MovieChat Forums > Preacher (2016) Discussion > How many comic fans like this show?

How many comic fans like this show?

posted 8 years ago by ZenShark
48 replies | jump to latest

I'm a huge fan of the comic and really wanted to love this show. As it stands, the show is decidedly average. It's a decent enough time pass, but it's no where close to greatness.

To me it seems like a grade school version of the comic. Even though the comic was way over the top, it had a thick layer of subtext and social commentary that seems to be entirely stripped from the show.

Most of the changes made are either worse, or fundamentally alter the story and characters from the comic.

Jesse and Tulip are nothing like the comic at all.

[–] plutomani 8 years ago

I like both comic and TV-show. Sure, the changes from the orignal material are extreme, the pace is occasionally off, the story isn't very focused, but while the series isn't close to the greatness of the comic I never expected to like it in the first place so I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it. I'm not big on TV shows, but Preacher is one of few able to engage me right now.

[–] adamwarlock 8 years ago

I'm wondering how blasphemies the show will get. Will Jesse hunt down God who abandoned heaven like in the comic? That could be too controversial for TV. Will we get Herr Starr wiping someone lunatic's @$$? We'll see.

if man is 5
then the devil is 6
if the devil is 6
then God is 7
and if God is 7...

[–] tintin1-2 8 years ago

After the initial one or two WTF episodes I fell in love with the show. Mr Gilgun steals it, obviously, but everything else is top-notch as well.

"who has a BOAT in Denver?!"

[–] blacklemore36 8 years ago

I don't think the comic is that great, it's really good but it's so damn overrated. I like the show and prefer the characters of the show.

Ha-ha! I threw that *beep* before I walked in the room!

[–] aaronszmyr 8 years ago

SO much this ^^^

I recently re-read the comics for the first time since around the year 2000... they had always held such a high reputation for me in my mind as like "the best alternative comic" id ever read... in retrospect... I still like the comic alot... but the stand outs for me are Cassidy, the whole quest to find God, The Saint of Killers, Herr Starr, Jesse's F'd up relatives... basically the supporting characters... I was amazed at how much of the comic was just Jesse and Tulip naked; post-coitus lamenting "until the end of the world..." it seemed like it was at LEAST 50% of the comic if not MORE... just boring... I was shocked that I had to re-evaluate my stance on this comic and quite frankly realize how over-rated it has been not just in my mind but clearly in the eyes of the comic-nerds-elite...

IM SORRY but the comic while being good is DEFINATELY over-rated... I think the whole challenging of the concept of God is what really made it a stand out for people... but there was alot of filler to get to that part of the story... so stop whining about the show having filler... to me the comic stopped being interesting around issue #15 and didn't get interesting again until about the end of the comic...

And finally I will say despite my criticisms of the comic, I do still like it... but... I like the show more!

Chalk it up to different strokes for different folks I guess!

[–] djsosonut 8 years ago

Exactly. I own the comics and have reread them a few times, but they're not a holy grail of perfection to me. There are so many things that I think the show is doing better. Jessie and Tulip are actually interesting to me this time around.

Always hated that Jessie didn't use his power in the comic cause he didn't find it sporting/manly enough. I like that the show is giving him a more solid reason not to use it to solve his problems. And despite the fact that the comic was called Preacher, Jessie being a reverend had very little relevance on the story past the first 2 arcs. And that was mainly in connect to the antagonist side characters more than his own character drives.

Tulip and Tulip's relationship with Jessie was one of the least interesting things about the comic. I remember mentally checking out during those parts hoping to get back to Heir Starr. Jessie and Cassidy's bromance was far more interesting.

Now I'm not saying I don't enjoy what the comics achieved, because I do. But it was a very flawed creation, so I'm more than open to accepting the changes in the tv series. For them most part I think they're for the better. Plus it has the added bonus of making me have no idea where they will go with the story.

Clever things make people feel stupid and unexpected things make them feel scared

[–] Asiek_M 8 years ago

I'm the huge fan of the comics too, but i like this show, because its different and I think it would be boring to watch the same story again and again ...

[–] jhchooo 8 years ago

I too think this show is not that good and not very engaging. I read the comics in the 90's when I was in college and really enjoyed it but at this time just have vague memories of it. I think the biggest problem with this is the tone and the lack of seriousness. The other big problem is the actor that plays Jesse Custer is totally wrong for the part and does not bring any gravitas to the role. I remember Jesse Custer being a pretty tormented guy, full of supressed rage with alot of baggage (more akin to Dirty Harry). The actor totally underplays it and seems like he's just sleepwalking through the role. I think Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are the wrong people to oversee this and they lack the television and comic adaptation experience. Someone in AMC should have known after their work with the Green Hornet, this was a bad idea - after Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Walking Dead they should have been more prudent, bad on AMC!

[–] tuula-1 8 years ago

Thinking back, I loved the comic THEN (yes I am basically Cassidy's contemporary, I remember reading them as they were published) but at some point I got a bit bored and ended up skipping a few and then just reading the last ones to see how it ends. Like most (successful) comics the story just dragged on and on. Sorry if I was raised on stuff like Corto Maltese and Valerian: one 'album', one story arc, on to the next.* And I like the show. Sure it is not perfect but so little is. Comic is still better, but I find this Jesse is more likable, and I like the dry humour some seem to find offputting: you can't make this stuff serious in a live action series. Comics and animation can get away with being absurd and serious, live action can end up confusing when they try - like the current crop of grimdark superhero films - an alien that wears his underpants over his tights, and a cape, fights a man dressing as a bat. With cape. And you expect me to take that seriously?? Nope nope nope.* Sure them being stuck in the stupid itsy bitsy town is a bit boring, but I guess filming in one location is just a heck of a lot cheaper. Even the big productions have to abide by a budget, and it usually shows somewhere.

* pointless digression colour coded for your convenience.

34: I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.



[–] Liquid_Ozymandias 8 years ago

I like both. I understand they will never be able to accomplish on TV what they did in the comics and I accept it. They've done a fine job with the show.

Come at the king, you best not miss.