 Preacher, published by DC's Vertigo imprint, was very successful,
filling the void left by the end of The Sandman. It was very violent and very funny. It
was also, at times, quite trite.
Though Preacher included many memorable and clever moments, its hero
was mostly repugnant. While valuing tolerance and friendship, Jesse Custer was also a
Marlboro-smoking Texan and a deep misogynist. Twice over he lied to his girlfriend, Tulip,
because he felt the urge to defend her and keep her from harm. While we might sympathize with
his envisioning her death, we may also see that he believed hitting a woman the worst thing a man
could do. Ennis seems to agree: he has Cassiday, who has hit women, agree with this ridiculous
and sexist belief, stating that "out've fuckin' nowher yeh remember" hitting a woman "an' yeh
remember yeh're fuckin' damned!" (Preacher #64). Of course, both of these men, as well as
Tulip, are mass murderers. A man can be shot, or psychologically tortured, and we laugh, but a
woman hit makes us and these murderers cringe. The same reaction can be observed in dogs: if
you want to make readers hate a character, you make him hurt a dog. Women are thus rendered
animals in this dime store philsophy, but men are treated as disposable, their deaths or torture
irrelevant; women are thus also treated as queens, never to be subjected to the horrors of the
world. There is a complex social message here, though Ennis does not seem to see it. So much
for the patriarchy.
What else but the utter disposability of men in our culture, particularly
in "macho" culture, can be seen in two men beating each other senseless over one of them slapping
a woman? This same unconscious irony can be seen in Jesse's protection of Tulip despite her
ability to fight and shoot better than most men -- or any human in real life. Moreover, the
blaming of Cassidy for his keeping Tulip drunk is utterly mindless: it is never suggested that
Cassidy raped her, and all characters treat the whole episode as entirely consentual on Tulip's
part. Yet everyone, including Cassidy himself, blames Cassidy for making alchohol available to
Tulip. Tulip's own reaction is so vehement that she scowls and points a gun at Cassidy when she
next sees him (in Preacher #58). Yet, while Cassidy's behavior may be manipulative, the
condemnation of this behavior treats Tulip as helpless. Tulip seems to agree with this, smacking
of a feminist who wishes to be treated a capable and yet also as helpless -- to have all the
opportunities to do what she wants, even that which is risky (such as sex and fighting), while
still being treated as sympathetic and in need of special protection or consideration when she
regrets her own behavior or that someone beat her in her risky endevours, including drinking and
relationships. If Tulip attacked a man, brandishing a gun, and that man hit her in self-defense,
who could blame him? If you're going to act like you have a dick, you have to take it like you
do -- a simple logical fact Ennis does not seem to understand (though he's hardly alone).
|
| IMAGE | TITLE | DESCRIPTION | STATUS |
 |
1. Year One
| |
|
| Preacher #1-66, Preacher Special: Cassidy: Blood & Whiskey, Preacher Special: One Man's War, Preacher Special: Saint of Sillers #1-4, Preacher Special: Tall in the Saddle, Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys, Preacher Special: The Story of You-Know-Who: Garth Ennis script |
| Preacher #1-66, Preacher Special: Cassidy: Blood & Whiskey: Steve Dillon art |
| Preacher #1 | "The Time of the Preacher"; 40 pages; cover-dated April 1995 | 0 |
| Preacher #2 | "And Hell Followed with Him" | 0 |
| Preacher #3 | "And the Horse You Rode in On" | 0 |
| Preacher #4 | "Standing Tall" | 0 |
| Preacher #5 | "Say a Prayer for Seven Bullets" | 0 |
| Preacher #6 | "New York's Finest" | 0 |
| Preacher #7 | "N.Y.P.D. Blue" | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Gone to Texas | collects Preacher #1-7
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
| Preacher #8 | "All in the Family" | 0 |
| Preacher #9 | "When the Story Began" | 0 |
| Preacher #10 | "How I Learned to Love the Lord" | 0 |
| Preacher #11 | "Pardners" | 0 |
| Preacher #12 | "Until the End of the World" | 0 |
|
2. Year Two
| |
|
| Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #1-2, 4: Steve Pugh art |
| Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #1 | cover-dated August 1996 | 0 |
| Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #2 | | 0 |
| Preacher Special: Saint of Sillers #3, Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys: Carlos Ezquerra art |
| Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #3 | | 0 |
| Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #4 | cover-dated November 1996 | 0 |
| Preacher #13 | "Came a Pale Rider" | 0 |
| Preacher #14 | "Boys Will be Boys" | 0 |
| Preacher #15 | "Crashing the Party" | 0 |
| Preacher #16 | "Judgment Night" | 0 |
| Preacher #17 | "Miracle Man" | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Until the End of the World | collects Preacher #8-17
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
| Preacher #18 | "Texas and the Superman" | 0 |
| Preacher #19-24: "Crusaders" storyline |
| Preacher #19 | "Of Things to Come Until" | 0 |
| Preacher #20 | "Too Much Gun" | 0 |
| Preacher #21 | "Stormbringers" | 0 |
| Preacher #22 | "Iron in the Blood" | 0 |
| Preacher #23 | "Revelations" | 0 |
| Preacher #24 | "And Justice for All" | 0 |
| Preacher Special: The Story of You-Know-Who | Richard Case art; focuses on Assface; 56 pages; cover-dated December 1996 | 0 |
|
3. Year Three and Beyond
| |
|
| Preacher #25 | "Cry Blood, Cry Erin" | 0 |
| Preacher #26 | "To the Streets of Manhattan I Wandered Away" (a great title and a nice story of Irish immigrants in New York City) | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Proud Americans | collects Preacher #18-26
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
| Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys | 56 pages; cover-dated August 1997 | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Ancient History | collects Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #1-4, Preacher Special: The Story of You-Know-Who, and Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys; this was the fourth trade paperback published (between Proud Americans and Dixie Fried)
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
| Preacher #27 | | 0 |
| Preacher #28 | | 0 |
| Preacher #29 | | 0 |
| Preacher #30 | | 0 |
| Preacher #31 | | 0 |
| Preacher #32 | | 0 |
| Preacher #33 | | 0 |
| Preacher Special: Cassidy -- Blood & Whiskey | tells of Cassidy's first trip to New Orleans and of his meeting with the only other vampire he's ever encountered (since he himself was made one); satirizes Anne Rice's vampire novels; 48 pages; prestige format; cover-dated February 1998 | B |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Dixie Fried | collects Preacher #27-33 and Preacher Special: Cassidy -- Blood & Whiskey
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 0 |
| Preacher Special: One Man's War | Peter Snejbjerg art; cover-dated March 1998 | 0 |
| Preacher #34 | | 0 |
| Preacher #35 | | 0 |
| Preacher #36 | | 0 |
| Preacher #37 | | 0 |
| Preacher #38 | | 0 |
| Preacher #39 | | 0 |
| Preacher #40 | | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: War in the Sun | collects Preacher #34-40 and Preacher Special: One Man War
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 0 |
| Preacher #41 | | 0 |
| Preacher #42 | | 0 |
| Preacher #43 | | 0 |
| Preacher #44 | | 0 |
| Preacher #45 | | 0 |
| Preacher #46 | | 0 |
| Preacher #47 | | 0 |
| Preacher #48 | | 0 |
| Preacher #49 | | 0 |
| Preacher #50 | 31 pages plus 7 pin-up pages (by Tim Bradstreet, Glenn Fabry, John McCrea, Doug Mahnke, Joe Quesada & Jimmy Palmiotti, Kieron Dwyer, and Jim Lee & Scott Williams) | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Salvation | collects Preacher #41-50
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
| Preacher #51 | | 0 |
| Preacher #52 | | 0 |
| Preacher #53 | | 0 |
| Preacher #54 | | 0 |
| Preacher #55 | | 0 |
| Preacher #56 | | 0 |
| Preacher #57 | | 0 |
| Preacher #58 | Cassidy meets the reunited Jesse and Tulip; Starr gets his genitals eaten by a dog | 0 |
| Preacher: Tall in the Saddle | John McCrea art; 48 pages; cover-dated December 1999 | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: All Hell's A-Coming | collects Preacher #51-58 and Preacher: Tall in the Saddle
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
| Preacher #59 | | 0 |
| Preacher #60 | | 0 |
| Preacher #61 | | 0 |
| Preacher #62 | | 0 |
| Preacher #63 | | 0 |
| Preacher #64 | | 0 |
| Preacher #65 | Jesse Custer fights Cassidy; Jesse Custer, Cassidy, Starr, Featherstone, and Hoover die; 38 pages | 0 |
| Preacher #66 | in a dissappointing story, Jesse Custer and Tulip ride off into the sunset, while the Saint of Killers kills God and all the angels; 30 pages with 8 pin-ups (by Dave Gibbons, Amanda Conner & Jimmy Palmiotti, Carlos Ezquerra, John Higgins, Dave Johnson, J. G. Jones, Brian Bolland, and Bruce Timm); cover-dated October 2000 | 0 |
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Alamo | collects Preacher #59-66
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 1 |
|
Epilogue. Dead or Alive
| |
|
Larger Version Available |
Preacher: Dead or Alive [hardcover] | reprints Glenn Fabry's covers for the series; hardcover; done in imitation of
The Sandman: Dust Covers -- The Collected Sandman Covers (this volume's only precursor, which makes this book strike me as absurd since, despite both books being flagship Vertigo titles, Fabry's talented but puffy painted style is hardly McKean's fine art style, nor did Preacher, in contrast with
The Sandman, pretend to artistic or literary values -- i.e. those values affirmed by this kind of "coffee table" book of collected covers); published long before the softcover
[REVIEW AND PURCHASE THIS BOOK]
| 0 |
| Preacher: Dead or Alive [softcover] | published in February 2003
| 0 |
