Preacher & Hellblazer

[DoctorVonBracken]

is preacher any good?

and is it worth starting at the beginning with hellblazer??

cheers

[suttercain]

No both titles are so overrated and Garth Ennis is just a hack and the Preacher is the worst title ever!



Okay, now I want to see how many people will ignore this part, just reading the first sentence, and bash me. But in all seriousness I really enjoy both of those title. I did like Preacher somewhat better, but that doesn't mean Hellblazer is bad by any means. Someone gave me a copy of Hellblazer: Haunted and I really enjoyed it so I started buying the trades. In the Preacher you'll want to start from book one, but with Hellblazer you really can just start reading from where ever. I actually just started Hellblazer: Bloodlines lastnight.

[Generic Eric]

Preacher is an absolute classic buddy roadtrip story. Plenty of grossout humor and bullshitting dialague. It also uses things like the N word to brilliant comedy effect. I know your thinking that there is nothing funny about the N word. This series proves that there is nothing so bad that you cannot find the humor in it.

Hellbalzer is readable from just about any trade. It is preferable to start at the begining of each writer's archs. Now that Jamie Delano's work is now becoming available as complete trades you could not go too wrong from starting there.

[earl]

Preacher is not for the easily offended, but it is great comic and quite unique.


I've not read the whole run of Hellblazer, I'd start someplace else than the Azzarello run. It is pretty good, but quite a bit different than the first couple of trades by Jamie Delano or Garth Ennis. If you have never read the Alan Moore Swamp Thing where John Constantine first appeared, those are a great read. He shows up in the third trade of that series.

[Libaax]

Hellblazer start with Garth Ennis trade, they define the character and the series.

Some of the early Delano are very dodgy.....

[Sean Walsh]

PREACHER: hell yes.

HELLBLAZER: can't say; I've never been able to get into it....

[Sanlear]

Garth Ennis is the man. They're well worth picking up.

[matt levin]

I resolutely resisted Preacher when it first came out, got the first few issues and just let it go on without me. Got the first two trades from the library, and wound up buying all the trades. Everybody who's written before me's gotten it described right.

Hellblazer I enjoyed for at least the first thirty or forty issues and then got bored. Recently did a massive re-read, and don't regret the issues I pulled out of the collection, for resale. For me, the best of the trades (and the comics) is Dangerous Habits: Constantine, dying, nonetheless takes on the devil, and sneers.

Both have weak spots, Preacher less so than Hellblazer, for me, but both have very clever and powerful spots too. Each worth looking into!

Matt

[Mladen]

I don't normally like Garth Ennis, so much of what he does these days just seems to aim for shock-value over content... But Preacher has a genuinely engaging story, heart-felt characters, and an awesome finale. I'd definately recommend it.

Hellblazer can be a mixed bag, but is generally good, most of the time excellent.
There's a lot of love for Ennis' stuff, but I'd say besides Dangerous Habits I've not been wowed by what I've read of his run.
I'd personally say that Andy Diggle's work on the title was fantastic. Underrated, probably my favorite. He made Constantine dapper and charismatic again, not so scruffy.
Warren Ellis' stuff is excellent, somebody else mentioned the 'Haunted' trade, thats definately a good one.

[Libaax]

How is Diggle underrated many of HB fans are glad he came and made HB awesome again. Shame he is leaving. He is prolly top three favorite HB writers for me with Ennis,Delano.


Hellblazer has some bad stories after 20 years of ongoing but most of the comic is great. There is a reason why John Constantine has the rep he has among comic fans that like HB like comics.

Even Empire rated him 3 greatest alltime comic character after Batman and Supes ;)

[Panik]

Even Empire rated him 3 greatest alltime comic character after Batman and Supes ;)


Which was seriously reaching. I like Hellblazer a lot, but there's no way he's top 3 comic book characters of all time.

I love the Ennis stories. I had dropped the title in the first ten issues of the Delano run and didn't come back until the alcoholism stories, which I was reading at work (a comic shop at the time) but not buying. When the TPBs came out, I bought those. Stick with Ennis. The Gaiman oneshot was pretty good, and the pre-Hellblazer Constantine appearances in Swampthing are necessities.

Regarding Preacher, when it was being published I thought it was the best thing going. It was the most pissed-off, literate comic book on the stands. Now when I look back, it's still more than a bunch of pee-and-poop jokes, but the language is really unnecessarily over-the-top. I'd liken it to Deadwood in that respect, but the HBO TV series was painstakingly researched with respect to clothing, set and (apparently) foul language. Preacher is just a contemporary story, and swearing is only shocking in comic books, which is why they never made a movie out of it. The script was relatively boring.
The first 10 issues were great, and it got a bit convoluted after that. The spin-off one-shots were brilliant, though. SAINT OF KILLERS (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110283343817&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=001), and the THE STORY OF ARSEFACE were superbly written -actually much more so than how they were integrated into the PREACHER comic book.
STEVE DILLON's art throughout the series is excellent, and brought a stripped down realism to comics that had been lacking, and the Fabry covers were great. The cover of Preacher #1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110283340898&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=001) being one of my alltime favorite GLENN FABRY paintings.

[Toboe]

Anyone got Mike Carey's Hellblazer? Is it worth it? I'm a fan of the man from his X-Men work, and I want to give this book a try.

Or should I start with another writer's run?

[alveraz]

I'm currently on the 4th volume of Preacher and it's absolutely fabulous! As for Hellblazer I really enjoy the current run and my favorite trade was the one where he had cancer, forget the title, but start with that one, it's excellent.

[Generic Eric]

Anyone got Mike Carey's Hellblazer? Is it worth it? I'm a fan of the man from his X-Men work, and I want to give this book a try.


I read the entire run. It was pretty fun and touched bases with all the cool history associated with the character. My only problem with it was that he wrote it just like he would a run of the X-Men comic.:rolleyes:

[carabas]

Anyone got Mike Carey's Hellblazer? Is it worth it? I'm a fan of the man from his X-Men work, and I want to give this book a try.

Or should I start with another writer's run?If just starting out on Hellblazer, then Garth ennis's run is probably the best one. And Warren Ellis's very short one.

If on the other hand you're looking for Mike Carey's work, you'll be better off with Lucifer, Faker, and the critically undervalued My Faith In Frankie. His Hellblazer is rather continuity-heavy IIRC.

[dancj]

I read the entire run. It was pretty fun and touched bases with all the cool history associated with the character. My only problem with it was that he wrote it just like he would a run of the X-Men comic.:rolleyes:
Yeah, he did over-use Wolverine a bit.

Seriously, Mike Carey did what he usually does on Hellblazer and wrote some decent, but unspectacular stories.

[Pip]

i started my comic collection with issue 3 of hellblazer so the series will always hold a special place fro me, i loved the early issues but i became very bored with it and stopped collecting about issue 120ish, got the complete preacher collection and it was pretty good read but i have come to realise the Ennis is a one trick pony

[Libaax]

Which was seriously reaching. I like Hellblazer a lot, but there's no way he's top 3 comic book characters of all time.

I love the Ennis stories. I had dropped the title in the first ten issues of the Delano run and didn't come back until the alcoholism stories, which I was reading at work (a comic shop at the time) but not buying. When the TPBs came out, I bought those. Stick with Ennis. The Gaiman oneshot was pretty good, and the pre-Hellblazer Constantine appearances in Swampthing are necessities.

Regarding Preacher, when it was being published I thought it was the best thing going. It was the most pissed-off, literate comic book on the stands. Now when I look back, it's still more than a bunch of pee-and-poop jokes, but the language is really unnecessarily over-the-top. I'd liken it to Deadwood in that respect, but the HBO TV series was painstakingly researched with respect to clothing, set and (apparently) foul language. Preacher is just a contemporary story, and swearing is only shocking in comic books, which is why they never made a movie out of it. The script was relatively boring.
The first 10 issues were great, and it got a bit convoluted after that. The spin-off one-shots were brilliant, though. SAINT OF KILLERS (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110283343817&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=001), and the THE STORY OF ARSEFACE were superbly written -actually much more so than how they were integrated into the PREACHER comic book.
STEVE DILLON's art throughout the series is excellent, and brought a stripped down realism to comics that had been lacking, and the Fabry covers were great. The cover of Preacher #1 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=110283340898&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT&ih=001) being one of my alltime favorite GLENN FABRY paintings.

According you he isnt yes but dont act like what you say are a fact.

There are many who think he is the best comic character of them all and i agree.

Not because his stories are usually awesome. Because he is so interesting in many ways.


Although i agree with you about Delano issues. I forced them on myself mostly becuase i liked JC and i wanted to get chrono wise to Garth Ennis story.


Preacher i agree to, its good but its not near his best. People rate it only because of how badass,over the top it is. It hurt his rep people think Ennis is all about stuff like Preacher with arse face and what not.

He can do comics like Max Punisher who was dark,realistic,awesome, War Stories thats amazing,tragic,heartfelt.