Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas
by Garth Ennis

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Book Reviews of Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas

Book Review: Artful? No. Fun? Without question.
Summary: 5 Stars

"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".

Summary of Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas

Horror Books

• Books > Subjects > Comics & Graphic Novels > Graphic Novels
• Publishers > DC Comics