After 2 and a half dissapointing TPBs, we finally get back on track with War in the Sun. We start out with the Herr Starr special, which was extremely well done. If only we'd been given this info earlier in the series, maybe some of Starr's motivations actully would've made sense. Arrgh!

There's a little bit of set up and character development here, but not much. We basically dive right into the big climax, where Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy take on Herr Starr, The Saint of Killers, and a whole buncha tanks! And all of their lives are changed forever!

The resolution to this climax takes up the second half of the book, and is one of the best story resolutions a comic has ever had. What happened to Herr Starr? Where's Jesse? What about Cassidy? Tulip? Nearly all of your questions are answered by the end.

In conclusion, this is easily one of the best TPBs of the series.


The Fecal Matter Hits The Arid Dusty Fan   February 18, 1999
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

After "Dixie Fried" I worried that this series might have passed its sell-by date. That book didn't quite make "PREACHER" par--though four strokes over par for this series is still an eagle when held up against most other comics.

With "War in the Sun," Ennis rebounds his in-progress chef d'ouvre, surpassing nearly every other "PREACHER" book so far. Finally, a return to what attracted me to Jesse's tale in the first place: totally unexpected plot twists, perfectly realized.

Also with this installment, one sees clearly for the first time Ennis' incorporation (which, in retrospect, he's been implementing all along) of mythological themes. These sweeping myths, both ancient and recent, are used to _tell_ the story--rather than being tossed aorund willy-nilly to make an ordinary story _seem_ mythic.

At the end of this volume, our heroes' futures appear bleaker than ever. But the series' future looks bright as the sun.

-Also, this is in fact the sixth "PREACHER" volume, not the fifth. These books are serial, and _must_ be read in order.


Better than sex...almost   August 2, 2001
 5 out of 6 found this review helpful

I'm not sure if Garth Ennis is actually human. I think he may be some genetic mutant grown in a giant tube in a lab, given the wit of a thousand british writers and the talent of a million more. If you think I'm crazy, read War In The Sun. It stands as one THE greatest graphic story I've ever read, and one of THE greatest works of fiction I've ever read. And I'm not talking about the way Ennis throws around words, he dosen't TRY all that hard to be brilliant. He just is. But enough ranting let's get down to the story. If you haven't read the other preacher books then this might make for a good jumping in point. The Rev. Jesse Custer goes to Arizona with his girlfriend Tulip and his best friend Cass, to embark upon the most ground breaking series of events in the series. You'll see things you won't believe. Things that will make you cry and a couple things that will probabley make you want to puke. There's blood, sex, fire, brimstone, the works. I'm being vauge with this review because I don't want to give anything away. Read this. Now. And I'm out.


American popculture lambasted by an Irish man   January 3, 2000
 4 out of 4 found this review helpful

As the Preacher series draws to an end, it has been realized that this story is a masterful parody of America itself. It is not just religious commentary or a collection of shock value events. Garth Ennis has woven a series of various interlinking themes and characters and has managed to bring them together seamlessly. Even initally, when there was more reliance on shock value, Garth proved he could tell a solid story to back it up. If this series relied only on vulgarity and violence, it would not last 66 issues. The characters' motivations are defined. Every character introduced, even walk-ons or throwaways, have a cleanly defined personality. This is further complemented with Steve Dillion's pencils. Though Steve draws some of the throwaway characters in similar fashion, he is a master of drawing facial expressions like no one else. The diolouge is well chosen; the reader would barely notice there are no thought balloons in the whole story. And Dillion's minimalist art includes backgrounds with a few yet solid details. When he draws a scene with no background, the human face he draws will be beautiful and powerfully expressive. This particular volume is rounded off with a story focusing on Herr Starr, the villian, which sheds some light on his background. The events in this book have been buliding for awhile and will lead to further building of later events. The conclusion of the series is hotly anticipated, as is the pair's work on the new Punisher series.


If a bubble is trouble, then this sweating pot has got a lot   July 6, 2002
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

"War in the Sun" is one of the better Preacher books. It gets things--as the saying goes--cooking with gas. Some of the story lines that have been left to simmer indefinitely finally come to a boil here in book six.

With two best friends and a beautiful girl between them, you knew it was only a matter of time until trouble reared its head. At the end of book six, with Jesse presumed dead and Cassidy left alone to make his designs on Tulip, trouble's knocking loud and hard.

There are only three more Preacher books after "War in the Sun" and it's obvious that the end is near and the stakes are high. You've got the feeling that you've just crested the last big hill and all the lights of home are spread out ahead of you.