Rating: Summary: Don't believe the hype... Review: ...the Preacher series is graphic literature's most over-rated example. Is it good? Somewhat. But you get the impression that the creative team is making it up as they go along, and, at this stage of the game, that's not a compliment. With this volume and the Preacher off-shoot Ancient History especially, the creative team of Ennis and Dillon have lost direction and are simply keeping it going with all the blood and guts and their attempts at gross-outs - which with this volume consistently miss their mark and are at this point redundant - only because, as far as I can tell, that's what they're paid to do. Don't get me wrong. Earlier volumes of this series are good - particularly "Until the End of the World" - and the later edition "War In the Sun" is also recommended, but Ennis and Dillon should take a cue from the likes of Gaiman, Miller, and Moore and stay focused on the story they're supposed to be telling and then, once that's finished - end the series.
Rating: Summary: Fried but not Stirred Review: After the last chapter of the Preacher series, this one comes back to where Jesse, Tulip and Cass were left off in Chapter 3. Ennis is taking his time bringing back the premise of the characters after their trip to Paris. His style is laid back, down to earth and not as shocking as his previous work.The story starts off with Cass and Jesse in NYC getting ready to meet Tulip. After a rundown of the things that happened to them previously in Paris, Tulip shows that she's never to be underestimated under any circumstance. For that part, I think that would have been the most memorable thing in the whole book The gang head to New Orleans, when they come upon a hellbent Arseface that wants to kill them all. Good thing he decides otherwise and actually joins the group to become a sensational singer. This goes to show you that not only is Ennis is sick, he is the pure essence of evil when it comes in creating pitiful characters that you just love to make fun of. Another thing that makes this guy pure unadulterated king of BAD (sorry Michael Jackson), is the fact that he creates a love triangle between Tulip, Cass and Jesse. I, for one, want to see what the heck will happen in that department. Dillon is back. Can't say he's back with a vengeance since his style really is adamant in not changing at all. His work is a sight for sore eyes to tell you the truth, since he was AWOL during the last chapter. He carries the book as usually gracefully. Not a bad book, but not a good one either. I don't know if it's lack of creative idea or direction, but Ennis and Dillon should pick themselves up pretty quickly if they want to keep their readers interested in their characters. Preacher was original when it first came out. Let's just hope that the characters and story remain that way till the end of the series.
Rating: Summary: Pretty good eatin', but not the best Review: Book five in the "Preacher" series was a little bit of a disappointment for me. I usually guage how well I like the installments by how fast I'm compelled to read them. I read book 4 in a couple of days, but it took me almost a month to make it through book five. We return to the main story of Jess, Tulip, Cass, and the Grail here, but it seems to have lost a little of its get-up-and-go after the detour into the back-stories of side characters featured in book four. Not that the story isn't still thrilling and fun. I just found it a little less compelling than it had been before, and hopefully will be again. We do get some interesting new complications in the relationship between our three main protagonists in this one, however. Keep reading, though--I just started book six, and the story seems to really be picking up again.
Rating: Summary: Ann Rice, deflowed, degraded and smacked up to the eyeballs! Review: Dixie Fried finds our friends back on the south road after a lot of big hugs and bad love in the Big Apple. heading straight for whole lot of gun toting, malbrouo smoking, throat choking trouble in New Orleans, not to mention a whole shitload of Cass's bad blood past. It cocks it's leg at the traditional Vampyre fare. Clever pardoy, I think not, more total whiskey drenched black humour, thats just got to be bad for your health. Dixie Fried does, as is the norm for Preacher, answer many of the devillishly hounding questions left by the previous book. A superbly crafted item of fiction and another big gleeming piece of the puzzle. Live it, breathe it, love it, devour it, but rest assured you will be left yet again with an empty belly
Rating: Summary: Well... Review: Good art (as always) but mediocre plotting (note: "plotting", not "writing". The writing is excellent) make this the least essential of the Preacher books. It's entertaining enough, I suppose, but feels soulless. Happily, you're not buying an issue a month, so you should wince your way through this storyline as quick as you can and then rush out and pick up the excellent 'War In The Sun'. Continue your enjoyment from there, and forget 'Dixie Fried' ever happened.
Rating: Summary: Well... Review: Good art (as always) but mediocre plotting (note: "plotting", not "writing". The writing is excellent) make this the least essential of the Preacher books. It's entertaining enough, I suppose, but feels soulless. Happily, you're not buying an issue a month, so you should wince your way through this storyline as quick as you can and then rush out and pick up the excellent 'War In The Sun'. Continue your enjoyment from there, and forget 'Dixie Fried' ever happened.
Rating: Summary: It keeps getting better and better. Review: How can you not love a collection that begins with an older vampire corrupting a younger one who is basically a "wannabe" and has learned everything he knows about being a vampire from Mary Shelly? As with the previous books, new colorful characters are encountered on the mission. Faces from previous editions return, too, when you weren't expecting them too. Beware. I've enjoyed this series since the start but each one gets better and better.
Rating: Summary: Worst of the series...but keep reading Review: I by no means want to jump on the bandwagon here, if you're reading up on Dixie Fried on this page and wondering whether or not to buy it you're probabley getting pretty discouraged. However, hear me out, no puzzle is complete without all of the pieces, and the same goes for the Preacher volumes. This is essential reading for any fan of the series who is embarking upon the entire literary journey from Gone to Texas to Alamo. Dixie Fried reuintes Jesse with Tulip after he ditched her in Proud Americans, and a revelation from Cass impacts the entire series for the remainder of the story. So hear me out, this is NOT a bad story, it's fine, but not slack jawed bliss like the other volumes. It's essential reading for anyone who isn't too lazy to get the entire story from the prolouge in Alamo. Also take note that there is a exceptional romp that starts the story collected from the Preacher SPECIAL: Cassidy, Blood and Whiskey. This is the best part of the book and the reason I didn't give Dixie Fried a ***. And I'm out.
Rating: Summary: Hmmmm Review: In all honesty I must firstly say that this isn't exactly the best Preacher TPB of the series. The story takes itself a teensy bit TOO serious here, with TOO much pointless graphic violence, and the bizar humor is also on low-profile for the time being (which is not a good thing here). Cassidy has some good oneliners but that's pretty much it for the humorous bit in this trade. The first two issues in here are about Jesse having to face Tulip again after what he did to her in France (see "Proud Americans" for that). Tulip handles it in her own manner and then wents out to get a drink in the bar, where she gets to hear a disturbing confession from Cassidy. After that she meets an old friend and the rest of these issues is filled with them talking and reflecting on their lives and relationships these last couple of years. In the rest of the issues (#29-33) Jesse thinks of (and tries) a way to try and get in contact with the Genesis entity in his head (an idea he had because of what the angel in the previous volume said). When he goes to meet the person who can possibly help him with this it turns out that Cassidy and this person have a (negative) history together, and if that isn't enough there's also a group of wannabe vampires called 'Les enfants du sang' who know Cassidy from the past and need him to do something for them now (a past that is cleared up in the Preacher Special "Cassidy: Blood & Whiskey" which is also collected in this trade). One of the positive notes that I need to share here is the return of Arseface in this trade. His goal is to avenge his father but he turns out to have another carreer-perspective ahead of him (a hysterically funny one I might add), which DOES really come to the good of the mood in this trade. Also, the included Preacher Special about Cassidy is also good reading. Not that important for the general story, but very nice. In here the humor IS at level. The story in this TPB seems nothing more than a filler, which wouldn't even need to have been so bad if the humor had been at level. But that, like I said, isn't really the case. Overall pointless violence has the upper hand without the sub-plot adding anything to Jesse's quest. Now I don't wanna make it sound like it's an awful book because it IS pretty nice reading, but for Preacher standards I consider this one of the lesser volumes.
Rating: Summary: A mixed experience Review: It starts off fine with cassidy at his best behaviour, battling that sonnuvabitch sheriff. After you go past the first vampire episode you realise that sadly this is the paperback that was destined to backfire, there`s something lacking, something not quite right. After a while i get the feeling that this part of the series has been done much on routine and sadly it affects the ominous feeling of pending doom that`s always present. I`ve noticed that the main characters are getting more brutal and ruthless issue by issue, sure what can you expect with Jesses upbringing and Cassidys condition but what about tulip? Her descent into righteous cruelty doesn`t seem logical it`s more like the writer changed her too fast and i don`t like it. The end of the paperback on the other hand was something else, when jesse realises what`s going on and who set it all up, it sends god damn shivers down the spines of any preacherfan. I`m ready for the next issue.
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