From Preacher #66 (2000)
With Preacher, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon achieved a singular story about religion, betrayal, love, rage, hate, war, redemption, and just about everything else the pair could fit into 66 issues. With that story over and our hero Jesse Custer riding off with the love of his life, Jesse was asked what he wanted to be if not a preacher. His answer, while astride a horse who was slowly walking off into the west, was a lovely ending to their story.
Drawn by Steve Dillon, this two-page spread really comes alive due to the wonderful color work of Pamela Rambo. The sunset appears to be a living thing, drawn straight from life. Its delicate blend of blues, pinks, and yellows captures the gorgeous sunsets that can be found in the American West. It’s a perfect note on which to end the story of Jesse Custer and it leaves a warm memory of the time readers spent with him, Tulip, and Cassidy. Would that all characters be allowed to leave on this sort of high note.
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Such a great ending. Preacher is my favorite story of all time, in any medium. It was a perfect ending to the bet comic series ever.
There’s people who haven’t read this series that would see that comment and think you’re going completely overboard with hyperbole, but I completely agree with the sentiment! One of my favorite stories of all time.
At this point, I was weeping like a child. I closed the book and just sat on my couch in silence for a very long time. I don’t think there’s ever been another story in comics that affected me the way Preacher did, in every way possible.
That two-page spread alone gives me the same feeling in my chest I had when I first finished this series: Preacher is one of the greatest stories in comics, bar none. I’ve said it before, and I’m saying it again here, for all of Garth Ennis’ famed gross-out writing tactics, his books can have more heart than anything put out by the most popular writers in comics today.
Man this brings back memories – I remember the day I walked into the comic shop to pick up issue #66 and knowing it would be the last time I would be buying a Preacher comic.
This series is what saved me from the dreck I was reading coming out of Image and Marvel, I had grown disenchanted with comics and was about to bid them farewell when I stumbled across Preacher #19 (you know the one where that dude “already buggered most of the petting zoo”.) Preacher #19 was the first comic I read with the word “Fuck” in it. I was floored and elated and everything in-between. I felt like I had just discovered the holy grail (pun intended) or comic books. I felt, saved.
Some people think Ennis didn’t quite land the ending of this series, but I think there was no other ending that could have taken place. To me this was perfect. Preacher is absolutely one of the greatest comic book series of all time.
(p.s. I was lucky enough to get my name in the letter pages in issue # 32, I think, where I asked Garth what his top 5 John Wayne movies were. Nice to be part of history, if just a sliver of it) =)
The end of the best comic series ever.
I read the whole series in trades and have gone back to read it again and again. One of the best stories to date. Good call on Pamela Rambo’s effort as color artist, Jeff. Her work really brings it all together so beautifully.
Whenever my friends and I are discussing stories, and in particular, great endings, I tell them about Preacher. It’s hard to those who haven’t read it, but, it’s just about the most perfect line, to the close of a story in any medium.
It was this moment that made me actually see the whole story in a bit of a different light and it made the journey even more memorable. I read it in trades, so I buzzed through this epic in about a weeks time, so I’m envious of those who read it month to month and have those few years growing and changing with the characters all to come to a sweet and perfectly succinct ending.