Great Pages: PREACHER #11

From Preacher #11 (1996)

Preacher was never just about the salacious bits.

Sure, the series had plenty of nudity, violence, blood, guts, and swearing, but that wasn’t what it was about.

In the pages leading up to one shown here, Jesse Custer found himself confronted by a past he thought he’d escaped from. After seeing that past kill the love of his life, Jesse spiraled into a depression as he remembered how he got to this dark point. Just as he was about to give up, to allow himself to be broken by the evil he tried to leave behind, The Duke reminded him that he needs to be one of the good guys because there’s so much bad out there. With that, Jesse straightened his spine and went off to do what needed to be done.

Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon crafted a story about love, Good vs. Evil, and holding people accountable for the wrongs they’ve committed. This page marks Jesse’s firm decision to see those themes to their potentially bitter ends.

Comments

  1. hell yeah, this is the series that got me back into comics after 10 year hiatus…best fuckin comic out there in my open.

  2. All I saw was “Great Page: Preacher” and knew it just had to be this page, pure awesome!

  3. Nobody pulls off white pants like Jesse Custer.

  4. I can’t sing the praises of preacher enough. My favorite story ever, in any medium.

    And here is the thing. I know a lot of people love preacher because of the fucked up stuff that happens, or the swearing, or the nudity or the violence. but really, deep down the reason i think preacher is my favorite is because it is the greatest love story I have ever read.

    • Agreed. The thing people sometimes overlook is that for all of the terrible things that happen through out the arc of this series, it always had one thing in spades: heart. That’s Garth Ennis’ talent, to take characters like these, in situations like these, and never lose sight of the emotional core of his work. I read this series in trade, and after buying one a week for about a month, I couldn’t handle it anymore and had to pick up the rest all at once (thanks, Visa!). I’ll be honest, after I finished the entire story (at 3 in the morning after a day-long rip through the books), I rolled a tear. THAT’S how Garth Ennis gets you-he gives you compelling characters and makes you care. Some people say The Dark Knight Returns, some say Watchmen, but for me, Preacher is my favorite all-time series.

    • I have read the entire series something like six times, and the end makes me tear up every single time.

  5. christ, I didn’t pick this username for nothing. it was either that or arseface.

    the thing is, for every person that loves this book for all the wrong reasons, there are people who dislike Ennis for those same reasons and its quite a shame because Ennis is one of the best out there, running the gamut from black humor/satire to westerns to horror to crime stories to war comics.

    i ask again: WhoTF else is making war comics, TRUE war comics, right now? Only Ennis!

  6. Goddamn, I love this book.

  7. I devoured Preacher in trades when I discovered it. Sure, it’s messed up and offensive, but it’s also fantastic. My first exposure to Ennis, and it made me a fan. The guy is disregarded a lot today, but I still think he’s one of the best out there. The latest Battlefields was awesome.

  8. This just made my day. I think its time to break out Preacher for a re-read.

  9. Preacher has many great stories, but “All in the Family” is the best of them all. And this page is the best of that story.

    Thank you, ghost of John Wayne.

  10. i remember the first time i read this volume of the series. i devoured — devoured, i tell you — this trade in one sitting. and went back, like, the next day for the rest.

    well done, mr. ennis. well done.

  11. I love how this entire journey of Jesse and Co. began at a Bill Hicks concert.

  12. If it were produced faithfully, this story could get me to spend real money on HBO or Showtime.

    A license to win Emmys and print money.

  13. Isn’t this Steve Dillon’s best art work?