Preacher Vol1: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis

I was never a big reader of the Vertigo comics from DC until Constantine got his own television show. When I saw AMC was making a television series out of this I had to go get this book and give it a read. I didn’t know what to expect from the book or the show but if it is from DC Comincs I’m going to watch it. Check out the trailer for the show.

Much like the Walking Dead the show is going to be different than the comic but I’m anxious to see where this show goes with it. I might even do a review post about the show when the season is over. 

So Preacher is about a man Jesse Custer who is not necessarily the best person out there. He is trying to make up for past indiscretions and there is some history as to why he’s a preacher. While being a giant dick to the town Jesse Custer is possessed by an entity known as Genesis. Genesis is the child of an Arc Angel and a demon and until now was chained and held in Heaven. Well it has gotten out and found Jesse. Having this entity in him allows him to be able to tell people what to do and they do it. One quick note that I found out thanks to Chris Hardwick’s Talking Preacher episode, the  reason Garth Ennis chose the name Jesse Custer is because if you rearrange the letters it spells Secret Jesus.

What would you do with that kind of power? Being able to tell someone to do anything and they have to do it could easily be used for evil. I was thinking about this and what I would do and I have no idea. Maybe I’d tell my boss I need a promotion. I would just hope that I wouldn’t become evil and drunk with power. Anyway, back to the book. You can imagine that with this being escaping Heaven the people in charge of keeping it locked up want it back. They get the Saint of Killers who is the saint of killing and assassinations. This is a real John Wayne character with the duster, hat and dual six guns. He is after Jesse to kill him and get Genesis back into Heaven. While all of this is going on Jesse has found out that God is missing. He just took off and now with the help of his old Girlfriend Tulip and a Vampire named Cassidy they are on the hunt looking for God.

I’ll tell you what, this sounds far fetched and goofy but the more I read this book the more I liked it. I am thoroughly hooked and can’t wait to try and get the next volume.  I’m so glad I read this because even though the show is different from the comics, I have a much better understanding of the characters and there are some great and really weird characters. I really liked this book and I have to give this 5 out of 5 stars. When I first read this story there is no way I would have given it a full 5 rating, but the longer I have sat after reading this the more and more it has grown on me and I like it.