Basement X

Has anyone read this entire series?

I was considering buying the entire run, but for $200-$300 I wanted to make sure it was worth it. Sure, it's only about $4 an issue, but still.

I tried reading the first TPB back when I was younger and remember kind of liking it, but I am finding I enjoy a lot of comics now I was not into when I was younger.

Anyway, back on topic.

Thoughts, opinions?

Dude, you read so much and you've not raed Preacher? Than this is to be on top of your buy list. If you go TPB, you can (but could decide not to) skip the 4th TPB, since that's a collection of the Saint of Killers mini and some other crap in it. I know I didn't buy that one. But shit yeah, you should read it. It's Ennis! Not only that, it's also about a preacher, his hitman girlfriend and an Irish vampire. And then they meet twisted shit.

I'm not a huge fan of trades. I am going to try and buy the run in April at a comic con here.

I won the first one, perhaps I will re-read it.

Note - Punisher was also ending right around the time I started getting heavily into comics.

The first trade does give a pretty decent overview of what the series is about, so if you really dislike that, you probably won't really like it. The second trade is a great character trade, though.

I will also add myself to the list of shame.

I know it's supposed to be good---haven't gotten around to committing.

Time to dig up the first trade then next time I go home.
Along with 100 bullets.

I found the book came alive after the second trade. Fist trae felt like an extended gathering with nothing much happening in it, but right into the second trade the shit hits the fan immediately and you get one kick-arse, modern western tale. It gets down right creepy from the get go when you learn about Jesse's upbringing with the God botherers.

Also, if you liked the toilet humour from the MK run of Punisher, you'll love Preacher. It's the same humour, but withouth the editorial constraints of writing a known universe's character and unlike in The Boys, where the humour is gratuituously crach, but enjoyable, in Preacher, it's gratuitous, but well balanced with the story. Sometimes the toilet humour seems to come without a point in The Boys, but in Preacher everything is turned up to the max, not just the humour, but the story too.

It's being released in deluxe hardcovers by DC starting sometimes in the summer. I've pre-ordered it and that's how I plan to read it.

I am also shocked you haven't read Preacher considering the massive amounts of comics you've read and how its the most referenced of Ennis' work.

Both Stocky and MGM are on the ball when they the say first trade was more of a gathering of characters and laying out the general direction of the story, however, it did still have its share of hilarious moments, but they were fewer and far between.

Trade #2 is where the shit hits the fan and you see the first vestiges of Ennis' brilliance not just in humor but in story telling, dialogue and finding a great balance between all 3 of of them. The dark/perverse humor isn't just there as window dressing but as a part of the story as a whole. It is also one of the funniest trades/stories in the entire series.

However:

MGM wrote:Dude, you read so much and you've not raed Preacher? Than this is to be on top of your buy list. If you go TPB, you can (but could decide not to) skip the 4th TPB, since that's a collection of the Saint of Killers mini and some other crap in it. I know I didn't buy that one. shit.

Bite your tongue Mitch! That's blasphemy The 4th trade, Ancient History, is probably the best story in the entire series and one of my all time favorite stories ever. It's a true western that contains influences from many of the greats and rather than being just another cheap knock-off of Unforgiven, Ennis utilizes his massive skillz to create, what I believe, is a timeless western.

So yes, pick up preacher ASAP!

To be fair, I bought the Preacher trades when I was really starting up my trade collection. It was the first collected series I bought, and I didn't have that much money to spare. So I skipped the 'redundant' TPB. I still need to get that one, but the printing's changed.

MGM wrote:To be fair, I bought the Preacher trades when I was really starting up my trade collection. It was the first collected series I bought, and I didn't have that much money to spare. So I skipped the 'redundant' TPB. I still need to get that one, but the printing's changed.

Yeah, I noticed that the printing's changed. All the trade covers now look like a polaroid of the original trade covers have been embedded onto the front as the new design.

In the same way, I'm delighted that Queen & Country has gone through a new format for the current printing, but annoyed that I've bought the first two trades or so in the old edition, which means if I want the new stuff, I'll have to buy the first trade in the new format, even though there will be overlap.

I have realized that Ennis stuff did not appeal to me when I was 14 or 15, when I tried reading his Just a Pilgrim, and Preacher. Now I see it for the brilliance it is.