Preacher (DC Comics #3 of 5)

Genre: Supernatural/Action/Comic Book

Premise: Jesse Custer, a down and out preacher in a small Texas town, is possessed by a supernatural creature named Genesis. As a result, Jesse may have become the most powerful being alive. Together with his old girlfriend Tulip, he goes on a quest to discover his new powers. They're also joined by an Irish vampire named Cassidy.

About: Ennis sold the script to Electric Entertainment in 1998, and then completed three additional drafts. Producers had trouble financing because the series was religiously controversial. Kevin Smith and Scott Mosier financed under View Askew then pitched to Miramax. However, the Weinsteins were confused by Jesse. They also didn't want to split profits with Electric Entertainment. Storm Entertainment then came along and joined Electric. Production was delayed due to budget. A TV pilot was discussed at HBO. Then new HBO executives abandoned the idea, finding it too dark and religiously controversial (after Carnivale and Six Feet Under, really?) Columbia Pictures purcharsed the rights with Sam Mendes directing in 2008. John August was then hired on to write a script. No release date. No cast. No location. A decade later, the project is still in obscurity.

Writer: Garth Ennis (who wrote the original comic, also worked on Hellblazer)

Born out of the Tarantion influenced action wave that came during the late 90's, Preacher is definitely part of the crowd but takes some strange twists. Allegedly, this story comes directly from the comic's "Gone to Texas" storyline. The script is blatantly violent in a way films used to be during the Pulp Fiction / Usual Suspects era, but which we don't really see included anymore. As a result, it makes perfect sense Miramax was attached to the project. Also, the films use of heavily violence and dark religious satire aren't exactly the most friendly topics to win over a film-going crowd. Now, keeping all these things in mind, let's take a look at this third draft.

There are some lovely elements to Preacher: its dark and funny dialogue, unusually warped characters, and southwestern image ripe for a Cormac McCarthy novel make the script a delicious read. But, when one looks further, this thing falls apart and is yet another example of a competently written script that possesses enough flaws as to prevent the work from being a good effort. Mostly, my problems come with what I feel to be an inherent lack of imagination within the work.

Structurally, this script goes on a little too long (but this is a problem many, many comics suffer from). The length is due in part to the ultimate brawl which goes on and on without any real reason. These aren't special in any way but rather generic fight scenes. And, as I always ask myself, why would you bother to adapt a high profile series if ultimately you just reverted to cliched gimmicks like brawls and takeddowns? Furthermore, additional length is another problem Preacher doesn't need to suffer from, though, so a writer would do well to shortern it.

Also, in regards to the Isla role, Tulip is very shallow. She doesn't feel like an organic or believeable character in the structure of the work. Her arrival in the story is purely coincidental. And that's a big problem. Furthermore, her love arch with Jesse uses some very generic story elements and lines so she's hard to judge as a fresh or sparkling creation.

Now don't get me wrong, but Preacher was a fun read. Ennis made a good attempt to capture the darkness and humor of the series on the written page. But, I highly doubt this comic will ever make it to the big screen. It's too long, too controversial, and ultimately just not rewarding enough for a script that makes these sorts of compromises.

Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)

Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)

[X] Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)

Hot Rod (Good)

Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)

Isla Roles: There's really just Tulip, who is sleek in an Aeon Flux sort of way I'm almost ceratin Isla would be unable to successfully pull off.

Tip: You can't really cheat people in terms of page length. At times, lines of description merged with the dialogue. It looks sloppy. Furthermore, the dialogue is far too wide which means the script is even longer than 127 pages. Now, while any ordinary person might not realize this, what this does mean is that ultimately for producers, script readers and agents who were handling this thing the material came off too dense and ultimately unprofessional.