66 Days of Preacher: Day 1

Okay, here we go. Whenever I pondered the possibility of exploring theology in graphic literature the first title that came to mind was Preacher. This series exists as 66 issues (as well as some one shots and spinoffs, but we'll leave them be for now) and is one of my favorite series I've ever read. It's right up there with Y: The Last Man and The Walking Dead. Written by Garth Ennis and drawn by Steve Dillon, Preacher is an awesome joyride of a story filled with some of the most insane scenarios I have seen in any storytelling medium.

It's also incredibly blasphemous, heretical, offensive, irreverent, and brilliant. I read through the series years ago, before the concept of Wednesday Theology ever occurred to me. So it's well past time I read through it again and write down some thoughts.

One issue at a time.

Since this is Preacher, be advised that everything that follows should be considered relatively to extremely Not Safe For Work. So, if you're faint of heart, easily offended, or, you know, my mother, you might not want to read on.

Repay the Debt

Bird: Sounds to me like you're lookin' a gift horse in the mouse.
Dancy: Looking a gift horse in the mouth, bird. Not Mouse.
Maisie: You don't say.
All boils down to whether or not she's grateful, whether or not she's willin' to repay the debt.
Dancy: Debt? Christian folk, they don't do good and then expect--

- Alabaster: Wolves #3

by Caitlin R. Kiernan and Steve Lieber

Hope Against Hope

Wonder Woman: This is madness, Kal-El!
It was called The Vanishing, a hopeful name in the face of hopelessness.
For all we know, those people could be gone forever, and our only hope is that they didn't suffer.
Superman: For all I believe...
...they're alive.
Wonder Woman: You have no proof!
Superman: Diana... I don't need proof.
I have something stronger.
I have faith.

- Superman #211

by Brian Azzarello and Jim Lee

Live Up To His Myth

Asmodel: Yield!
Superman: Never!
Flash: This is the guy who said he couldn't live up to his myth.
He's wrestling an angel...

- JLA #7

by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter

Sanctuary

Bird: You ain't listening to me. You don't want to be here. Where you think you're headin'?
Dancy: Like I said, a church.
Guardian angel or not, I still have it in my head a house of the Lord means sanctuary.

- Alabaster Wolves #2

by Caitlin R. Kiernan and Steve Lieber

Succeed Where Lucifer Failed

Asmodel: You have chosen to stand at the traitor's side.
Zauriel: He's going to rebel, see? He's waited a million years.
And he thinks he can succeed where Lucifer failed.
Asmodel: Accursed of Heaven!

- JLA #7

by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter

The God Who Dies

WILSON TAYLOR saw the real world, and he wrote about it. It's a world where magic works and where the greatest of all wizards, Tommy Taylor, died and was resurrected to bring us a message of peace and love.
If that sounds familiar, we're not supprised. The story of the god who dies and then is returned to life was so powerful that it created echoes through all the other worlds and all through time and all through the traditions of other religions. The first ever resurrected god long, long before Jesus Christ - was the Sumerian god TAMMUZ. Yeah, that name sounds familiar, too, doesn't it?
TAMMUZ = TOMMY
The real world of Tommy retroactively creates worlds in which Tommy is just a story. But it's OUR world that's fictional, and now the cracks are starting to show. When you stop believing in the fiction, you'll wake into the reality. Tommy is already here, to show you it's possable to show you the way.

- The Unwritten #37

by Mike Carey and Peter Gross