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Preacher (comics)
Encyclopedia
Preacher is a comic book
series created by writer Garth Ennis
and artist Steve Dillon
, published by the American comic book label Vertigo (an imprint of DC Comics
), with painted covers by Glenn Fabry
.
The series consists of 75 issues in total — 66 regular, monthly issues, five one-shot specials and a four-issue Preacher: Saint of Killers limited series
. The entire run has been collected in nine trade paperback editions. The final monthly issue, number 66, was published in July 2000.
, a down-and-out preacher in the small Texas
town of Annville. Custer was accidentally possessed by the supernatural creature named Genesis in an incident which killed his entire congregation and flattened his church.
Genesis, the product of the unauthorized, unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon, is an infant with no sense of individual will. However, as it is composed of both pure goodness and pure evil, it might have enough power to rival that of God Himself. In other words, Jesse Custer, bonded to Genesis, may have become the most powerful being in the whole of living existence.
Custer, driven by a strong sense of right and wrong, goes on a journey across the United States
attempting to (literally) find God, who abandoned Heaven the moment Genesis was born. He also begins to discover the truth about his new powers. They allow him, when he wills it, to command the obedience of those who hear and comprehend his words. He is joined by his old girlfriend Tulip O'Hare, as well as a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy.
During the course of their journeys, the three encounter enemies and obstacles both sacred and profane, including: the Saint of Killers, an invincible, quick-drawing, perfect-aiming, come-lately Angel of Death
answering only to "He who sits on the throne"; a serial-killer called the 'Reaver-Cleaver'; The Grail, a secret organization controlling the governments of the world and protecting the bloodline of Jesus
; Herr Starr, ostensible Allfather of the Grail, a megalomaniac with a penchant for prostitutes, who wishes to use Custer for his own ends; several fallen angels; and Jesse's own redneck 'family' — particularly his nasty Cajun grandmother, her mighty bodyguard Jody, and the 'animal-loving' T.C.
s, for many of its stylistic elements. For example: an apparition of John Wayne
is a recurring character and serves as a sort of spiritual guide or conscience for Custer; Monument Valley
and The Alamo serve as backdrops to various legs of the journey; for a time, Jesse acts as the sheriff of a small town in Texas, and must protect the inhabitants from harm; the image of the Saint of Killers, a reformed outlaw-turned-evil-once-more in the tradition of Clint Eastwood
's Unforgiven
character, William Munny, is a nod to the classic Western notion of nemesis, straight and true and terrible.
The series also invokes ideas popularized by such books as Holy Blood, Holy Grail. As Massimo Introvigne explains, Preacher was "among the popular comic book series which...focused interest on the subject." Within Preacher the claims that there is a still-viable bloodline descending from Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
similar to those in Holy Blood, Holy Grail are taken as true. Herr Starr reveals to Cassidy that Jesus had children, and did not die on the cross, but instead lived to middle-age, and was killed by a runaway offal cart. After his death the Grail guardians took away his offspring, who were forced to intermarry with one another in order to keep Jesus' divine power within the bloodline. For over 2000 years this intermarrying perpetuated an incestuous family tree culminating the last of the Jesus line, a mentally handicapped child, in whom the Grail guardians place their hopes.
The original plot and premise of Preacher was spun out of Ennis' run on Hellblazer
, which postulated what would happen if an angel and a demon mated, and the spirit of their offspring ended up in a mortal man. Like many comics spun out of DC's 90's work, it incorporates the idea of the Christian God (Jahve) as the main antagonist of the series, serving as the creator who has left his creation. Other related comics include Swamp Thing and Sandman (and its spinoffs, like Lucifer).
, feeling Preacher would translate perfectly as a film, sold the film rights
to Electric Entertainment
. Rachel Talalay
was hired to direct, with Ennis writing the script. Rupert Harvey and Tom Astor
were set as producers. By May 1998, Ennis completed three drafts of the script, based largely on the Gone to Texas story arc. The filmmakers found it difficult financing Preacher because investors found the idea religiously controversial. Ennis approached Kevin Smith
and Scott Mosier
to help finance the film under their View Askew Productions
banner. Ennis, Smith and Mosier pitched Preacher to Bob Weinstein
at Miramax Films
.
Weinstein was confused by the characterization of Jesse Custer
. Miramax also did not want to share the box office gross with Electric Entertainment, ultimately dropping the pitch. By May 2000, Smith and Mosier were still attached to produce with Talalay directing, but Smith did not know the status of Preacher, feeling it would languish in development hell
. By then, Storm Entertainment, a UK-based production company known for their work on independent films, joined the production with Electric Entertainment. In September 2001, the two companies announced Preacher had been greenlight
ed to commence pre-production
, with filming to begin in November and Talaly still directing Ennis' script. The production and start date
s were pushed back because of financial issues of the $25 million projected budget.
James Marsden
was cast in the lead role as Jesse Custer sometime in 2002. He explained, "It was something I never knew anything about, but once I got my hands on the comic books, I was blown away by it." In a March 2004 interview, Marsden said the filmmakers were hoping for filming to start the following August. With the full-length film adaptation eventually abandoned with budgetary concerns, HBO announced in November 2006 that they commissioned Mark Steven Johnson
and Howard Deutch
to produce a television pilot
. Johnson was to write with Deutch directing. Impressed with Johnson's pilot script, HBO had him write the series bible for the first season. Johnson originally planned "to turn each comic book issue into a single episode" on a shot-for-shot
basis. "I gave [HBO] the comics, and I said, 'Every issue is an hour'. Garth Ennis said 'You don't have to be so beholden to the comic'. And I'm like, 'No, no, no. It's got to be like the comic'."
Johnson also wanted to make sure that one-shots were included as well. Johnson refrained his comments, citing new storylines conceived by Ennis. "Well there would be nothing new to add if we did that so Garth [Ennis] and I have been creating new stories for the series," he said. "I love the book so much and I was telling Garth that he has to make the stories we are coming up with as comics because I want to see them." By August 2008, new studio executives at HBO decided to abandon the idea, finding it too stylistically dark and religiously controversial. Columbia Pictures
then purchased the film rights in October 2008 with Sam Mendes
directing. Neal H. Moritz
and Jason Netter are producing the film. The previous scripts written by Ennis will not be used.
has said that his comic book series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born was influenced by Preacher.
The character Yorick from Y: The Last Man
, has a Zippo lighter with the words "Fuck Communism" engraved, identical to the one owned by Jesse Custer in Preacher. When asked about it he says it's "from this book I read once...a graphic novel. You know, like a comic book.". This lighter appears later in the series when Yorick and Agent 355 are being held by Russian agents at gunpoint, who find the lighter and take offense to it.
IGN
declared Preacher the third-greatest Vertigo comic, after Swamp Thing
and Sandman.
Jesse Custer was ranked the 11th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire
magazine. The Saint of Killers was ranked at number 42 on the same list.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series created by writer Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
and artist Steve Dillon
Steve Dillon
Steve Dillon is a British comic book artist, from Luton, Bedfordshire, best known for his work with writer Garth Ennis on Hellblazer, Preacher and The Punisher.-Biography:...
, published by the American comic book label Vertigo (an imprint of DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
), with painted covers by Glenn Fabry
Glenn Fabry
Glenn Fabry is an Eisner Award-winning British comics artist known for his detailed, realistic work in both ink and painted colour.-Biography:...
.
The series consists of 75 issues in total — 66 regular, monthly issues, five one-shot specials and a four-issue Preacher: Saint of Killers limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
. The entire run has been collected in nine trade paperback editions. The final monthly issue, number 66, was published in July 2000.
Plot
Preacher tells the story of Jesse CusterJesse Custer
Jesse Custer is a fictional character and the protagonist of the comic book series Preacher, created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon , published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.He was ranked the 11th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire Magazine...
, a down-and-out preacher in the small Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
town of Annville. Custer was accidentally possessed by the supernatural creature named Genesis in an incident which killed his entire congregation and flattened his church.
Genesis, the product of the unauthorized, unnatural coupling of an angel and a demon, is an infant with no sense of individual will. However, as it is composed of both pure goodness and pure evil, it might have enough power to rival that of God Himself. In other words, Jesse Custer, bonded to Genesis, may have become the most powerful being in the whole of living existence.
Custer, driven by a strong sense of right and wrong, goes on a journey across the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
attempting to (literally) find God, who abandoned Heaven the moment Genesis was born. He also begins to discover the truth about his new powers. They allow him, when he wills it, to command the obedience of those who hear and comprehend his words. He is joined by his old girlfriend Tulip O'Hare, as well as a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy.
During the course of their journeys, the three encounter enemies and obstacles both sacred and profane, including: the Saint of Killers, an invincible, quick-drawing, perfect-aiming, come-lately Angel of Death
Death (personification)
The concept of death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In English, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the 15th century onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood...
answering only to "He who sits on the throne"; a serial-killer called the 'Reaver-Cleaver'; The Grail, a secret organization controlling the governments of the world and protecting the bloodline of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
; Herr Starr, ostensible Allfather of the Grail, a megalomaniac with a penchant for prostitutes, who wishes to use Custer for his own ends; several fallen angels; and Jesse's own redneck 'family' — particularly his nasty Cajun grandmother, her mighty bodyguard Jody, and the 'animal-loving' T.C.
Themes and influences
Preacher draws on movies, particularly WesternWestern (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
s, for many of its stylistic elements. For example: an apparition of John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
is a recurring character and serves as a sort of spiritual guide or conscience for Custer; Monument Valley
Monument Valley
Monument Valley is a region of the Colorado Plateau characterized by a cluster of vast sandstone buttes, the largest reaching above the valley floor. It is located on the northern border of Arizona with southern Utah , near the Four Corners area...
and The Alamo serve as backdrops to various legs of the journey; for a time, Jesse acts as the sheriff of a small town in Texas, and must protect the inhabitants from harm; the image of the Saint of Killers, a reformed outlaw-turned-evil-once-more in the tradition of Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
's Unforgiven
Unforgiven
Unforgiven is a 1992 American Western film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with a screenplay written by David Webb Peoples. The film tells the story of William Munny, an aging outlaw and killer who takes on one more job years after he had hung up his guns and turned to farming...
character, William Munny, is a nod to the classic Western notion of nemesis, straight and true and terrible.
The series also invokes ideas popularized by such books as Holy Blood, Holy Grail. As Massimo Introvigne explains, Preacher was "among the popular comic book series which...focused interest on the subject." Within Preacher the claims that there is a still-viable bloodline descending from Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus' most celebrated disciples, and the most important woman disciple in the movement of Jesus. Jesus cleansed her of "seven demons", conventionally interpreted as referring to complex illnesses...
similar to those in Holy Blood, Holy Grail are taken as true. Herr Starr reveals to Cassidy that Jesus had children, and did not die on the cross, but instead lived to middle-age, and was killed by a runaway offal cart. After his death the Grail guardians took away his offspring, who were forced to intermarry with one another in order to keep Jesus' divine power within the bloodline. For over 2000 years this intermarrying perpetuated an incestuous family tree culminating the last of the Jesus line, a mentally handicapped child, in whom the Grail guardians place their hopes.
The original plot and premise of Preacher was spun out of Ennis' run on Hellblazer
Hellblazer
Hellblazer is a contemporary horror comic book series, originally published by DC Comics, and subsequently by the Vertigo imprint since March 1993, the month the imprint was introduced, where it remains to this day...
, which postulated what would happen if an angel and a demon mated, and the spirit of their offspring ended up in a mortal man. Like many comics spun out of DC's 90's work, it incorporates the idea of the Christian God (Jahve) as the main antagonist of the series, serving as the creator who has left his creation. Other related comics include Swamp Thing and Sandman (and its spinoffs, like Lucifer).
Trade Paperbacks
| # | Title | ISBN | Release date | Collected material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preacher: Gone to Texas | ISBN 978-1563892615 | March 1, 1996 | Preacher #1–7 |
| 2 | Preacher: Until the End of the World | ISBN 978-1563893124 | January 1, 1997 | Preacher #8–17 |
| 3 | Preacher: Proud Americans | ISBN 978-1563893278 | October 1, 1997 | Preacher #18-26 |
| 4 | Preacher: Ancient History | ISBN 978-1563894053 | March 1, 1998 | Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #1-4, Preacher Special: The Story of You-Know-Who, and Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys |
| 5 | Preacher: Dixie Fried | ISBN 978-1563894282 | September 1, 1998 | Preacher #27-33 and Preacher Special: Cassidy - Blood and Whiskey |
| 6 | Preacher: War in the Sun | ISBN 978-1563894909 | March 1, 1999 | Preacher #34-40 and Preacher Special: One Man's War |
| 7 | Preacher: Salvation | ISBN 978-1563895197 | September 1, 1999 | Preacher #41-50 |
| 8 | Preacher: All Hell's A-Coming | ISBN 978-1563896170 | June 1, 2000 | Preacher #51-58 and the special "Tall in the Saddle" |
| 9 | Preacher: Alamo | ISBN 978-1563897153 | May 1, 2001 | Preacher #59-66 |
Hardcovers
| # | Title | ISBN | Release date | Collected material |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Preacher: Book One | ISBN 978-1401222796 | July 21, 2009 | Preacher #1–12 |
| 2 | Preacher: Book Two | ISBN 978-1401225797 | February 16, 2010 | Preacher #13–26 |
| 3 | Preacher: Book Three | ISBN 978-1401230166 | December 21, 2010 | Preacher #27–33, Preacher Special: Saint of Killers #1-4, and Preacher Special: Cassidy - Blood and Whiskey |
| 4 | Preacher: Book Four | ISBN 978-1401230937 | June 14, 2011 | Preacher Special: The Story of You-Know-Who, Preacher Special: The Good Old Boys, Preacher Special: One Man's War, and Preacher #34–40 |
| 5 | Preacher: Book Five | ISBN 978-1401232504 | November 29, 2011 | Preacher #41–54 |
| 6 | Preacher: Book Six | ISBN 978-1401234157 | January 17, 2012 | |
Film adaptation
Garth EnnisGarth Ennis
Garth Ennis is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series Preacher with artist Steve Dillon and his successful nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise...
, feeling Preacher would translate perfectly as a film, sold the film rights
Film rights
Film rights are the rights under copyright law to make a derivative work—in this case, a film—derived from an item of intellectual property. Under U.S...
to Electric Entertainment
Electric Entertainment
Electric Entertainment is a full-service film, television and new media production company, established in 2001 by veteran writer/producer Dean Devlin , and led by Devlin along with partners Kearie Peak, Marc Roskin and Rachel Olschan.-Company Biography:On December 7, 2008, TNT debuted “Leverage,”...
. Rachel Talalay
Rachel Talalay
-Filmography:* Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare * Ghost in the Machine * Tank Girl -Television credits:* Ally McBeal* Boston Public* Cold Case* Crossing Jordan* The Dead Zone* Dice* The Division...
was hired to direct, with Ennis writing the script. Rupert Harvey and Tom Astor
Tom Astor
Tom Astor is a German singer and composer. He is noted for his extensive country and western recordings.He has worked with Charlie McCoy.- Albums :*Grand Prix 1976*Asphalt Cowboy 1980*Hallo Trucker 1981...
were set as producers. By May 1998, Ennis completed three drafts of the script, based largely on the Gone to Texas story arc. The filmmakers found it difficult financing Preacher because investors found the idea religiously controversial. Ennis approached Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
and Scott Mosier
Scott Mosier
Scott A Mosier is an American-Canadian film producer, editor, podcaster and actor best known for his work with director Kevin Smith, with whom he co-hosts the weekly podcast, Smodcast.-Early life:...
to help finance the film under their View Askew Productions
View Askew Productions
View Askew Productions is an American film and television production company founded by Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier in 1994. Actors Ben Affleck, Jeff Anderson, Matt Damon, Walter Flanagan, Bryan Johnson, Jason Lee, Jason Mewes, Brian O'Halloran and Smith himself are just some of the stars that...
banner. Ennis, Smith and Mosier pitched Preacher to Bob Weinstein
Bob Weinstein
Robert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...
at Miramax Films
Miramax Films
Miramax Films is an American entertainment company known for distributing independent and foreign films. For its first 14 years the company was privately owned by its founders, Bob and Harvey Weinstein...
.
Weinstein was confused by the characterization of Jesse Custer
Jesse Custer
Jesse Custer is a fictional character and the protagonist of the comic book series Preacher, created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon , published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.He was ranked the 11th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire Magazine...
. Miramax also did not want to share the box office gross with Electric Entertainment, ultimately dropping the pitch. By May 2000, Smith and Mosier were still attached to produce with Talalay directing, but Smith did not know the status of Preacher, feeling it would languish in development hell
Development hell
In the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
. By then, Storm Entertainment, a UK-based production company known for their work on independent films, joined the production with Electric Entertainment. In September 2001, the two companies announced Preacher had been greenlight
Greenlight
To green-light a project is to give permission or a go ahead to move forward with a project. In the context of the movie and TV businesses, to green-light something is to formally approve its production finance, thereby allowing the project to move forward from the development phase to...
ed to commence pre-production
Pre-production
Pre-production or In Production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance.- In film :...
, with filming to begin in November and Talaly still directing Ennis' script. The production and start date
Start date
The start date of a film refers to the first day of principal photography.A film project which has been green-lit does not typically enter pre-production until it has been assigned a start date, and for this reason a film with a start date is generally regarded as more likely to proceed to...
s were pushed back because of financial issues of the $25 million projected budget.
James Marsden
James Marsden
James Paul Marsden is an American actor, singer and former Versace model. He is known for playing the superhero Cyclops in the first three X-Men films and for his roles in other commercially successful films such as Hop, Superman Returns, Hairspray, Enchanted, The Box, and 27 Dresses.-Early life...
was cast in the lead role as Jesse Custer sometime in 2002. He explained, "It was something I never knew anything about, but once I got my hands on the comic books, I was blown away by it." In a March 2004 interview, Marsden said the filmmakers were hoping for filming to start the following August. With the full-length film adaptation eventually abandoned with budgetary concerns, HBO announced in November 2006 that they commissioned Mark Steven Johnson
Mark Steven Johnson
Mark Steven Johnson is an American film director and writer.Johnson was born in Hastings, Minnesota and attended California State University, Long Beach. He has directed and co-written the two comic book based films Daredevil and Ghost Rider. His early writing credits are for the film Grumpy Old...
and Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch
Howard Deutch is an American film director. His most recent theatrical release was My Best Friend's Girl, starring Jason Biggs, Kate Hudson, Dane Cook, and Alec Baldwin...
to produce a television pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
. Johnson was to write with Deutch directing. Impressed with Johnson's pilot script, HBO had him write the series bible for the first season. Johnson originally planned "to turn each comic book issue into a single episode" on a shot-for-shot
Shot-for-shot
Shot-for-shot is a term used to describe a visual work that is transferred almost completely identical from the original work without much interpretation....
basis. "I gave [HBO] the comics, and I said, 'Every issue is an hour'. Garth Ennis said 'You don't have to be so beholden to the comic'. And I'm like, 'No, no, no. It's got to be like the comic'."
Johnson also wanted to make sure that one-shots were included as well. Johnson refrained his comments, citing new storylines conceived by Ennis. "Well there would be nothing new to add if we did that so Garth [Ennis] and I have been creating new stories for the series," he said. "I love the book so much and I was telling Garth that he has to make the stories we are coming up with as comics because I want to see them." By August 2008, new studio executives at HBO decided to abandon the idea, finding it too stylistically dark and religiously controversial. Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
then purchased the film rights in October 2008 with Sam Mendes
Sam Mendes
Samuel Alexander "Sam" Mendes, CBE is an English stage and film director. He is best known for his Academy Award-winning work on his debut film American Beauty and his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret , Oliver! , Company and Gypsy . He's currently working on the 23rd James Bond...
directing. Neal H. Moritz
Neal H. Moritz
Neal H. Moritz is an American film producer. He is the founder of Original Film.-Life and career:He has over 70 films to his credit...
and Jason Netter are producing the film. The previous scripts written by Ennis will not be used.
Legacy
Stephen KingStephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
has said that his comic book series The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born was influenced by Preacher.
The character Yorick from Y: The Last Man
Y: The Last Man
Y: The Last Man is a comic book series by Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra published by Vertigo beginning in 2002. The series is about the only man to survive the apparent simultaneous death of every male mammal on Earth...
, has a Zippo lighter with the words "Fuck Communism" engraved, identical to the one owned by Jesse Custer in Preacher. When asked about it he says it's "from this book I read once...a graphic novel. You know, like a comic book.". This lighter appears later in the series when Yorick and Agent 355 are being held by Russian agents at gunpoint, who find the lighter and take offense to it.
IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
declared Preacher the third-greatest Vertigo comic, after Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing
Swamp Thing, a fictional character, is a plant elemental in the created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson. He first appeared in House of Secrets #92 in a stand-alone horror story set in the early 20th century . The Swamp Thing then returned in his own series, set in the contemporary world and in...
and Sandman.
Jesse Custer was ranked the 11th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
magazine. The Saint of Killers was ranked at number 42 on the same list.