Rating: 
Summary: Overrated series but good first volume
Review: Maybe it's just that I reread this series in the wake of rereading Neil Gaiman's massively superior Sandman, but Preacher does not deserve the hype it has been given. The story is about Jesse Custer, an irreverent minister who merges with a mysterious being called Genesis. This gives him the power to command anyone who can understand him. Together with his girlfriend Tulip and Irish vampire Cassidy, he sets out to find God (literally).The word "gratuitous" hardly begins to describe virtually everything to be found here. Blowing off someone's face gets a little boring after seeing it (or some other equally gruesome death) for the twentieth time. Sexual depredations are used for cheap shock value and have little emotional impact. And writer Garth Ennis seems to have a running competition with himself over how many times he can use the f-word in one page. All the sex and violence (very often acted out by the main characters) only serves to detract from the moral and religious messages of the comic. I am also forced to conclude that Preacher is sorely lacking in the creativity department. The premise is interesting enough, but not a whole lot is done with it. Jesse Custer spends most of the comic just sort of wandering around, running afoul of various sickos and conspiracies. So much time is spent making sure the reader knows that Jesse is a Real Man that his villains usually end up looking like total losers. The exceptions are the Saint of Killers, who's fairly cool, and Jody (from the second collection), who is a nearly perfect comic book bad guy. Starr, theoretically the main antagonist of the series, is totally worthless; I can't remember him succeeding in anything he tried to do at any time. And the less said about other bad guys, like Jesus de Sade and Les Enfants du Sange, the better. Jesse is a fairly good character, and many rave about the portrayal of Tulip as a strong female comic character. (Though I personally thought she wasn't even vaguely realistic.) This first volume deserves four stars, because it has some drive and focus. Overall I would probably recommend this collection and the first half of the next one. (That contains the story of Jesse's upbringing and has far and away the most powerful writing in the series.) But the later collections are pointlessly drawn out and don't fulfill the promise of the beginning of the series.
Rating: 
Summary: Am I going to hell for liking this book?
Review: This is it-- the grittiest, nastiest, darkest comic book ever to be mainstreamed. This book is not for anyone who is still impressionable enough to let a book drive them to suicide. If you read this, and make it through the second book in the series, you will basically be smearing filthy engine oil onto your soul. And what a trip. This first book isn't AS intense as the rest of the series, but it is only a matter of degrees. Fortunately, there are few purile satisfactions. You won't read this book and find titilating sexual imagery, or satisfying violence, etc. You'll find disturbing sexual imagery, and violence that just leaves you feeling ragged and ill. These aren't the kind of quirky-fun horrors you'll get from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series or a Stephen King novel... these are the kind of images that will really bother you, disturb you, sicken you. Now that I've said all of these negative things, I need to say that this series is boundlessly creative, well written, and maybe, just maybe, there is a hint of moral philosophy between the pages. It is perhaps forgivable to show us horrors if you show us the human soul at the same time. I haven't made up my mind. Garbage in, garbage out, after all. But this isn't garbage... it's simply a discussion OF garbage. And not the garbage out in the world, but the garbage inside yourself as you find yourself reading "Preacher" with delight. You can see the garbage inside you as you flip the pages. And now you have to decide what to do with it.
Rating:
Summary: so much promise
Review: I like this book a lot, but it's part of a larger arc and that larger arc really starts to sag a few books later. What we find here isn't too uncommon in serialized stories like comics or television shows that actually have a long narrative planned in advance, and that's that the stage setting proves to be much more fun than the resolution. I can't say when it gets really bad but it does and it seems to do so over a long period of time. Or possibly Ennis' whole schtick and his characters, never quite as fresh as those of Gaiman to whom he owes a large and obvious debt, get tiring after awhile. You probably won't go wrong with this one, but I wouldn't suggest buying all the books at once.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and human
Review: A lot of us, when we were younger and less wise, loved this book because it was about an ordinary guy with ordinary flaws who just happens to be touched by God and have a super power. The fact that Jesse Custer is such an ordinary cuss (though he can beat the living .... out of anyone in his way) makes you overlook the fact that this is still an action-adventure superhero story. But the way that this story ends in Volume 9 makes it clear that writer Garth Ennis has popular fantasist all over him. Keep that in mind you modern day savants. Steve Dillon's art is spare without seeming sparse. It's as tough and blunt as Custer. Ennis and Dillon were made for each other. This series is flawless. Custer is not an ideal human being. God is a narcissistic psychopath. Tulip, the female lead, is tougher than Jesse in the end. (She at least isn't killed. Don't worry, I haven't spoiled anything.) The fascist goons are pathetic slobs without any intelligence. And you never find out if the vampire junkie Cassidy really is okay after all. My one complaint is aimed at the publishers, Vertigo. Why oh why do they have introductions by famous people to these books? Do Tom Clancy or Stephen King have rock stars introduce their books? Does Samuel Beckett have movie stars praise him in his books? The answer is, Obviously not. Why then do Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon need them?
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Outrageous!
Review: Every aspect of this creation is steeped in controversy. Wrapped in an extremely well written story and uncompromising, brutal art this tome shines with its outrageous originality. The offspring of a forbidden union between an angel and demon bonds with a Texas minister giving him power rivaling that of the almighty, who learns that God has gone missing and sets off to find him. He is aided in this quest by his ex-girlfriend turned hitwoman and a vampire. Expect the body count to rise to unbelievable levels when the angels in hevean awaken the Saint of Killers to track him down and kill him, and an old friend of the vamprie turns out to be a serial killer. New York's unluckiest cop and its kinkiest set out to put a stop to it all. This is one of the most original creations to come out of the comic industry in many years. It's violent, vulgar, no holds barred storytelling. The characters have no restraint in their quest and this makes it a forbidden fantasy we've all longed to enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Comics don't get much better!
Review: Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon really deliver a knock out punch with this comic. While it may be vile, depraved, and down right gross(check out Arseface)at times this is still a great work. Jesse Custer is one of the greates characters to enter pop culture in quite some time.
Rating:
Summary: Artful? No. Fun? Without question.
Review: When you think of the greatest movies of all time, names like "Citizen Kane", "American Beauty" and "Glitter" come to mind (I'm joking about "Glitter" of course. And anyone who says "Lord of the Rings" should be in line for a "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" style [treatment]). These are some of the films that show what films should be. However, you're not always going to pick one up at the video store. A lot of times, you'll go for the fun of "The Matrix" or "Die Hard". "Preacher" is comicdom's "Die Hard". Is "Preacher" as eye opening as "Maus" or as original and deep as "Watchmen"? No. The storyline of "Preacher" is well written and occasionally original, but for the most part it's fun and always entertaining. "Gone to Texas" is the first volume and naturally, the best place to start. As a fair warning, "Preacher" is laden with (but not limited to) the following: Gratuitous profanity
Violence, generally realistic and sometimes stomach-turning
Nudity of most variety
A fairly deep look into deviant sexual lifestyles
Blasphemy and what most Christians would deem a horrific interpretation of the Bible, God, and everything they hold dear. If any of this might bother you, then I suggest you do one of two things: either pick up something mindnumbing and "happy" like "Richie Rich" or, to quote Bill Hicks, "--squeak squeak squeak, squeegee your third [blank]in' eye and wake the [blank] up!". "Gone to Texas" introduces us to five of the main characters (there are a few more that come into play in the next volume), Jesse Custer, Tulip O'Hare, Cassidy, Saint of Killers, and Arseface. It starts in a diner off the highway with the three having dinner (breakfast for Cass) and through flashbacks we're shown how they got there. Jesse was working as a preacher in a small stain of a Texas town, drunk and despondent about his work (and you REALLY understand why in the second volume) when he finds himself joined with a heavenly being called Genesis, which gives him divine knowledge and the Word of God, which allows him to give unbreakable commands to people (and you just KNOW there's going to be a few laughs with that). Tulip was involved with a botched hit and made a getaway with the nearest person she could find, Cassidy. Heaven is in pandemonium from the events what transpired and are forced to awake the Saint of Killers (an unstoppable killing machine at heaven's disposal) to track down Jesse and kill him before things get out of hand. I won't say much about Arseface, other than he's one of the more heartbreaking characters. After the first story arc is wrapped up, Jesse and the gang head to New York for a two issue story in which they get mixed up in tracking down a serial killer while trying to figure out just what it is that happened to Jesse and how God could allow such things to happen. Oh, and John Wayne has several cameos. "Gone to Texas" isn't the best of the series, but you have to start here. The next collection improves upon things and introduces one of the better (and funniest) characters in the series, the villain Herr Starr. "Preacher" is filled with sick humor, great one-liners, amazing action, and sometimes moments that are far more emotion-eliciting than anything in Hollwood. Except maybe "Glitter".
Rating:
Summary: Truly Much Better than Going to the Movies
Review: I had to quote Kevin Smith on the back cover when describing this book. It was one heckuva good read that seems to capture you from the first page to the last. Garth Ennis works his magic on one ofhis earliest works to create character that are so out of this world, it's real. Steve Dillon provides the visual afterworks for a story that is well laid out and planned from day 1. These guys were having fun with this book and they just didn't care who they were offending while doing just that. The story begins like any good story. In a bar. Here everyone starts telling how things came to be. Ennis portrays this aspect beautifully, creating a marginal line between the insane and what is to be of reality. The Preacher, the main character, gets his main share of the pie. The others still remain a mystery to the reader which only makes you want to read more and more about their backgrounds. Ennis seems to be telling his readers: "Look, I'll get to this, just hold on a sec and enjoy the ride." And boy is the book a rollercoaster. The Preacher's spirit is a product of an angel from heaven who mated with a demon from hell and whose spirit sought a mortal soul, to find the true meaning of life??? Heck, you maybe surprised at first, but that is the smartest way any author has tackled the prospect of what life is all about and how creatures relate to God. Ennis wants to know the answer and wants you all to know that answer, but he'll make it out so that everyone can enjoy his or her time with this. This is not just a piece of fiction, but a piece of theology. It may provoke a lot of debate. I was offended at first and still am, but you have to give credit where it's due. Ennis, brilliant evil British genius that he is, uncovers all the horrors of the heavens. I had thought his work on Punisher was smart and sassy, but his work on Preacher just blows that away completely. Here we have smartness, ingenuity and let put some sexy in it too. Did I forget to say funny? Even his depiction of some horrors, like a boy who has his face blown and lived to see the next day has the funniest way of talking and speech. Is that funny? Yes, but you WILL feel guilty for laughing to such real horror. Dillon's work is gruesome!!! Very graphic depiction of violence. Is it a bother? Hell NO!!! This just provides the scheme of things. It plays out like a good horror movie. Lots of gore, lots of blood and lots of faces getting blown up and brains spilling. Steve is not here to lush you with bleed art on every page like comics these days. He'll stick to his regular rectancles and squares, but he'll make your eyes glued to them the whole time. His work is like a 35mm Scorcese movie, not an MTV video clip. Only downside with his art, however, is that the faces just look too damn alike. They look that everyone is somehow related to the other in some sense. Great work by this fabulous duo. DC Comics fails to tell Warner Bros about this gem of a book. It would make a good movie if ever was made. You don't even have to change the script to fit in with the screen, because reading this collection is waaaaay better than going to the movies.
Rating:
Summary: DON'T JUDGE BY THE SYNOPSIS
Review: I always skip the 5 star reviews, but if you are reading my review, know this: People say that it sounds silly or dumb, or not interesting after reading the synopsis. And I agree, I don't know if I would've given Preacher a read if I had read the summary beforehand. Having read it though I can fully attest to its greatness-greatness a wonderfully fun and exciting book. You quickly get involved with the story and can't put it down until you know what happens next. The pacing is quick and it doesn't take itself too seriously but definitely is NOT goofy. Garth Ennis a very poplular writer and for good reason. Not everything he touches turns to gold but Preacher definitely shines in his hands. If you like dark humor and things that make you feel guilty for laughing, you'll find a very fun read in Preacher. This book started it all and in my opinion (up to the 5th book in the series) is still the best. Bottom line: Read it before you judge, you have to check it out for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Uncannily Cool
Review: OK, this is a SICK SICK SICK SICK series, but my friend just started me on it, and it's also bloody addictive! Rollin' out the body count in style, Jesse Custer, Cassidy, and Tulip O'Hare are their own walking Armageddon, wholesale death fighting for neither absolute good, nor bad, but some semblance of a fair universe. I really can't tell any more, 'cause I'd hate to give anything away. This book is relentlessly gory, but with a hardcore Texas tinge to it that entices you to buy and read the rest.
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