Just Fantastic: Preacher, volume 5

Just Fantastic: Preacher, volume 5

Posted on December 23rd, 2009 by Steve Mazzeo

Yeah, there are some spoilers, but it won’t affect your read — trust me. For those of you not keeping score at home this is the fifth installment of the Preacher series by Garth Ennis. I’m reviewing them one at a time, which means there are four previous reviews. There’s a plot summary below and I apologize for any repeat material. I will say this — overall Preacher is the best graphic novel I’ve read so far. It’s a long and far-reaching storyline that demands a great deal of time, but is compelling enough to be easily remembered.

The story so far: A Texas preacher named Jesse is infused with Genesis, a being so powerful that it could rival God. He embarks on a journey to find God and hold him accountable for the state of the world. Along the way he is reunited with his long-lost love Tulip and a vampire pal Cassidy. A man named Star, who is now the leader of a super-secret organization called The Grail, is hunting Jesse to use him as a new messiah. The Grail’s primary goal, up till volume three in the series, was to keep and maintain the offspring of Jesus Christ through repeated inbreeding. Also in play with no clear direction are: The Saint of Killers, God who is walking the Earth, various angels, and one demon who is the mother of Genesis.

This volume explores Cassidy’s back-story. Additionally, Cassidy attempts to betray Jesse by trying to sleep with Tulip. Tulip tells him off. Cassidy persists and Tulip gives him the same response. This all happens in New Orleans where an old friend of Cassidy’s, who is also a Voodoo priest, is going to help Jesse access Genesis, which is buried in his unconcious mind. In essence this volume is a character drama. Ennis is ramping us up for an inevitable conflict between Jesse and Cassidy over Tulip. In the end I’d imagine Jesse is going tie Cassidy down and let the sun handle the dirty work.

Jesse goes into a Voodoo trance and learns how to come to terms with Genesis. This all takes place in Jesse’s mind, which is also a movie theater. I think most guys’ minds are probably movie theaters. John Wayne, who was introduced in earlier volumes as Jesse’s unconcious mind and moral compass, hosts the entire ordeal. And the answer is Jesse must give himself to Genesis, just as Genesis has given itself to Jesse.

Damn this series is getting complicated. The funny thing is Ennis displays it in such a way that it never feels too crazy. All the pieces are expressed in easily digestable chunks (I generally read a whole volume of Preacher in 2 or 3 sittings, or roughly 100 pages at a time). What keeps it interesting is the amazing construction.

Ennis, presumably by design, lays out the themes he wants to cover in the first two volumes. But he lays the themes in a micro-view. They are easy-to-answer questions unless you’re a complete sociopath. For example, should Jesse kill the men who beat him as a child? Yes. Should Jesse take revenge on his derranged grandmother? Yes. Should agents of Heaven release the Saint of Killers to protect existence? Yes.

Three volumes later those same questions are starting to enter a little gray zone. And that shift is changing the course of the overall story. The original quest was: Jesse wanting to hold God accountable for the state of the world, and he can do that because he is fused with Genesis. Now the question is shifting towards: what is God and how in control or accountable is he (at least in the world of Garth Ennis)?

So far this story is as complex and interesting as Watchmen. However, it is more drawn out and the deeper levels are less obvious. Most Watchmen readers I’ve met are taking a walk on the preverbial wild side by reading a graphic novel — they’re weekend warriors. Preacher is a commitment to both the medium and idea that a comic book can transend into art.

I’m already a full-blown nerd and plan to stick it out, with only volumes 6, 7, 8, and 9 to go.

Just Fantastic appears on the second and fourth Wednesdays of every month.