Jesse Custer
| Jesse Custer | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Preacher #1 (April 1995) |
| Created by |
Garth Ennis Steve Dillon |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Jesse Custer |
| Species | Human (magically mutated) |
| Place of origin | Annville, Texas |
| Partnerships |
Cassidy Tulip O'Hare |
| Notable aliases | The Preacher |
| Abilities |
The Word of God Highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat |
Jesse Custer is a fictional character and the protagonist of the comic book series Preacher, created by writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon (with a large percentage of the original cover art painted by Glenn Fabry), published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.
He was ranked the 11th Greatest Comic Book Character by Empire Magazine. In 2011 IGN ranked Jesse Custer 34th in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.
Jesse is the son of John Custer, a U.S. Marine from Texas, and Christina L'Angelle, a troubled runaway. The couple met when Christina, encouraged by the Vietnam War-protesting group she was traveling with, spat in the eye of the first soldier she saw returning from overseas. Despite the assault, the two recognized a sense of displacement in each other, and a relationship formed. Quickly, John and Christina fell deeply in love and gave birth to a son, Jesse.
During Jesse's early years, his father instilled a love of cowboys and justice in him. Their happiness was short-lived, however, as Christina's family finally caught up with them with the intention of bringing her home. Psychotic thugs Jody and T.C. were prepared to murder John until they realized he was the father of Christina's son and were obliged to take him along.
Jesse was taken back to the family home and introduced to his malicious, intelligent, yet decrepit Grandma, who began to teach him to both love and fear God. John and Christina were married, although John secretly vowed to escape with his family after a suitably safe period of time had passed. Sadly, they were caught during the escape attempt, and Jody killed John in front of young Jesse's eyes. After further torment from Jody, Jesse vowed never to cry again.
After that, Jesse was stuck with his new family, his only friend Billy-Bob, a one-eyed, inbred swamp-dweller. Gradually, however, his family managed to cruelly take these from him, too. Jesse was educated largely by his mother, while the sadistic Jody taught him mechanics, fighting, and shooting. He was frequently punished by being placed in an airtight coffin and then submerged at the bottom of a river. Jesse's sanity was held intact by the company of a spirit taking the form of cowboy legend John Wayne. Whether this spirit is a genuine manifestation of the Western hero, or if it is simply a coping mechanism spawned from his movie-watching history with his father is uncertain. In either case, there's no question that Wayne held him together.
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Wikipedia