Deja Re-Vu: Preacher Volume 3: Proud Americans
Obligatory Warning: This series of books are intended for a mature audience. This review may contain mild spoilers. If asked to describe this volume in a single word; satisfying is the word I would use. Everything in this book is just so well done, but I digress. Let’s start at the beginning. The over arcing story that carries on from volume 2 takes a back seat in the first issue, as Jesse bumps into a war buddy of his dad; who subsequently tells the preacherman a little about his old man’s time in Vietnam. Whilst not entirely important to the overall narrative, this is the kind of break that’s done right. Garth Ennis, in my honest opinion, is outstanding when it comes to writing war stories. These tales focus on the characters, as opposed to glorify the subject matter, and for that they feel a lot more genuine and warm. The typical Ennis humour is there, but it’s toned down. After this brief stop off, we continue with where we left off last time; In a case of mistaken identity, Cassidy is taken by The Grail, and it’s up to Jesse to head to France and save the day (whilst leaving Tulip behind…). We get an insight into how The Grail works; how it’s run and how it deals with hanging threads. We are also introduced with the disgusting Allfather D'Aronique; A combination of the unsubtly hilarious and the subtly terrifying, rolled up into one big, fat bastard. There is also some more exposition as the nature of Genesis, as well as some insight into the mind of The Saint of Killers. We figure out what’s at stake, and just how far the enemy will go to get what they want; Herr Starr resorts to having Cassidy horrifically tortured once he learns of the Irishman’s immortality. The pinnacle of the book is Jesse getting some vengeance on Herr Starr, leaving the German with a rather unfortunate reminder whenever he looks in the mirror. The last two issues of this volume serve as backstory for Cassidy. The first tells of his time in the Easter Uprising of 1916, as well as his transformation. The second is his self-imposed exile and immigration to New York. This is clearly a love letter to the big apple; Another common theme in much of Ennis’ work. This action in this volume is consistently entertaining, with nothing being too cluttered in the panels. This is especially true in the scenes where The Grail soldiers were being killed by the hundreds by the Saint of Killers. I’ve seen scenarios similar to this in other comics, manga and even animation where there is just so much going on that I don’t know what happening, and thus, I lose the willingness to care about the carnage. Here, we see the troops protesting their demise, so it has a bit more weight to it. Favorite Scene
Favorite Cover
A nasty, yet thoroughly entertaining piece of work. 5/5 Mobster eunuchs: The stakes are raised, answers are given and many more questions have been asked. The way is paved for much more merriment and mayhem.