Preacher: Gone to Texas (Vol. 1)

Preacher: Gone to Texas (Vol. 1) is written by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon. Vol. 1 collects issues 1 through 7. 200 pages.

I had read the first issue of the series years ago and decided that it wasn't good enough to keep reading the series. However, after I kept hearing from source after source that this comic was great, I had to give it another try, specially since my brother-in-law lent me all volumes of Preacher.

With all volumes in hand, I decided to give it another try. As I was reading the first issue again (which is a double sized issue), I realized it was better than what I had thought before, it almost seemed like I hadn't understood the story at my first try. The conception of Genesis made sense this time. Genesis is a creature born to an angel and a demon. Genesis is very powerful and takes the body of a priest Jesse Custer. After this Jesse decides that his mission is to find God and confront him.

The first 4 issues introduce us to the main characters: Jesse Custer, an rural preacher, Cassidy, a vampire and Tulip, an ex-girlfriend of Jesse who has a past involving guns. These issues also introduce us to a larger than life character called "Saint of Killers", a seemingly indestructible killer that comes out straight out of a Western movie. Besides introducing us with all these great characters, this volume gives us a reason to care for what will happen with Jesse and his search for God. It also brings in a lot of gore and a lot of funny moments.

The last three issues of the volume are kind of outside the mission of finding God. It involves a nasty detective story. I actually liked these issues more than the first four, mainly because the story had an ending and because it is full of shockingly funny moments. It is a great story that shows us how the characters introduced in the first story could come together in funny, exciting ways.

The first volume is very good, but not quite excellent.