After the hiatus of Ancient History, the saga of Preacher continues with Dixie Fried and War in the Sun. The overall story line is still Jesse Custer’s search for God, with the express purpose of reading him the riot act for dereliction of duty and putting him back to work. But first, he has to unlock Genesis’ memories.
But first, to bring us up to speed, there’s a bit of Cassidy’s history, with his encounter with one Eccarius, another vampire, and Les Enfants du Sang — who turn out to be, unsurprisingly, a bunch of teenagers given to bad poetry and lots of posing — on a previous visit to New Orleans. Figuring he’s had enough, Cassidy manages to kill Eccarius, but not until after he’s — how shall I put it? — alienated the Enfants.
Tulip, after being deserted in France while Custer and Cassidy took on the Grail, has found Custer again and chained him to the bed in their hotel room while she goes out for a visit with her friend Amy. On her way back, she happens on Cassidy, holding up the bar at the place he was supposed to meet Jesse. Cassidy, deep in his cups and pretty much fed up with things as they are, makes the mistake of confessing to Tulip that he’s fallen in love with her. Tulip’s reaction is as one might expect.
Meanwhile, Herr Starr, having appointed himself Allfather of what’s left of the Grail, is pulling himself together and preparing to resume his pursuit of Jesse. And Arseface re-enters the story, first as a masked vigilante whose purpose is to protect the downtrodden, and then, through the kind of twist of fate that is becoming a hallmark of this series, as a rock star.
With everyone’s whereabouts established, we resume with Jesse and crew, who head to New Orleans to visit a hoodoo man of Cassidy’s acquaintance, hoping for some help in unlocking Genesis. Needless to say, they run into Les Enfants du Sang, who for some reason are carrying a grudge, and Starr has figured out where they are. The hoodoo session turns out to be less than helpful.
War in the Sun finds Jesse and company on the way to Arizona, since New Orleans was such a bust. Jesse hopes that a Hopi medicine man can provide an entry point — or at least some peyote.
Unfortunately, Herr Starr, who has the resources of the Grail at his command, as well as the resources of the American government, including the military, still considers Jesse a key part of his plan. And he knows exactly where Jesse is — or almost exactly: the Arizona desert is pretty big.
It seems that the Saint of Killers also has business with Jesse, and his homing instincts are near perfect. Oh, he also has business with Starr — no one likes having a mountain dropped on his head — but that can wait.
Starr still hasn’t figured out exactly what he’s dealing with here, but he’s prepared to nuke Monument Valley if necessary, to get what he wants.
The end result of all this is that the main characters are scattered — Tulip and Cassidy make their escape, Jesse is missing, probably dead, and Starr — well, Starr has been injured and captured.
Ennis’ use of black humor — of a particularly black sort — and the grotesque is reaching a new level of — well, I don’t really know what to call it, but it’s well-done. The story’s turning into something like Easy Rider by way of the Three Stooges, and borrowing freely from the repertoire of the American Western, dark fantasy and horror, spy thrillers, and gods know what other genres, while pushing the envelope on taste and decorum completely out of shape. It’s only in retrospect that one realizes how appalling some of these events, and the people who precipitate them, really are. It’s satire of a particularly mordant cast.
One other thing is becoming more and more apparent: Ennis and Dillon are doing masterful work (with an assist from Peter Snejbjerg in War in the Sun) in creating what has become a movie in book form. The structure is highly cinematic, starting from multiple focuses and making adroit use of sharp cuts from scene to scene. We get what we need without being buried under more than that — although there’s just enough more to enable us to track the developing relationships and, indeed, the development of the characters themselves.
And there’s more to come. Click through for Preacher: Salvation.
(Vertigo/DC Comics, 1988) Collects Preacher Special: Cassidy — Blood & Whiskey, and Preacher #27-33.
(Vertigo/DC Comics, 1999) Collects Preacher Special: One Man’s War and Preacher #34-40.
