Grimly Light Hearted

Preacher: Book Five is pretty much all about Jesse (and a little of Arseface). Jesse is trying to put the pieces of his life back together since he found out Cassidy and Tulip have gotten together after Jesse’s supposed death. For that reason, he travels and finds himself in Salvation, TX, a town controlled by a disgusting little pissant named Odin Quincannon -- the meatman.

Book Five has Jesse facing a lot of personal demons. The road to God is largely put on pause. Cassidy and Tulip’s problems aren’t in the limelight. This one is all about Jesse Custer and I absolutely love it.

The town of Salvation is a perfect little microcosm of the Preacher world as a whole. It’s got that small town feel that complements the exaggerated parody of American culture Preacher does so well. It’s the perfect grounds for Jesse Custer, modern day cowboy, to fight against corruption and tyranny. That’s not all Salvation has to offer, though. Salvation brings forth a few people from Jesse’s past you’d never think would be significant again. (Don’t worry, it’s not Ms. L’angelle and her cronies. They are well and truly dead.) And there’s a couple of badass ladies in the Salvation arc which is always a plus.

The exaggerated parody American culture is on the top of its game in Salvation. Corrupted meat industry. Perverted businessmen. The Klu Klux Klan. Casual small town racism. It just feels exceptionally “Preacher.” There’s lots of little things to love about Salvation and the personal arc Jesse goes through as he tries to clean Salvation up as its new gung-ho sheriff. Oh, and you get to see Jesse dressed up a Nazi before the ride is over.

At the time of writing this I’ve finished the Preacher series and can truly say this is my favorite book. It’s so of itself. Preacher is a sacrilegious, offensive, violent book that heightens the absurdity of American life. It’s all at play here. And because Jesse’s story in this book is largely removed from the main conflict, if I wanted to introduce someone to the flavor of the world in Preacher, I’d pull some issues from this book.

The only real flaw I can fault is that it really doesn’t have any push towards the main narrative until maybe the end. This entire arc could be stripped away in a movie or show adaptation and nothing of immediate value would seem lost. But regardless, it’s a damn fun ride that doesn’t get muddied up in too many side stories unlike a good deal of the other Preacher books. It’s easy to let go and just really get sucked up in this one.

In From Hell, Prince Albert Victor ends up wedding a common street girl and having a child with her. The incident is hushed up by the crown and the woman is put into an asylum where Gull actually makes her insane by performing a mutilation on her thyroid gland. Meanwhile, the illegitimate child ends up in the care of a working class girl name Marie-Kelley who was exposed to the scandal.

She and her friends Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, and Elizabeth Stride (other Ripper victims, you notice?) get into some trouble with a gang and need money fast. Marie, who has since dumped the royal bastard into another’s lap realizes she can potentially use the scandal against the royal family so they can get the money they need for their gang troubles. It would be nearly impossible for them to get the money they need by touring the streets of Whitechapel for horny denizens. Not because there’s no takers but because there’s such little money to be made per customer.

William Gull is called on by Queen Victoria to silence these Whitechapel whores but even she can’t predict how truly far Gull is going to take it. Sir Gull is a high ranking Freemason who believes women once had great political and spiritual power over mankind and that men took over out of rational necessity and everything since then has been done in an effort to keep womanhood imprisoned in a man’s world. In short, Gull is a misogynist who is legitimately insane.

One by one Gull hunts and kills each of these girls. Catherine Eddowes, the only member of the canonical five murdered in real life who WASN’T depicted in Mary Kelley’s group of friends, is murdered due to a mix up. She gives a fake name after being taken to jail and held for unorderly drunken conduct. The fake name she gives is Mary Kelley. Finally the murders reach their culmination in Gull’s slow grotesque butchering of Marie-Kelley (Mary Kelley).

From Hell is complicated with certain characters coming and going and being of varying importance at times. There’s also a lot of strange moments of commentary that makes it obvious that From Hell isn’t just a story, it’s a thought piece. Gull continuously has hallucinations of modern society which allows him to to comment on these visions but he’s also undeniably insane so is his criticism valid? Is it meant to be tongue-in-cheek? Gull seems to work largely as a symbol for the coming 20th century and its tragedies, which he essentially “ushers in” symbolically.

The story itself is incredibly historically accurate... as far as a fictional account of historical events can be considered accurate, anyway. There’s a loving devotion to the “scene” of the time and the few facts we absolutely know.

Unfortunately some of it drags on way too long with nothing going on. No good story jumps straight into the action so you can expect going into this story that it won’t be straight to the Jack the Ripper murders. However, some of it is just dull. When Gull is having Netley ride him around and show him the London landmarks I was bored to tears. I know the purpose was to explain Gull’s insane belief system and lay the heavy religious exposition as it culminates to the reveal of a pentagram formed out of London’s landmarks... but it’s boring. Just boring.

From Hell is a very interesting read but I’ll be completely honest, some of it was lost on me. It definitely feels like something that would be at home in a college course dedicated to graphic novels and their themes but as a casual read it’s surprisingly involved. It’s not just someone’s hack fictional version of the Jack the Ripper murders. It’s philosophy, political commentary, religious criticism, etc. This reads like something that, if you’re dedicated, you could write a thesis on. But as a casual read? A lot of those thematic elements will be lost on you. Or at the least, they were a bit lost on me.

All in all, From Hell is a thoughtful telling of the events of Jack the Ripper that blends factual knowledge with a very interesting fictional narrative based on conspiracy theory. It’s a must-read for any Ripperologist or any morbid lover. It would certainly be a unique addition to any collector’s shelf and I’m glad I have it for my own.

The story starts off focusing on Ben Urich, a cynical reporter for the Daily Bugle who takes Peter Parker under his wing. He intends to teach Peter the way the world really works but soon Peter’s idealism and burning desire for justice rub off on Urich. Ben starts thinking maybe the way Peter thinks is right but he’s far too secretly involved with sordid individuals of the underground to suddenly become a crusader for justice. And with a nasty drug habit to tide him over, Urich is reluctant to take any action. During one of Urich’s comatose-like drug trips, Peter checks on him only to accidentally get a tipoff meant for “The Spider” about some activity Norman Osborn’s gang is undertaking. Peter decides to take justice in his own hands and check it out. It’s there his fate is forever changed and he is gifted with the power to become Spider-Man.

Spider-Man: Noir is a brilliant alternate take on Spider-Man. The grizzled gutsy atmosphere allows Peter to go to darker places than in the mainstream continuities. I love the remixing of his origin. It’s not just his old origin with a Great Depression paint job. Things are changed up. Uncle Ben’s death now happens before Peter ever has powers. His motivation to change the world comes before he has the means to. Peter isn’t motivated by guilt of failure but by the passion and rage of a cheated youth.

It’s certainly a unique concept to say the least. Peter Parker is the world’s punching bag in the 616-universe but always maintains an air of optimism and hope. In the Noir universe he’s much more politically charged. His adoptive aunt and uncle actively raised him with socialist ideals and he feels the rich and corrupt have the world as their punching bag. This Peter doesn’t live by his Uncle Ben’s words of “with great power comes great responsibility.” He lives by his Uncle Ben’s words of “If those in power can’t be trusted, it’s the responsibility of the people to remove them.” Much more direct. Much more political. Much more threatening. This is what I love so much about this book. It’s the Marvel universe yet it’s not. It’s the Peter Parker we know and love yet he’s also a stranger to us. More than anything, I have to praise that. He’s recognizably still Peter Parker. He has Peter Parker’s idealism but it’s also buried beneath anger and hate. This Peter has a mission. He has a war to fight. There’s hardly room for cute little quips and when Spider-Man does make a “joking” quip, it’s decidedly dark.

The story itself is fairly straightfoward. Peter is good. Norman Osborn (”The Goblin”) is bad. Peter has power. He takes justice in his own hands to stop the bad guys. This is par the course for superhero stories. There are no grand twists that excel the story itself out of the realms of standard good guy vs. bad guy but that’s not so bad. Good guy vs. bad guy is pretty much the golden law of superhero comics.

It’s the creativity of this re-imagining that really makes it stand out for me. I love the era its set in. I love the atmosphere of shady New York City. I love the grit. I love this version of Peter. I love the moral and philosophical changes made to characters like Aunt May, Uncle Ben, Ben Urich, and a couple others. It’s just a beautiful and creative piece I’d recommend to any Spider-Man fan or anyone who’s a fan of superhero stories that teeter on the dark side.