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Garth Ennis: How To Dissect Frustrations

"preacher" 2016 Sxsw Music, Film + Interactive Festival

AUSTIN, TX - MARCH 14: Author Garth Ennis attends the screening of "Preacher" during the 2016 SXSW Music, Film + Interactive Festival at Paramount Theatre on March 14, 2016 in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Mike Windle/Getty Images for SXSW)

Bang!
Alright give me the tag and let’s mosey along.
Welcome to Creator Highlights where we do autopsies of stories by comic creators. Garth Ennis is one of those creators from the British Invasion period of the late eighties and early nineties. Most readers know his exploits with the Punisher comics; the general public get to know Ennis’ other creations in Preacher and The Boys. What’s our serial perp’s methods and endgame? Let’s go over the case files.

Garth Ennis: Blasphemer?

Okay, some of his earliest work gravitates to religious people going against their faith… No it doesn’t seem to be about spreading atheism; just speaking out against sensationalizing tragedies. Wait… what’s this? A censor over religious satire? Always something with these Ultra-Christians. New publishing done by… Vertigo?

Bending the Laws of Censorship

Vertigo, that’s where DC decides to give creators more freedoms. But back in older days, it’s for characters with concepts too mature for the general public. Take for example John Constantine (you figure out its pronunciation), a warlock and occult detective. Alan Moore and a few other people in the magic circles know what being a warlock entails. Unlike regular magicians like Zatanna, warlocks are those that bend and break the rules of magic. As a result the magic they use is powerful and unstable. In fact Warlocks are the reason magic gets a bad reputation from religious cults. But that doesn’t mean that the warlock’s lives are necessarily good. As the result of many broken pacts, John’s life is constantly under threat. How does John handle it? Like many nihilists do, booze and smoking.

In fact Garth shows the layers of Constantine throughout his run with the magic con man. His storyline Dangerous Habits is even the basis for Keanu Reeves’ take on Constantine. Most of the time, Constantine is this walking mass of snark and infuriation. Here John contracts lung cancer from all of his chain smoking. Supernatural threats are what John can handle, but trying to overcome his hedonistic lifestyle is another. As a result death is an ever creeping force and John spends time with friends; some of which are also close to death. But not one to take death lying down, John makes a deal with a devil which he cons out of. Is he a changed and better man though? Yeah right, Ennis makes sure John’s not a good person to aspire towards, just an authentically flawed human.

Teaching the Higher-Ups a Lesson

If Constantine is about how to live with the more uncomfortable parts of a person; Preacher is about peeling off the layers people use to hide truths from themselves. Jesse Custer is a priest not by choice, regularly drinking to drown his sorrows. Spending a lifetime trying to run away from his malevolent grandmother he had nearly given up on life. But he bonds with the supernatural being Genesis that gives him power; Jesse decides to use it to force extremists to see the parts of themselves they don’t like. This includes God himself who left his alter after feeling vulnerable with Genesis-Jesse around.

But Jesse himself is no exception, his new powers gave him the ability to make people do what he wants. He starts to over-rely on it though because fighting himself means accepting his horrible life. It takes a reencounter with his grandmother’s clan and the lessons inherited by his parents to overcome his traumas. Jesse even decides to use the lessons from his grandma’s bodyguard for good afterwards. Still his divine retribution proves the extreme religious beliefs wrong, like making a Ku Klux Klan member brown his pants.

The Western influences show an open and free environment in comparison to the enclosed spaces of devotees. Wait…

Garth Ennis meeting Dominic Cooper

Does Garth Ennis have a Belief in Modern Cowboys?

Before going to Vertigo, Ennis actually worked with the UK’s premiere comic character Judge Dredd. Some of Dredd’s stories blend the over-the-top action with satire. His biggest contribution however is Judgement Day. The gruesome premise has a dark wizard raise the dead which causes WWIV. The carnage Joseph Dredd and the Strontium Dog find themselves in force them to team up. But Ennis isn’t too fond of these events, he prefers the not so serious Emerald Isle. Mostly because 2000AD’s staff weren’t really cooperating with the writers.

Still there are a lot of macho gunmen in his other series. Ironically, the first time this happens spins out of his time with Etrigan the Demon. I guess after some dramatic mysticism, it was time for more fun. The Hitman is a character who reflects something from Garth Ennis. Tommy Monaghan unlike other DC characters is a cowboy clashing with the exaggerations of the 90s. In fact he’s much more human in comparison to other DC characters in terms of personality. This includes how he interacts with his friends at his favorite pub. How many major superheroes actually get downtime anyway?

Fun Fact: Ennis knows Superman is actually very down to Earth

Was Garth Ennis Going Through an Identity Crisis?

There’s something that doesn’t make too much sense about Ennis for me. For a guy who’s not fond of superheroes; why does he stick to stuff like The Darkness and Shadowman? Granted Jackie Estacado does feel more human in comparison to Acclaim’s Jack Boniface; even if The Darkness is an angst-filled tragedy trip at times. But it looks more like he’s just bad with money with his Marvel runs. Most of them are not even subversions like he hopes them to be, just shallow jabs.

Also despite his interest in war stories, he finds Captain America offensive. Technically speaking, he was created to get the US ready for WWII but he rarely ever fought on the front lines in the Golden Age. Ennis however likes Superman and Wonder Woman, purely because of their humanity and the fact they don’t hold themselves back. Which might lead to an implication…

Garth Ennis: Regular Punisher Client

Okay forensic results are in. The bullet says it goes with a gun regularly in use by… the Punisher. It had to be Frank Castle. In my day I hear a lot of divided opinions on vigilantes and the use of guns. When it comes to the Punisher, it’s on a whole other level. With Ennis’ stance on superheroes; it’s no wonder Ennis has Frank kill them all.

I wonder if Frank gets complaints from PETA

In the pages of Punisher: Welcome Back Frank, the reader sees Frank Castle and the influence he has on others. Castle is this nearly unstoppable force of nature who kills anything in his path. But there are real consequences to his actions; I don’t even mean vengeful mobs either. While a killer, he has a conscience, having a somewhat good relationship with his neighbors. One of them in particular gives a glimpse of a better man. Because of that humanity, Frank knows about lines not to cross; unlike the less stable vigilantes he guns down. In fact encounters with Frank have some good cops stand up to their corrupt superiors. The subsequent Punisher stories in Marvel Knights are some of the best in the brand; combining Ennis’ humor with Castle’s brutality.

The Darker Shades in the Skull

And now for the principal message about the Punisher. Frank Castle is a fictional character so he’s able to suspend disbelief on what he does. But then there’s the Punisher Max series with a Frank Castle who is less moral. Unlike the mainstream version of Frank Castle, this man is a bonafide sociopath. This isn’t PTSD or an obsession to rid the world of crime after losing his family; this Punisher is a killer who enjoys making the corrupt suffer. The Vietnam War gives Frank purpose and after his family is dead, he has no constraints. The only reason people follow Castle at all is because the people he kills are even worse. From sex traffickers to hitmen even more brutal than him. That and the horrific atmospheres he helps tear apart like a hurricane.

Garth Ennis: Cleaning Up Superheroes

Garth prefers the more down-to-earth aspects of comics while still making things fun. In some of these cases, opposites attract. In The Authority franchise featuring Kev Hawkins, we see the life of a former Special Air Service corporal. It’s a pretty metatextual story about Ennis not being able to get away from Capes. With a career of disappointments; we see Kev pull a Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe. Only to later reverse it because Ennis can’t leave it that way. At the same time this can be fan outrage at how the Authority went downhill; only to get blamed for why things go wrong by Kev’s end. You can blame Mark Millar for starting the trend who in turn cites Ennis as an influence. That might be what drives Ennis towards The Boys.

Because Damage Control Is Too Expensive

The Boys titular group is Ennis’s team of hitmen to take out corrupt superheroes. It represents every part of Ennis’ frustrations in regards to mainstream comics; publisher mandate, contemporaries recreating nostalgia, and sensationalizing pointless conflict and disasters over artistic expression. Even The Boys’ initial run ends because it was published by Wildstorm under DC ownership for mocking their cash cows. Sounds like certain powers trying to censor scandals aimed at them… So Ennis not willing to stop goes to Dynamite Entertainment to continue the slugfest. The series is so memorable Amazon acquires the license for a show; which kind of defeats the message.

The Boys is Ennis’s masterpiece when it comes to superhero subversions. It reflects not only his own experience with superheroes; but how corporate greed hides ugly truths of the comic industry. For Garth Ennis, the Big Two publishers can only think about how their IPs make them money. History and time periods show hubris in decisions that undercut the quality of their comics; creatives working squarely for paychecks, publishers keeping a toxic status quo, and marketers focusing on selling merchandise. The “heroes” can only stop when they’re no longer profitable.

Garth Ennis: The Call to War

Alright then… I think we’re coming to a motive…
…Wait is that a dog tag?

If you have tie-ins keep connections to the main story as loose as possible.

I guess he’s living his childhood with war stories, the ones that go into the horrors of war and conflicts anyway. It’s a pretty major step-up; even pulp heroes like the Shadow get in on the fun. He even goes into the Marvel MAX brand for Nick Fury. One of the most notable is in Enemy Ace: War in Heaven where a German veteran pilot resists the SS ideals. Yet when it comes to war characters, nothing can get more classic than the Phantom Eagle. This WWI pilot from the 60s proves popular enough to cover in several series including Where Monsters Dwell. After which come a lot of pilots against Nazis with each pilot bringing a unique experience. Not all wars are about guns, some are more internal.

Ennis doesn’t shy away from more WWII stories that are not in the air. As one of the first creators to jump onto TKO Presents, he conceives Sara. The titular character is a Soviet sniper who wishes to avenge her family’s death by the SS. But rather than just say the Soviets are the lesser of two evils, Sara herself questions the Soviet dream. Wars aren’t just between countries after all.

Garth Ennis, What’s Your Drive?

What is it about Garth Ennis that drives him to do this stuff? Proving that comics aren’t just silly stuff; no, people already tried and failed. Religion is stupid because it’s full of flaws; so’s atheism. Superheroes and other escapist comics like Jimmy’s Bastards are inherently dumb and unapproachable; debatable. Gunmen are resurgences of cowboys; nah. Wars should depict things like Apocalypse Now; sure but every war’s different. What about comics that don’t share those qualities? Red Rover Charlie is about a pack of feral dogs surviving an apocalypse. Then there’s ERF about prehistoric life, a children’s book no less.

Wait that’s it! Ennis isn’t conveying that comics shouldn’t be fun; it’s that comics shouldn’t just chase trends, nostalgia, or continue a creative signature. There should be no barriers between the narratives. Each part of life is different so conveying that in different aspects is important. Face value isn’t enough though, you have to live with the less savory parts too. Garth Ennis for his reputation of in-your-face humor and gore is surprisingly flexible in writing. Because being defined by your worst traits can lead to being stuck in your own trends. It’s better to find ways to artistically express oneself in many ways.

But what about this uh… potato bullet?
Thanks for coming and as always; remember to look between the panels. Now I need to find out what Ennis will do next.

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