Preacher: Salvation by
Garth Ennis
pbk out December 99
(Titan Books)
at £12.99
I last reviewed a Preacher collection about two years ago and am compelled to note that not a lot has changed in the interim. The ongoing saga of the not-very Reverend Jesse Custer continues in much the same over-the-top-and-then-some vein which characterizes the series and presumably underlies its appeal. Preacher: Salvation, which collects issues 41-50 of the comic book, offers a certain accessibility to new readers in that it
is a largely self-contained story set outside the major narrative arc which propels the title. But how many of those readers will be won over by the infuriating puerility which continues to undercut Ennis'
talent is an open question.
The press release for Preacher: Salvation is headed with this quote from Ennis: "Contrary to popular belief I don't want
Preacher to be just the vilest, most horrific fucking thing out there." And indeed, for all its absurdly exaggerated gore and lovingly wry excursions into degradation, Preacher remains astonishingly well-written. Ennis is a masterful storyteller and
writes just about the best dialogue in all of comic-dom. I gather he has long since been snapped up by Hollywood, and the hugely engaging, cinematic qualities of his writing show why. Jesse Custer is a complex character with great appeal, and man alive,
does Ennis know how to move a story along. Unfortunately, for all its turbo- charged pace, the story in Salvation just isn't very
good. Stripped of his usual, very likeable companions-in-brutality for this adventure, Jesse is trapped in a small Texas town called Salvation, but built entirely on cliché. The supporting characters
here are weaker than usual, with a villain who is so calculatedly exaggerated that the reader laughs at and not with Ennis. And some of the plotting, such as a literal lightning strike during a key showdown, is just plain lazy. Steve Dillon's art never really
changes, either within the development of Preacher or from title to title. His style is always crisp and flowing, but workmanlike and
not very exciting. The art never gets in the way of the story, but it does little to enhance it, either.
Fans of Preacher will no doubt eat Salvation up, but then, they've probably already read it in its monthly form. As always
(and depressingly) seems the case with comics, however, this is not going to open the ranks to outsiders. But then I suppose it's past time for me to accept that nothing ever really will.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
