Preacher is one of the many series from Vertigo.
It’s DC Comics’ more darker and grittier imprint for more mature titles and because
of the popularity of the TV adaptation on AMC, let’s quickly go over The Preacher’s
comic book history and origins.
Jesse Custer was was born to an unmarried couple, U.S. Marine, John Custer and Christina
L’Angelle, the runaway daughter of a crazy religious cult leader.
Jesse’s parents met when Christina spat in John’s eye as he was returning home from
the Vietnam War.
Classy.
Even with the hostility of their first meeting though, they quickly fell in love and had
a child, Jesse, obviously.
That’s who the video’s about.
The first few years of Jesse’s life were filled with love, happiness, and western movies,
mostly John Wayne ones.
Unfortunately though, the past of Jesse’s mom caught up to her and her mother sent two
goons after Christina’s entire family.
They kidnapped ‘em, forced John and Christina to officially marry, confined ‘em to her
plantation called Angelville, and had Jesse grow up the L’Angelle way.
The men join the clergy and the women are only useful for breeding.
If that wasn’t psychotic enough, then get this.
At age five, Jesse’s father was killed in front of him for trying to escape the plantation
with his son.
This was the last time that Jesse would ever shed a tear because his idol, John Wayne,
doesn’t cry.
Now, why am I constantly mentioning John Wayne?
Well you’ll see in a moment because there’s more pain in store for Jesse’s childhood.
Remember, this is a Vertigo comic so they’re able to get super duper dark.
At age twelve, Jesse’s dog jumped on to one of the goons so they killed it by nailing
the dog’s head to a fencepost.
Obviously, Jesse was not a fan of that and for speaking out, he was sentenced to a week
in “the coffin”, a punishment involving an airtight coffin sunk into the river with
only a small tube reaching up to the surface for air.
When Jesse’s mother tried to protect her son from this punishment, she was killed and
Jesse went into the coffin anyway.
It was here when Jesse started hallucinating a ghostly John Wayne to talk to as an imaginary
friend which was soon to be his ONLY friend because at age seventeen, one of the Angelville
goons killed Jesse’s best friend when he caught one of the goons having sex with a
chicken.
So Jesse tries to kill the chicken lover, but got two weeks in the coffin.
So yeah, Jesse’s childhood was all kinds of messed up, but when he got out of the coffin,
Jesse managed to escape Angelville, met his future girlfriend, Tulip, and traveled the
southwest with their friend, Amy, causing trouble wherever they went.
Eventually though, the goons found Jesse and threatened to kill Tulip if he didn’t come
back with them to Angelville… he did to save his girlfriend.
After a whole month in the coffin, Jesse submitted to his grandmother’s will and became a preacher
in Annville, Texas.
An alcoholic preacher that one day revealed all of the secrets of the townspeople that
he heard from confession and gossip around town.
Enter Genesis, the unauthorized and unwanted offspring of an angel and demon so powerful
that God himself left Heaven after it was born.
Upon escaping the pearly gates, Genesis merged with Jesse and bestowed him with “The Word
of God” which makes people do whatever Jesse says.
After the merging, Jesse reconnected with Tulip, met a vampire named Cassidy, and is
on the run from an angel cowboy named the Saint of Killers, and of course, the Angelville
goons who it turns out are immune to Jesse’s Word of God.
The rest of the series focuses on Jesse’s adventures and the crazy cast of characters
that he encounters like Arseface, a kid who failed shooting himself so he was left looking
like he had a butthole for a face.
Oh, and there’s also an uber cult of Christians called The Grail.
Also, there’s a good portion of the series involving Jesse’s hunt for God since it
was discovered that the lord was kind of a dick.
Heck, the dude even bites off one of Jesse’s eyes.
But it’s okay because he almost immediately becomes the sheriff of a local town and discovers
that his mother was alive.
Plus, he even works with the Saint of Killers to manipulate GOD HIMSELF into being killed,
finally giving everyone a happy ending more or less.
I know, I glossed over a LOT of the series, but if I didn’t, then all you guys in the
comments would be complaining about “OMG, there’s so many spoilers.”
Oh who am I kidding?
You guys are probably doing that anyway, but if you want to read Preacher for yourself,
then just pick up issue or volume one and just read on forward because it is a self
contained series.
So which Vertigo book would you like me to talk about in the future?
Fables or iZombie?
Click or tweet me to cast your vote.
If you want to support the channel, you can watch my video on another Vertigo comic, Lucifer,
or you can take a look at my Patreon!
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Thank you for watching this video though.
I really appreciate the support.