The Rise of Dissident Comic Books

Silver Members - Listen to Audio Version

As a young teenager in the 1990s, I was a member of the perfect target demographic for one of the era’s most shocking and provocative comic series’: Preacher. Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon, it tells the story of Jesse Custer, a small-town Texan preacher who becomes possessed by a supernatural monster. 

Accompanied by his girlfriend and a hard-drinking Irish vampire named Cassidy, the series follows Custer in his often blood-soaked and debauched journey across the United States to discover the truth about his new powers. I was captivated. Rather than collecting the more popular and accessible trade paperbacks, I rushed to the comic book shop every Saturday to pick up the single weekly issues. Even then, I found the concept of delayed gratification alluring.