Preacher, Book 6

Genesis who?

(Reviewing this series as a whole, not just this volume.)

It started off so well. I loved the premise: A bad-ass preacher (Custer) is possessed by a creature (Genesis) that is the offspring of an angel and demon and gives him the power to make others obey verbal commands. Not to mention his gun-toting girlfriend and vampire sidekick. Yes please! It was a revelation–a unique twist on horror, fantasy, and westerns.

I loved the dialogue, the attitude, the action, the perversions, the rebellion against authority. There were so many unforgettable characters: The Saint of Killers, Arseface, and Herr Starr to name a few. My favorite moments were in “Until the End of the World” which featured a storyline about Custer's psychotic grandmother and henchmen, as well as the three friends avenging the death of one of Cassidy's old girlfriends.

Unfortunately, this series peaked with “Proud Americans.” The high point was the death of the All Father/destruction of the Grail organization. Once Custer is presumed dead, the series loses all momentum. Ennis goes off on a tangent about the sins and redemption of Cassidy which could have been fine as a side-story but they spend the entire last half of the series with this as the main arc.The final showdown with Jesse and Starr is anticlimactic. Genesis makes a brief appearance but the Saint of Killers takes over the final battle while Jessie is dealing with Cassidy. Starr is reduced to a paranoid, crippled punchline.

My real problem is that there were so many fantastic philosophical implications of Genesis and what Custer could or should do with this power and what the existence of this Being could mean for God and humanity. Ennis suggests he's going to go there but never gets around to exploring any of these elements. I was left with a feeling of “meh” by the end.