon. The cover artist has simply not captured the characters of "Preacher" as Dillon does. In fact, they look so completely different that they hardly seem to be the same people. The expressions are all wrong. On the cover, Cass looks way too much like James Dean and not all Keith Richardsy like he's supposed to.

And then there are the unspeakable things the "Preacher" writers do to one of the villains-in-white, Herr Starr, to whom I took a strange and inexplicable liking. There's no reason for it. He shouldn't be liked. By anyone. But I just wanted to adopt him and pat his widdle bald head. Not quite the reaction Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon were looking for, no doubt.

Overall, though, the "Preacher" comic book series is a blast. You won't be able to put it down-if you like your paradigms to be kicked around the room. Let me leave you with this little image:

Big, badass angels with mohawks. Oh yeah. Scary, pretty things. ###