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1: The Time Of The Preacher

Well, every tale needs a beginning, and as far as most go, this one isn't bad. It's not good, but it isn't bad. You know you're in for one hell of a road movie when you meet the three main characters, suitably bedraggled, slumped in a diner. The language is hard, aggressive, and straight to the point. Three pages in and there's a need for plot device number 4 - the 'lets get it all straight in our heads' plot device, a bit corny, but its one way of introducing the characters. Going back in time, the swearing, smoking, drinking Preacher is seen as a clean cut respectable minister slowly going to ruin from the drink. Quick cut to heaven. Personally, I was amazed that these three characters knew what was going on up there, but I kind of got the impression little details like that aren't important. This little bit introduces a few Adelphim angels and one of the bad-ass Seraphim, and the idea that there's something called Genesis, and its not good. A switch back to our three heroes, and now its time to find out what the woman's up to. Well, that's simple. A hit man (Hit woman? Who knows) sent to kill off someone, messes up, and hijacks a nearby truck. Just a busy Saturday night in Dallas. Anyway, you get a bit of excitement when the target chases after the woman, now known as Tulip (Sounds like her parents didn't have much imagination), and a bit of confusion when the scruffy guy, Cassidy, seems to have been shot in the head. Oh well, give the readers something to think about. Now we get to the fun part - one of the angels goes to get the Saint of Killers out of his coffin. I think you have to leave belief far behind for this one. I wouldn't mind, but I'm fairly sure that this Saint of Killers chap has just escaped from a Clint Eastwood movie, and stolen John Wayne's accent while he was at it, intertextuality, but there you go. With that sorted out, its back to the Preacher in his church, and suddenly, its scrap the writing, we need Steve Dillon. Nice use of white and electric blue with lots of skeletons and you got yourself a great little apocalypse effect. Shame about the next bit, because you get a shot of the Preacher being taken up the back alley by a demony thing. Back to Tulip and Cassidy, and a hint that there's something weird about Cassidy as they refer to him being something else. Anyway, Tulip steals Cassidy's truck while he's hiding under a blanket in the back (aha! So, that sorts out that, he's obviously a pervert sneaking under the blanket for some quality time wanking. Tulip was right 'it's not exactly a normal-'). Anyway, they find the Preacher and just as things start to make sense, it's back to the diner and the Preacher, Jesse, is on the search for more cigarettes and meets up with John Wayne. Hmm... Never mind. Now its off to meet Root, the racist sheriff who believes that 'Martian Niggers' destroyed the church. Okay. Back to our heroes. Against a nice little desert sunset, you learn that Tulip and Jesse used to be an item. Talk about coincidences. Anyway, artistic shot of Jesse seeing an angel and demon having sex, and claiming its all due to the thing in his mind. Fair enough. Weird, but fair enough. Lucky for us, we're saved by the arrival of Root and an OJ Simpson joke. Glad they got that in. Anyhow, this is when Jesse discovers a hidden talent that's a way better party trick than pulling a coin out of someone's nose - he got 'the word of God'. Whatever he tells people in red writing, they have to do. Now this is sounding interesting. He tells the cops to drop their guns, and the trio make their escape just as the Saint appears.

Comments by Cassandra Courtney

2: And Hell Followed With Him

Nice little cover from Fabry on this one, except the Saint of Killers looks a bit like old Grasshopper. The 'Wanted' poster for Jesse looks nice and ominous. Here we have Root's story of what happened. Simply, the Saint takes out the cops, but they can't kill him, and he heads off to find our heroes. The three of them make an escape, and Root, the only survivor, goes back to his boss covered in blood and bits of his deputies. This all gets a bit dull, but you get to hear about Root's son, who did a Kurt Cobain but lived, and then you meet him. No real mouth, big hole on his forehead, and his attempts at talking are hilarious. No, we're back to our heroes, and Tulip and Jesse are discussing the Preachers new Genesis, and he tries it out on Cassidy when he gets up at sunset. Still, John Wayne crops up and tells Jesse all about the Saint while Tulip and Cassidy go shopping. Those pesky Seraphim are back, complaining that something called 'The Grail' might find out. Oh good. No story is complete without a secret society sworn to protect something. The comic ends with a nice little bar fight - just to remind you that this is a road movie (well, road comic), but gets decidedly odd when Cassidy gets stabbed in the eye, and instead of having the decency to keel over, takes a quick slurp from the guy who stabbed him. A fairly weak instalment this one, concentrating too much on building up the plot and introducing the characters. Has to be done, but even the humour didn't save this one. Ennis was bogged down with plot, but Dillon pretty much made up for it with his simple and uncluttered but great artwork. Ennis even had to stoop to a Biblical quotation for a title, either that or he watched Pale Rider too many times, which I think is probably more likely.

Comments by Cassandra Courtney

3: And The Horse You Rode In On

Straight in on this one after a gorgeous cover from Fabry - That guy is a real artist - You know this one is going to be better - the angels getting drunk gets me every time. Before we forget, its over to the brawl, which has pretty much ground to a halt since Cassidy started drinking one the fighters. Jesse and Tulip work out what he is, and panic, and Jesse finally uses his 'word' to put a stop to things, and there follows a shouting match after which Cassidy just leaves. With that sorted out, we're back to the Saint of Killers who carries on with his general cull of policemen while Root's bosses arrive on the seen of the bar fight and decide to call in Root. Root heads off to find Jesse, who they work out hasn't become a crispy critter in his church. Bit of an angst-ridden Tulip - Jesse argument as Tulip refuses to explain why she's carrying that automatic, and Jesse won't explain why he became a Preacher, and Dillon can't seem to explain why Jesse's hair has grown so much since the last instalment. Ho hum. Back to Cassidy, who with a 'fuck me sideways' ends up in the same bar as the Saint of Killers, who's just about slaughtered everybody around. The Saint asks about Jesse, but doesn't get a particularly helpful answer so just shoots Cassidy. The Saint leaves, after tossing down a dollar with the date 1878 on it. Nice touch that. Jesse, meanwhile, has learnt more about the thing in his head, and believes it to be as strong as God - cue big panic in heaven. Just as things get all exciting, Root wanders in and holds them at gunpoint. This one seemed to find the plot a little easier, and struck a good balance between dialogue and action - on account of there being plenty of both.

Comments by Cassandra Courtney

4: Standing Tall

Ennis is a bastard. He writes a comic, and leaves it on a cliff hanger. Then you get the Fabry masterpiece and get all excited, open up the comic full of anticipation, and lo and behold, there's a bit of Jesse's childhood explaining how he met John Wayne. Extremely irritating that. Still, even with an anti-climax, Ennis still packs a punch by casually mentioning how Jesse saw his Dad get shot in the head. Well, that certainly explains a lot about Jesse. He very nicely shows us Jesse and Tulip with Root, but there doesn't seems to have been much change there. Cassidy meanwhile has recovered pretty much from being shot and is busy talking to himself as he drives to the rescue, fearing that the Saint has got to Tulip and Jesse. Indeed, Tulip and Root are stopped from shooting each other as the Saint appears, and the Saint and Root decide to have a shoot-out. The tension mounts, but Cassidy arrives and drives into the Saint with his truck. Okay, so when he picks himself out of the tarmac, its back to the shoot-out, which is really dragging itself out. Just as the shit is about to hit the fan, Root's son runs on the scene and begs them not to kill his Dad. Just as the tension peaks, thanks to Dillon's nice combo of short shots, all against a suitably dark and grim background, Jesse calls a halt to the whole thing, his 'word' works on even the Saint, who he orders to call down the ones that sent him. Deblanc appears, first in full angely force with big wings and flowing robes, then as he really looks, and explains to Jesse how God quit. Jesse decides he's going to find God and both Deblanc and the Saint leave. Jesse uses the 'word' to tell Root to go fuck himself. Good old Root does what he's told, and I'm wishing they'd shown that one! Root, unable to live with the shame blows his brains out, and his son runs off, deciding to become 'Arseface'. Back in heaven, the angels Deblanc and Fiore are made to fall. With all the loose ends tied up, its back to our heroes who walk into the diner they started at in number 1. Nice one this. You get the answers to most of the things brought up in the last few instalments, and by now the characters are pretty much established so you don't need to go into too much of that. You've got the hard-ass Preacher, a good guy clean through, decent but not naive or afraid of using his fists. You've got Tulip, beautiful but deadly and obviously still cares about Jesse. There's Cassidy, a rogue and no gentleman, but a wicked sense of humour and one of the good guys despite a tendency to eat people sometimes. Then of course, you've got the Saint. Bit like the Terminator there, but a touch of style with the whole avenging cowboy thing, and he does the appearing out of the dark thing brilliantly. Scene set, plot, time to get on with it all...

Comments by Cassandra Courtney

5: Say A Prayer For Seven Bullets

As soon as this one starts, you know you're onto a break from the ongoing plot - Someone goes into a sex shop and buys 'anal rampage' - I was dying to know what this had to do with anything, but then its off to a cop story. Simple good-but-useless cop, and bad-kick-ass cop. Just as you think you know what's happening, its over to a guy who just had his face cut off. Okay. Our heroes make an appearance, in a bar of course, and they're waiting for Cassidy's friend Simon who's going to help Jesse find God. While they're talking the tv shows the two cops who are working on a serial killer, which is the case that Simon is working on. Well, that's cleared up a few things. Back to the cops who bust the guys they caught earlier - more character building on the sadistic cop 'Paulie', while Jesse and Cassidy do some soul searching on top of the Empire State building. Jesse is still trying to get Tulip into bed, while Cassidy just pretends to jump of the skyscraper. Very profound that.

Comments by Cassandra Courtney

6: New York's Finest

Lots of angst in this one - starts of gently with Cassidy and Jesse in a bar, but when Jesse goes back to the hotel he eaves-drops on a conversation between Tulip and her hit-man boss. Tulip, no fool, realises Jesse's there and bawls him out, while he just tries to get her into bed. Again. Meanwhile, the policemen are called out to a woman who just got her husband's scrotum through the post - Great scene when they go back to the station and snack out on meatballs. Sick, but very funny. Our heroes meet up at Simon's house, the reporter having spent the day following cops, but informs them he knows of 'the Big Man' who's apparently met God and can help with Jesse's 'crisis of faith' - not that he seems to be too troubled by it. Simon knows that their story about finding God is all bullshit, but leaves Cassidy to sleep at his house for the night. Back to the cops, and the hard-ass cop Bridges has called in sick while his useless partner gets a call from the serial killer giving his location and telling them to come and get him. Simon takes Tulip and Jesse to see the 'Big Man' and Cassidy discovers Simon has a rather interesting book collection, consisting of volumes 1-36 of Anal Rampage - 'Big Burt gets it the way he demanded' and discovers something odd about Simon's fridge. Jesse goes off to find 'The Big Man', while Tulip is left in the car with Simon, who promptly takes advantage of the situation and sticks a knife through her hand. Well, who didn't see that one coming a mile away? Not only was the bastard too good to be true, but would you really trust someone with a crew cut and long hair? I don't think so. I just hope Mr Ennis never takes up writing murder mysteries, cos he really wont have much of a future.

Comments by Cassandra Courtney

7: N.Y.P.D. Blue

Cassidy, not overly impressed with the selection of body parts in Simon's fridge (am I the only one who finds that odd for a vampire?) realises he's been set up just as the police arrive and it's daylight outside, so not really many options for escape. Jesse arrives at the 'Big Man's' flat, and something is obviously rather wrong, while Simon in a rather James Bond villain way explains everything to Tulip about his killing off people just to get the stories for the paper and leaves. Back to Jesse, who walks into the 'Big Man's' flat, where the bad-ass cop Bridges is being beaten by two fellas who like Bridges seem to be enjoying it a lot. Jesse tries to leave, but Bridges tries to stop him and a general fist fight erupts. Cassidy wanders around Simon's house looking for an escape and finds the guy who had his face cut off, just as the cops arrive, and sticks a bayonet through his neck to try and fake his one death. The useless cop, Tool, realises that his partner may be in trouble and rushes to the rescue, as does Tulip, who succeeds in pulling the bowie knife out of her hand. Simon arrives at Bridges flat and 'apprehends' Jesse just as Tool and Tulip arrive to rescue their various partners. When Jesse sees that Tulip has been hurt, he uses his 'word' to make Simon die, and shoots him with Tool's gun, allowing him to appear as the hero of the hour. Cassidy makes his escape from the mortuary, and Tool makes sure that Jesse becomes officially dead as far as the police are concerned. Cassidy leaves for San Francisco while Tulip and Jesse leave for Texas. Good ending this one - tasty little shot of Tulip and Jesse passing a sign saying 'You are now leaving Texas' with the graffiti 'your loss dipshit'. Nice that, especially with the closing lines 'There are ten thousand stories in the naked city... Not all of them have a moral'. I think that just about sums it up for this one. This little aside has very little to do with the ongoing plot, apart from Jesse's grandmother getting a mention, and the fact that they are looking for God, instead, like all good road movies, its heading somewhere, and by this stage, you don't really care, you just settle back and enjoy the ride.

Comments by Cassandra Courtney