Here is a delightful/terrifying statistic: 65 comic book adaptations are currently en route to television. Even in this, the golden age of on-screen superheroes, that is an overwhelming figure – a reminder comics have become the storytelling font from which gushes a preponderance of our mass culture.
Among the properties on the way are Harrow County, which tells the story of a young girl reincarnated as a witch, “feminist Western” Wynona Earp and Hellfire, about a coven of Satan-worshipping crime fighters. Sweet!
What has prompted such a deluge? Well, for one thing, the audience-slaying potential of superheroes is well-established at the box-office, where spandex-clad shenanigans and ringing tills have long been synonymous. Moreover, in the new era of ‘prestige’ television, comics are a savvy means of tapping a pre-existing viewership. With so much TV vying for our eyeballs, an inbuilt fan base can be crucial in standing apart from the mob.
Not all comic book shows are created equal, of course. One of the year’s most anticipated is AMC’s adaptation of Preacher, the Southern gothic saga created by County Down writer Garth Ennis. A fever-dream mash up of Clive Barker, William Faulkner and the Dukes Of Hazard, it tells of a criminal-turned-man of god possessed by a divine entity that imbues him with superpowers.
There are further complications, in the form of his sociopathic girlfriend Tulip and side-kick Proinsias Cassidy, a vampire from Balbriggan who fought at the GPO in the Easter Rising (we are not making this up). That’s a lot to be getting on with, even for comic book fans – and, factoring in the adult tone, it’s no surprise the strip has taken forever to reach the screen.
Indeed, a steady parade of networks has lined-up for a tilt at Preacher across the past decade. HBO and Showtime have kicked the tyres only to ultimately pass and Ennis was for many years of the opinion that a Preacher TV show was destined to stay a pipe dream.
“There are nearly 2,000 pages and the structure of it is such that it’s very hard to isolate a small fraction to do as a story for a film,” he said in 2011. “The other reason is the religious aspect, because no one has ever said, ‘Yes, God exists, but he’s a dick.’”
But, behold, a miracle has come to be and Preacher is set to debut worldwide at the end of May. The lead character is being played by British actor Dominic Cooper, already known to comic fans for portraying Tony Stark’s dad in Captain America, with Dubliner Ruth Negga as Tulip and English actor Joseph Gilgun affecting a semi-plausible Oirish accent as Cassidy (now apparently hailing from somewhere between Donegal and north Kerry).
AMC also reached out to Sam Catlin, part of the team that worked with Vince Gilligan on his Willy Loman-goes-to-hell insta-classic Breaking Bad. Initially Catlin hesitated – he had never heard of Preacher, and when he investigated, openly wondered how this sprawling, dark tale could be brought to the screen. It seemed, putting it mildly, a stretch.
“I read it and said, ‘That’s incredible, but it’s not a TV show,’” he told fans at a recent convention. “There’s no way that’s a TV show.”
Still he was persuaded to come aboard by AMC, which has a track record with comic book adaptations in the form of Walking Dead, and quickly recognised the potential of a series that literally brings heaven and hell to earth.
On the cinema screen, Preacher would surely be a mess. The story Ennis weaves is too multifaceted and bleak to survive to endless tinkering of the Hollywood machine (see the Keanu Reeves-produced adaptation of Hellblazer, Constantine).
But television is a more nuanced medium and it is surely no coincidence the best-received smallscreen comic adaptations are also the most downbeat. Consider the aforementioned Walking Dead, a dystopian melodrama against the backdrop of the zombie apocalypse or the Marvel one-two punch of Daredevil (blind lawyer fights evil property developer) and Jessica Jones (sex abuse survivor struggles with Stockholm syndrome).
This, it is worth nothing, chimes with the world view of Ennis, for whom cheesy comic-book movies are an anathema.
“I find most superhero stories completely meaningless,” he said in 2011. “Which is not to say I don’t think there’s potential for the genre – Alan Moore and Warren Ellis have both done interesting work with the notion of what it might be like to be and think beyond human experience, in Miracleman, Watchmen and Supergods. But so long as the industry is geared towards fulfilling audience demand – ie. for the same brightly coloured characters doing the same thing forever – you’re never going to see any real growth. The stories can’t end, so they’ll never mean anything.”
“I love that I’m not dressed in high heels or with big boobs and all that stuff,” Jessica Jones star Krysten Ritter told me last year. “I don’t have to do that. Jessica is not about her gender. I hope this show finds an audience beyond Marvel fans and appeals to the next round of girls coming up. I am so honoured to be part of that. There’s nothing like her in the movies. The show is not big and bright. This is a dark, small, seedy universe. Jessica is not trying to save the world. She is not trying to be involved in anything. It is a psychological thriller first and a super hero show second. I love that about it.”
“Hopefully. people see the show and aren’t like, ‘What the hell is that?’” was how Catlin summarised Preacher’s appeal. “We hope they take the show at face value, which is just about a guy who is searching for answers, and kicking ass along the way. He’s got a girlfriend who’s a sociopath, and a best friend who’s an Irish vampire drug addict. It’s a simple story people can identify with.”

Preacher debuts worldwide from May 22.