Preacher #1

History

The conceptual seed for Preacher grew directly out of Garth Ennis's 1991–1994 run on Hellblazer, where he and Steve Dillon first became regular collaborators; the core premise — what happens when the illicit offspring of an angel and a demon escapes and inhabits a mortal — originated as a thought experiment from that tenure. Ennis and Dillon brought the fully developed concept to DC's Vertigo imprint, where editor Stuart Moore shepherded the series through its first seventeen issues under executive editor Karen Berger, the architect of Vertigo's mature-readers line. Preacher was a creator-owned project — notable for Vertigo's mixed portfolio of company-owned and creator-owned titles — and its painted covers were assigned to Glenn Fabry, who became so identified with the book that he is cited among the definitive Vertigo cover artists. The first issue carried a cover date of April 1995 and bore the story title 'The Time of the Preacher,' a reference to the Willie Nelson song that Jesse sings to himself while drunk in the issue's flashback sequences.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance of Reverend Jesse Custer (the Preacher), Tulip O'Hare, Proinsias Cassidy, the Saint of Killers, angels DeBlanc and Fiore, and Sheriff Hugo Root — all in a single issue.
• Written by Garth Ennis, penciled and inked by Steve Dillon, colored by Matt Hollingsworth, lettered by Clem Robins, edited by Stuart Moore, with a painted cover by Glenn Fabry; executive editor Karen Berger oversaw the Vertigo line.
• The story is titled 'The Time of the Preacher' and opens at the Five Aces Diner in Annville, Texas, where Jesse, Tulip, and Cassidy recount how Genesis — the forbidden offspring of an angel and a demon — escaped Heaven and bonded with Jesse, incinerating his congregation and granting him the supernatural 'Word of God.'
• DeBlanc and Fiore are introduced as Adelphi angels dispatched by Heaven to retrieve Genesis; they are compelled by Jesse to reveal that God has abandoned His throne, which directly ignites Jesse's quest to confront the Almighty.
• John Wayne appears in the series as a recurring spirit-advisor figure to Jesse, rooted in Jesse's father John Custer's personal hero-worship of Wayne — a motif introduced in the opening arc that begins with issue #1.
• The Saint of Killers is depicted as an unstoppable, duster-coat-wearing supernatural gunslinger released from Hell to pursue Jesse; his origin as a Confederate soldier condemned to Hell and transformed into an Angel of Death is elaborated in the concurrent four-issue Preacher: Saint of Killers spin-off.
• Issue #1 has been reprinted multiple times: in the trade paperback Preacher: Gone to Texas (1996), Preacher: Book One, Absolute Preacher Vol. 1, the Millennium Edition: Preacher #1, the anthology Vertigo: First Offenses, the Preacher 1 AMC Edition (timed to the television adaptation), and a 2016 Wizard World Comic Con Box Exclusive variant with a virgin cover.
• The series — launched with this issue — ran for 66 regular monthly issues (April 1995 – October 2000), five one-shot specials, and a four-issue Saint of Killers limited series, and won the Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series in 1999. It was adapted into a four-season AMC television series (2016–2019) developed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

Cast · 8 characters

Full credits