Preacher Vol. 2: Until the End of the World

In and of itself, the story of a man with one foot in Heaven and one foot in Hell is hardly original. But in the hands of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, the story of Jesse Custer becomes a blasphemous masterpiece seething with originality. Custer is a former Texas minister who was joined with a spiritual being called "Genesis." Now Custer is on a journey to find God, but not in the traditional enlightenment sense. I mean track Him down and give Him a piece of his mind. Along for the journey are his gun-friendly girlfriend and his Irish punk vampire buddy. Until the End of the World starts with a flashback to Jesse's childhood, when he watched his father get shot in the head. That kicks off "All in the Family," the first of two stories in this collection. The second story, "Hunters," features the character Jesus de Sade. Yes, even if you've known for years how hip and cool comics are, you won't believe you're reading something this outrageous. And as Kevin Smith points out in his introduction, this is one book "that actually surpasses its hype." --Jim Pascoe