It’s funny, so I kind of enjoyed the experience of reading it, and the ending is great, but it shoots for things it can’t deliver, and there’s much too much shocking for shocking’s sake. My impression is that Ennis wanted to base a story on a really unlikeable character, but then he started liking him. Pass. You’ll be much happier if you read Queen & Country.
–Cliffy
I agree that there seems to be a disconnect between the beginning and the ending of the series. It’s as if Ennis decided to change direction sometime during the middle stages.
I felt the first few collections are interesting - but as the series progressed, it seemd to move away from “a story with violent and religious tones” to “lots and lots of extreme violence, with a little bit of a story thrown in.” I did like the characters and the core story, but at some point Ennis decided to just throw every violent, perverse, and weird image he could think of into the story, whether or not it actually made sense. In my mind, it’s worth reading but not worth buying.
That’s weird. I never think of Comic Book Guy as a fundamentalist. 
Herr Starr’s special was One Man’s War. IMHO Fabulous. OTTOMH “But, Herr Starr, that night when the girl was killed and you lamented over the loss of innocent life…” “We we were seeing different things that night. I am order fighting chaos. I am at war. I have been at war all my life. I would kill a million little girls to win.”
I agree that Arseface’s special was utterly forgettable.
Unlike a few of you, I don’t see a disconnect between the start of the series and the end.
I loved the hell out of it, but it is definitely not for everyone, and it is definitely very uneven. The second trade paperback is far and away the best one in my opinion, and the seventh (yes, the “meat packing” arc) could have been skipped, no questions asked. That goes for Arseface too. Not just his background story (it was OK), but the entire character. I don’t know why he was in the story at all.
I think you should give it a try. Read the first trade paperback, and then the second. If you’re not loving it by then, don’t bother with the other seven.
To me, the disconnect really comes when Cassidy turns into a bastard. I really felt like it was a great buddy story up until that point, and when it first started happening I thought that the voodoo guy who hated Cassidy had put some sort of curse on him. I never would’ve guessed that he was really a bastard.
I didn’t have a problem with it. I’ve known quite a few people like that myself
What was it the “voodoo guy” said? “I honestly don’t believe he’s a bad man, just childish selfish, and terribly, terribly weak.” Another friend from the old days said “The stories 'e tells ya are true. 'E just never tells what happens in between 'em.”. IMO Cassidy was always a bastard. It just took a long time for Jesse and Tulip to find out. Cassidy is a vampire who spends the day sleeping in the bed of a pick up underneath a tarp. Clearly this is not a guy who thinks things through or is emotionally mature. Forget the year of his birth, Cassidy is emotionally fifteen or so. When he crashes his truck into the Saint while shouting “Yer mother is a hooer!”, is he doing it because it’s right or is he doing it because he thinks it’s cool? Do we ever see him making long term plans of any kind? Or does he just wander along getting by on his charm and biting necks? He’s a boy living for the moment and having fun. Naturally people get hurt as a result and he’s too imature to notice or care.
No, it seems like the revelations about Cassidy were planned from early in the story. I think its book 1 where Cassidy gives a hint of his shady past when he says that biscuits taste like semen
No, he was a … from the beginning, it just took the others a while to discover it.
Peter Morris
Nitpick- He says that about sausage gravy. Jesse is complaining that this here thang taint like no propah Southern breakfast “Call these eggs? There should be syrup and grits, and sausage and gravy and some biscuits to sop it all up.”
Cassidy says “Gravy? You mean that white stuff?”
BTW- If you would be so kind as to use the ‘report post’ button for my last post, perhaps we could get a mod to hide the text I meant to be hidden.
Correction accepted, and I already reported it.
Priceguy:
Well, I liked him, I thought his wounded innocence was like a breath of fresh air amongst all the nasty folks in the series. The way he and the one-eyed girl ended up together, with a goofy, shit-shoveling smile on his face at the end of the series was sweet, much better than the end of any of the other characters.
His back-story wasn’t very compelling, I agree. But he was a fun part of the series.
I think Arseface was necessary to the series, but not in a way I can really explain.
He’s been completely screwed over by life, and it’s made him really cheerful. He’s deeply devoted to his dad, a heartless abusive sadist who has never said a kind word to his son. When good things finally do come his way, he’s screwed over by somebody he trusts (that’s no spoiler. The instant we meet the character it’s clear they are just there to take advantage of Arseface.). Instead of pursuing a legitmate grievance (and one he could probably have won in court and in the eyes of the public) he shrugs and moves on.
Additionally, he shows some of Jesse’s flaws. They spend a few days together in New Orleans. Jesse does some nice things for Arseface. But, it never occurs to him to use the voice to heal him. We know Jesse isn’t going to devote his life to using his power to feed the hungry, house the homeless, heal the sick etc. But during all those hours, Jesse never thinks to heal the kid. Arseface never thinks to ask.
Arseface is a believer who is generally ignored by God. When God does notice Arseface, He craps on the kid’s life. But Arseface remains a cheerful, unthinking follower.
Jesse can’t use the voice to cause a injured person to miraculously heal; he could use it to compel people to do certain physical actions.
I was about to agree with you on that, but then I remembered…
…when he regained his power at his grandma’s and used the Voice to make all the racist thugs on the front lawn burst into flames.
If he can do that, it’s not a stretch that he be able to tell people to spontaneously heal. But I don’t think it ever occured to him that such a thing was possible. It certainly never occured to me, and I’ve read the whole damn series a dozen times or so.
Whoot.
Damn.
You’re absolutely right.
That’s a big gaping inconsistency with regard to The Word, innit?
Nope. Jesse never bothered to test the limits of The Word. He saw it as a means to make people do things and was limited by that view. When Herr Starr is testing The Word, the very first test is healing the legs of a crippled man. When trying to get at Genesis’ knowledge, Jesse never thinks to use The Word on himself to make himself remember.
[spoiler] When Starr has kidnapped Cassidy, and thinks Cass is Jesse, he tests Cass bt telling him to heal the crippled gardener.
Also, Jesse “heals” Hoover.
And he tells reporter Si to die. [/spoiler]
I think it was right before the Salvation story arc – the one that everyone here seems to despise so much ( What’s up with that? C’mon! Jesse found his mother’s still alive! He learned more about his father! The meat woman! C’mon: “Cradle the balls. Work the shaft.”) – that Jesse had one of those moments of introspection where he deliberately decided to stop relying on the word so much.