This is the second of 10 articles that we’ll be posting to celebrate DC comics in all their weird and wonderful entertainment! At #9, we have a Garth Ennis original – so if you watched “The Boys,” keep reading!
Our first full series on this list is none other than “Preacher,” the dark comedy that covers such topics as love, death and religion. Following Jesse Custer, a small-town Texas preacher, Tulip, his ex-girlfriend, and the Irish vampire Cassidy, this ragtag group journeys across the United States in search of God. You see, Jesse has been inhabited by the being known as Genesis (the child of an angel and a demon, a being of pure goodness and evil) which has given him access to secret knowledge of heaven, including the knowledge that God has quit. He’s done with being God, and he’s gone to live somewhere on Earth; thus, our protagonists are literally trying to find him.
This is just the tip of the series’ absurdity. In a book where you’ll find characters like Arseface, a suicide survivor trying to live his best life, the Saint of Murderers and Assassinations, and the Adelphi angels Fiore and DeBlanc, each turn of the page contains vibrant character interactions. Gore and violence are played for drama just as much as comedy, with Cassidy’s regenerative abilities making him a unique comedic relief character. And while there’s almost no taboo too far for Ennis, he does an amazing job of keeping you hooked all the way through. If you don’t mind a little blasphemy with your entertainment, “Preacher” is a great series to pick up.
Written by Kai Newquist, Comics Research Associate