That sure is a purdy lookin’ poster, ain’t it?
*cough* Sorry. Talkin’ ’bout Preacher tends to dig up my more Southern qualities. Why shouldn’t it? It’s one of the absolute best pieces of comic fiction ever produced in terms of sheer fun. It’s also delightfully abrasive to those with more sensitive sensibilities, especially regarding Christianity and violence. The comic is an absolute joy, and if you haven’t read it I urge you to pick up a copy. If you’re in my neck of the woods, I’ll let you borrow my trade paperbacks iffin’ you like.
There’s not much news to this piece other than the above key art (which harkens back to Glenn Fabry’s cover of issue #1) and the news that AMC has picked up the Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg scripted show for a full season. That was a pretty foregone conclusion, but it’s nice to see it confirmed. I guess I’ll take up the rest of this space with a plea to the fans: don’t judge the show based on the book.
I don’t just mean that in terms of quality (because that’s gonna be next to impossible), but also in terms of its fealty to the source material. There’s a lot of reports out there of how much the pilot episode (and series bible) has taken liberities with the characters from the book. Give this show a chance to be something familiar yet different with the Preacher story and world. If you want that exact story, go read the comics. I’m often reminded of the response to Zack Snyder’s Watchmen and how people wanted the film to be as faithful to the book as possible. When Snyder’s film came out, I found it almost relentlessly faithful (except for that one big difference. You know what I’m talking about), possibly even to the film’s overall detriment. I still really, really love Watchmen, but it was one of the first big indicator to me of how fans seemed incapable of being catered to because they will always find some element to dislike. As an enormous fan of Preacher, I have to approach this show as taking inspiration from the comic, not trying to transcribe it from the page to the screen. And I wouldn’t really want that.
Will Preacher be good? We’ll find out sometime next year. Until then, I’ll be waiting anxiously for the premiere. …And I’ll probably reread the series one more time.
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