Cassidy was shot up a lot worse by one of the soldiers guarding The Grail and he lived through that. It’s just a matter of his getting some blood and letting his body heal, kinda like Wolverine’s does.
The thing that will really fuck up Cassidy is sunlight, which was demonstrated in the last story arc (Alamo.)
I think and hope that answers your question. If not I’m sure other Dopers, maybe Fenris, will chime in.
The SoK killed somebody a lot more powerful than Cassidy with his sixguns, but that 's a bit of a spoiler, so I won’t say whom. You’re right that it doesn’t make a lot of sense for Cassidy to survive, but then again, a lot of the theological principles in Preacher (which the Saint is definitely related to)simply aren’t consisteny - thing work the way Garth Ennis wanted them to work that issue, in the interest of telling a better story. It’s only distracting if you’re expecting Paradise Lost, which you shouldn’t be.
The Saint’s bullets always deal a mortal wound… Cassidy can survive a mortal wound. Not sure there’s a problem here… except that, yes, you would also expect that other person the Saint kills to have a similar ability.
[spoiler]… unless it’s a deliberate design flaw… after all, the whole idea of the Genesis deal was that God was trying to get something as powerful as himself to love him… maybe it’s the same deal with the Saint? God wants love, the stronger the better… it’s stronger if it comes from someone who has the power to hurt him, and who has every reason to hate him… so, he creates the Saint, who can do just that.
Of course, things don’t work out as planned. This is because God, in Preacher, is a complete twit.[/spoiler]
Quite frankly, I thought that the key with Cassidy is that he was already dead - or undead, as the case may be - and therefore, to him, “fatal” is just been there, done that.
As for the series…it was definitely interesting, but I hardly think it deserves the hype it gets. I think too many people love it for being so outrageous in many ways, but after a while, his repeated attempts to raise the bar of shock value just fell flat.
Thank you! I have never understood why this series is so praised. Never heard anyone describe why it’s so good without talking about the violence or shock value. Personally, I can’t stand Garth Ennis - have hated him ever since he had his way with Hellblazer and really botched it up. He seems to have one and only one trick in him, and that’s “Look at me! This is so outrageous! Look! Isn’t that over the top? Oh my, you wouldn’t see anyone else putting THAT in a comic! Aren’t you shocked? Offended?”
The worst thing about this is that when I complain, everyone seems to just assume it’s “too much” for me. No, I’m just not impress by a constant desire to “shock” me. Even Nigel Tufnel knew that you only put the amp to 11 when you need something more - if you keep it at 11 constantly, you defeat the whole purpose.
I’m sorry, I did something I find obnoxious when other people do it. Nobody asked for general opinions on Preacher, just the answer to a specific question. Please excuse my rudeness.
You know, it bugs me when people do that, too. Very cool that you apologized for it, Lego. But since you brought it up…
I admit to liking Ennis’ over-the-top style, but if it were nothing more than guns and gore, I don’t think it could have held my interest. Part of the appeal is the cheerful blasphemy. Although I’m long since past my “rebellious athiest” phase, I still have a soft spot in my heart for stuff that gives God the middle finger. All of this stuff appeals to the juvenile in me, which is somewhat appropriate, in a comic book.
But what made the series really live for me were the characters. I found all of them tremendously appealing, or at least interesting. I love it when artists create a character that is absolutely reprehensible, and then make the audience care about him. (Stephen R. Donaldson has got to be the master of this.) Ennis cheats to a certain extent, in that he gets us interested in Cassidy first, then much later reveals how much of an utter bastard he is. Somewhere about half-way through the story-arc, the comic turns from this fairly typical teen-angst wish-fulfilment fantasy to an incredibly powerful, character-driven drama. And I am a sucker for a good redemption plot, which is what, it turns out, Preacher was all about in the end.
Oh, yeah… the OP. Put me down in the “He’s already dead” category. After the first one, mortal wounds aren’t really a big deal.
My conclusion was not “already dead” (although that’s sort of true to begin with) but that there’s nothing in the making of the gun that says the victem has to stay dead.
Cassidy is very clearly killed in a number of other occaisions. The difference is that he gets over it. I suspect that a normal human with a “phoenix down” could come back too…
FTR: I likes Ennis. And his Hellblazer run. I’ve got almost all of Hellblazer now (in issue form, thanks to DC/Vertigo’s inexplicable “we won’t publish trade paperbacks of back issues of one of our best and most popular comics” policy).
[spoiler] So you are saying that God and the Devil, who are immortal, should be able to be killed by SoK bullets, but Cassidy shouldn’t? Cassidy is not immortal. The sun can kill him dead. Like a roach. I think this was just a slip up by Ennis to be honest.
Can someone refer me to the issue where SoK shoots cassidy? I cant remember which one it is and I would like to look it over again. [/spoiler]
I thought the series was really interesting. The only part that I thought was a little un neccessary was the arc where he was a sherif in Texas and found his mom was alive and then the whole thing with the meat packing plant. WTF was that? Where did he dream up the guy fucking the giant meat maniquin?
I feel kinda the same way, after a while it felt like Ennis was just saying, "LOOK, I’m doing something horrible and disgusting and shocking and I’m getting away with it!!! And 12 year old kids are reading it!!!
The joke gets old after a while.
I do really like his Hitman series, I just wish DC would put the rest of the run out in TP.
And now he’s doing Punisher which I will freely admit I used to subscribe to, but if there ever was a one trick pony of a character, it is The Punisher.
Gee, a guy’s family gets viciously gunned down so he becomes a vigilante and manages to blow away 1000’s of people and the police never even come close to catching him.
Even in the make-believe world of comics that is a bit much.
I suspect that the author was putting in elements of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth concept, which includes “setting forth from his commonday hut or castle” in this case leaving the company Cassidy and girl. Other aspects of clearly represented, such as “recognition by the father-creator (father atonement)”, in this case not exactly his father, but close. More elements are represented, but that would involve spoilers and I don’t feel like using tags.
Not relevant. The guns kill immortals too. Many times over.
Personally, I favor my “he was killed, but got over it” theory (obviously), although the “already dead” theory is pretty good too (the only real difference being whether a regular human with resurrecting powers could revive after being shot or not). Both easily account for Cassidy’s return.
I’ll tender my apologies too…though I felt justified in responding to those who werre talking about Preacher as the “greatest comic ever.” (and at least I was answering the OP as well)