Preacher: Ancient History

When the first major story arc of Garth Ennis's Preacher comic concluded with the showdown at the Grail headquarters called "Masada", the author decided to spend some time on a few one-off issues with other artists to fill in some back story and spend a little more time with some of the series' most interesting minor characters. The first three of these stories were compiled into the fourth trade paperback volume Ancient History. The three segments of the book are the multi-issue The Saint of Killers spin-off, The Story of You-Know-Who which is the bleak tale of Sheriff Root's son and how exactly he became "Arse Face", and Good Old Boys, an ultra-violent farce starring Jody and T.C.

Sometimes it's hard to remember that, despite its pretense toward darkness and philosophy, the Preacher books aren't entirely serious. They're full of jokes and cheeky references, the villains are all increasingly over-the-top and the theological discussions are never short of irreverent. The side stories in Ancient History are firm reminders that Garth Ennis isn't interested in elevating his pop culture obsessions out of the mud from whence the came. In his shameless fanboy introduction, Ennis talks about his undying love for all things John Wayne and Clint Eastwood, but it's not until the first panels that his love is also self-conscious and thoroughly postmodern.

Take the Saint of Killers story. Though it's ostensibly about the biggest badass that ever hit the dusty trails of the wild west and his quest for revenge after the death of his wife and child, it doesn't take itself as seriously as that sounds. The Saint is indeed as intense a gunslinger as he was in the main arc of Preacher, but the demystification of his origin renders him something of a straightman to a gory comedy. Before the story's over, The Saint has walked through an inexplicable Texas blizzard, stared down a pack of wolves, caused Hell to literally freeze over with the infinite hatred in his cold heart, shot the Devil (herein referred to as "Nick") to death, and returned to life as the new Angel of Death with a pair of magical Colt revolvers. This is not high philosophy, it's glorious pulp.

Ironically, Arse Face's story is considerably less funny. What little humor is in The Story of You-Know-Who is the darkest of the dark. Young Mr. Root lives in a never-ending cycle of isolation and abuse. His father is a drunk cop who beats up his kid and shoots his shotgun at imaginary Martian invaders for fun. His mother is a depressed housewife with a stereotypical addiction to alcohol and Valium. His only friend is a sociopathic twerp everyone calls Pube. The only thing that makes Arse Face's tale more tragic is the knowledge that his attempted suicide will only serve to make his pain worse.

Though Garth Ennis claims that The Saint of Killers is his favorite character, the standout story in Ancient History is Jody and T.C.'s silly swamp adventure. Even though these are two of Ennis's most vile, evil characters, their one-off comic is played for maximum absurdity. After Jody kills an actual gorilla in one-on-one combat, he and T.C. stumble across a couple of walking action movie cliches. They're a down-on-his-luck cop with impeccable hair and his sassy supermodel-turned-journalist girlfriend. They're on the run from a ridiculous, profanity-challenged terrorist named Saddam Hopper. Ennis manages to make heroes out of his two biggest bogeymen by surrounding them exclusively by the kinds of idiots who have short lifespans in the Preacher universe. It's pure, stupid fun, which is exactly what these spin-off books are trying to accomplish.