It seems like the biggest offense that people take is the overly-graphic content, heavily-stereotyped caricatures, and excessive amounts of foul language (I tally-marked it and it goes up to the hundreds). I will admit, yes, it's edgier than a pizza cutter, but it does add up, for the most part, to an overall theme.

- MINOR SPOILER: The main character, the Preacher, gets into some crazy hijinks and meets up with his ex-girlfriend and a vampire. Preacher and Ex get along pretty well, but he becomes complete brewskis with this vampire; it's beautiful, just watching guys being dudes. -

All the bad, unchristian stuff in this book, only goes to show what our cast of characters are willing to go through together. This is a story about companionship, that even when times get tough, you know who your friends are; I can appreciate a story like that.

So in short, it's a good book. Just, be ready for what you're getting yourself into. ( )

3,5 ( )

Campy, religious fiction. I thought it was a pretty fun read. ( )

Garth Ennis definitely puts the GRAPHIC in graphic novel. Jesse Custer is a reformed bad boy turned preacher in a Texan town, who gets superpowers from an escapee from heaven (weird and not well explained) and then accidentally burns his entire congregation to death. He meets up with his old flame, Tulip (who conveniently is hot), and a random stranger called Cassidy, who is a vampire. They tangle with a serial killer, and the first story arc is pretty strange. What I enjoyed more was the second arc, which provides an interesting, helpful backstory about Jesse and Tulip. Good art, but violent and disturbing, like Jesse's Grandma. ( )

This is a review of the whole series.

I enjoyed this work mostly for its storytelling and deeply interesting character backstories. Segments that detail the histories of main characters left me thinking for days after. They make the characters lush and multi-dimensional, without fixating on single traits and quirks.

That being said, the two things this book gets its notoriety for: its blasphemy and attitude, are actually the biggest drawbacks. Maybe in the mid-1990s this was edgy, but as of this writing these ideas and mockeries are not only common, they've become cliche.

The worst thing about this series is the machismo. There are pages worth of dialogue that seem to be an outlet for Ennis to vent about his frustrations with modern psychology. To me it basically read "we need more manly men who don't talk about their feelings!" These parts didn't add to any story, and while you could argue they might have contributed to building the characters, it only made me more annoyed with them.

Despite these drawbacks, it's a masterfully told story with some of the most memorable moments and characters the medium's ever produced. Highly recommended if you can stomach the above-mentioned flaws. ( )