Preacher: Salvation

Garth Ennis

If you've not yet found your way into the ever-growing cult of Preacher-worship, I'd advise you to do so at your earliest convenience by picking up a copy of Preacher: Gone to Texas. Ignore the wannabe rabblerousers and the like who will tell you how blasphemous the thing is and get yourself hooked.

As with most stuff the unthinking crowd denounces as blasphemy without having read it, there's a great deal of spiritual benefit to be found under the surface. In this seventh episode of the nine-book series, Jesse, now separated from Cassidy and Tulip, finds himself back in Texas, in a little town called Salvation. Through various machinations, he finds himself the sheriff of the town, and immediately at loggerheads with Odin Quincannon, owner of the local meatpacking industry. You've been reading. You know what's gonna happen.

Under all the grease and grime, Jesse Custer is the classic good guy. He stands for what's right, opposes what's wrong, and tries to get everything back on an even keel (though granted, lots of stuff blows up in the process). And what could possibly be blasphemous about that?

No surprise that, once again, Ennis and Dillon have put out a winner. Some folks seem to have missed a minor part of the point (here's a hint: the name of the book, and the name of the town, point the way to figuring out why "coincidences" pop up here). Another solid entry in an exceptionally solid series.