Amazing potential, not quite fulfilled.
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No spoilers.
I finished reading this series a short time ago, and after the initial excitement of the early volumes, I was so disappointed at the rest that I've finally decided to get it off my chest in a review.
The story gets off to a cracking start - I'd never seen a graphic novel like this before. The themes are awesome and cosmic. The violence is... violent and quite funny at times. It's shocking. If your jaw doesn't drop open a few times as you read it, you probably have tetanus. It has a few wonderful, memorable moments that you'll never forget.
But for me the whole thing has two major problems.
First - the pervy sex and cuss words,blasphemy, etc... I have no problem with these as such, but it's as if the writer got so excited about being able to do all that x-rated stuff in a comic book, that he just got carried away and *overdid* it. I mean to the point where it becomes a distraction from the story rather than something to carry it forward.
I kept thinking that it was like when a little kid discovers a cuss word, and keeps using it over and over - just because he can. It can be funny at first, but eventually it just gets intensely irritating. After the first few volumes, the Preacher series goes through a stage where it's almost a self-parody, putting the story on 'hold' and taking time out to be as shocking and offensive as possible, just for its own sake.
But my biggest beef with the series was how it all ended. Like I promised, there are no spoilers here - but I felt it just kinda fizzled out in a slightly-rushed, semi-resolved sort of way. Personally, I felt it was a far from satisfying ending, and haven't felt so cheated since I watched the final episode of the TV series 'Alias'.
If you're into graphic novels, you've probably GOT to read this. I don't regret the experience but didn't regard it as a keeper - I promptly sold all my copies, and it's VERY unusual for me to buy a graphic series and not keep it on my shelves.
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One of the best comics ever.
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This is a superb adult comic.
The characters are great and the humour is black.
I haven't completed the series but I am yet to be dissapointed.
If you are reading this then you are into this kind of thing. Don't delay any longer, dive right in.
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One word.......WOW
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Preacher is the most fantastic Graphic Novel I have EVER read. It is like the drug of the comic world- once youv'e had a taste you aint never going back! - you'll have to get all the others in the series no matter what - its that addictive!
Dismiss any thoughts of the title meaning this is gonna be too religious or something. It isn't. It's characters (an Irish Vampire, a gun toting fiesty female, and a cussing, fist fighting Preacher) are strong and very well written. The storyline - smooth, well paced and imaginative. And its amusing (not in a comedic way, but twisted in such an imaginative way you cannot help but turn the page quicker every time in amazment).
I have never heard a bad word said about this novel by anyone who's read it and I would highly, highly recommend it to Everyone!
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That fella's got a face like an...
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Recently I decided to check out some new comic titles - by "new" obviously meaning ones I haven't read yet, as Preacher ran from 1995 to 2000. While Preacher is of course a well-known title among comics/graphic novels, it was mostly a shot in the dark. Well, when I turned the light on, there was a big smoking bullet hole right in the bullseye. I started out skeptical. Take Cassidy: an Irish vampire. It felt pretty thrown together, but before long you're loving the guy for being such a reliable jerk. The craziest things happen in Preacher, but in the end all you can do is laugh your head off and turn the page. Not that it's all smiles, of course. The sheer amount of flesh-rending gunshot wounds in the entire Preacher series is staggering. And pitting God Almighty as the antagonist is a pretty damn brave thing to do - we may live in a fairly liberal western world, but surely some things people still don't suffer to be taken lightly. Be warned, Jesse Custer is not strictly a moral man, and some may find offense in the comic's easily dispensed violence and unforgiving treatment of 'bad folks' (until they remember that it is, after all, just a comic, that is). Preacher is a fresh take on the mythology of America, strong plot, surprises for even the most cynical among us, one-liners and panels that make you burst out laughing ("Paulie, you sure you're not just ****ed in the head?"), strong characters (Tulip must be one of the toughest chicks ever seen in comic books), and no compromises. Pick up Gone To Texas and be assured that every issue after it is at least as good as the last.
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To buy or not to buy
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Of course you have to buy Praecher but you cant buy just one you have to get them all. thestory is captivating the characters multilayered, each with a past that gets slowly revealed. the writing is quick and witty. the art is imaginative as well.
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