Ennis and Dillon have created a cast of characters and a chain of events in "Preacher" that all feed one another in their own wonderfully twisted psychotic eco-system. In this series, every thing happens for a reason (even if it's a sick one) and no story is told simply for the hell of it.

Except for two stories in this volume.

All the stories in this volume existed outside the regular run of the monthly "Preacher" series. While the Saint miniseries revealed the origin of our favorite modern-day Angel of Death with all the gunpowder and brimstone you'd hoped for, the Arseface and Jody & T.C. oneshots reprinted here must've been some kind of bizarre contract-fulfillment that Ennis clearly had no interest in writing. I swear on a stack of Bibles that there is no reason to waste your time reading either the Arseface origin story and the Jody & T.C...whatever it is.

In short, an essential volume in the series with some non-essential hangers-on.


Mary Whitehouse hold on to your seat!   December 7, 1998
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Whilst the ongoing adventures of Texas Preacher Jesse Custer and the strange world of violence and supernatural happenings is consistently witty, intelligent and shocking, writer Garth Ennis really shows his ingenuity and flexibility with this collection of spin-offs from this superb series.

"Saint Of Killers" follows the origin of Jesse's most powerful and terrifying enemy yet. This four-part story explains how a mean-spirited bounty hunter became an immortal one-man kill machine. A superb, compelling and disturbing story of a man who was so mean that hell had to spit him out.

"The Good Old Boys" Displays a few days in the extraordirinary lives of Jesse's sick, twisted and thoroughly unpleasant uncles out in the swamps of Texas. It's a wonderfully clever and witty (and bloody and gory...) spoof of all those OTT action movies, starring two of the comic's most enduring characters.

Finally, "The Story of You-Know-Who" is much darker fare. No vampires, no angels, no demons nor cowboys, just the backstory of the poor disfigured teenager called "Arseface" and the terrible chain of events which led to his attempted suicide. A bit of a shock to the system if you read "Good Old Boys" first.

A superb spin-off collection which, despite losing Steve Dillon's superb artwork, is a must-have for anyone with a strong stomach and a taste for dark humour.


There ain't worse than me in all of Hell- Go see!   November 16, 2004
 5 out of 5 found this review helpful

Personally, I thought that the four issue mini-series "Saint of Killers" deserved it's own separate trade paperback. Lumping the other material in here doesn't really fit or make sense. The story arc works perfectly by itself- hell, it's a masterpiece of graphic story telling. Moreover, you don't need to know anything about the rest of the Preacher series to appreciate it- either before or after. I remember when I first found this miniseries- my reaction was Wow, this is really GOOD! I reread it three times and then sent a fan letter to Ennis (which he probably never got.)

What we have here is an interesting union of real world, western myth, and cosmic myth. We never learn the name of the "Saint", he is always "that man"- or Sir! We do learn his story though- from Gettysburg to the Llano Estacada- from Confederate cavalryman to bounty hunter. He was a hard man, but a fair one. While he hunted down bad men for bounty (red and white) he never saw himself as any sort of hero. He treated good folk with respect and decency- but primarily he just wanted to be left alone. Then he rescued a good woman from the hands of a Kiowa raiding party- and for eight years he enjoyed a peaceful, full family life that he suspected that he had no true right to. That all came to an end in the Great Blizzard of '86. While he was riding to get medicine for his sick wife and child he was delayed by a gang of murderous scum. He made it back to them too late. Only one thing remained for him- vengeance against those who had kept him from his mission. He tracked them down and got his vengeance- but he knowingly and deliberately killed an innocent soul that got in the way while he was doing so. Before that, his soul had been balancing on a knife's edge- neither a good man nor a strictly bad man- just a hard man. And so he died before killing the leader of the outlaws- and his soul went straight to Hell.

Yet, that wasn't the end. So cold was his heart, so perfect was his hatred, that Hell itself literally froze over in his presence. Even the Devil himself couldn't whip the hatred from him. The doors of Hell were frozen shut and the Devil himself was frightened. It was then that the Angel of Death offered to trade places with the newcomer. He would walk the earth harvesting souls and doing God's bidding- when death and Divine Wrath were called for. To this end the Angel's sword was melted down to make two Walker Colts....



Worth getting if you want to be complete   June 2, 2000
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

The extingencies of deadlines often force comic publishers to farm out a couple issues to backup artists in order to give the main crew a break and time to catchup on the main storyline. This represents such a collection of stories.

A different set of artists is used for each story. (In one story about the Saint of Killers - the backup artist couldn't meet the deadline and a backup-backup artist had to be called in to finish the story!).

The stories vary in quality - particularly in the drawing and coloring. The plots concern background information about the Saint of Killers and Arse-face. Whereas the main Preacher storyline is brilliant, this particular collection is just average.

I recommend buying it if, like me, you have to own every Preacher graphic novel. If you are not so obsessive, then rest assured that you can continue to enjoy the Preacher series without reading this collection.