This was a nice break from the overall story arc, with a minimum of the metaphysical, but still some crazy and disgusting. Some character building, some background reveal. Now I'm ready to get back to Jessie kicking God's ass. ( )

Jess is so thrown by the betrayal of Tulip and Cass that he takes a complete break from his quest to find God and bring him to justice. He runs into a girl who he grew up with in Angelville, and decides to stay in her small Texas town for a time, and quickly starts to make waves. Within the space of a day he takes over being the town sherrif, and obviously he starts making enemies since he refuses to allow the ne'er-do-wells their dirty deeds. He has to take on the local head honcho (The Meat Man), who really doesn't respond well to authority or the law, but eventually Jesse manages to get the best of the creepy old man. By the time the book has finished, Jesse has found himself again (and his mother, who isn't dead!) while he gives justice back to a sad little town, and he's on his way back to finishing his quest. His first stop will most likely picking Tulip back up, but there is gonna be a reckoning with Cass to come first! ( )

Mr. Quincannon! Could you put your meat down for just a moment and have a word with our sponsors? Please? Odin? Please, just this once... would you put your meat down?

*shiver* What a creepy MFer. Lordy.

I can't quite decide which was worse, the guy from this comic or the iteration in the TV. Both were pretty damn awesome, and there are just a few things you can't quite do on TV but you can in a comic.

Oh, who am I kidding. The one in the comic was freaking amazeballs. I loved his lawyer, too.

Hell, the whole town of Salvation may have been just a stopover, a place to downshift, to let Jesse get his bearings after all the crap went down in the previous volume, but here's what amazes me most: It's a grand-style western. Stranger comes into town and picks up the badge and tries to put down the bad guys. It worked a hella-well, and I guess I feel kinda blessed now to have read this and see exactly where the entire feel of that short-run of Banshee got its gumption from. :)

Oh, yeah, and the reveals were pretty sweet, too, as were the sub-plots. Things are coming out and slapping us in the face pretty regular, now. :) Gotta love it.



( )

In the first part of this volume, Custer teamed up with deputy Cindy and took over as sheriff in the town in which his mom lived. A bit thereafter Custer knew it was time for him to leave. He did so taking peyote to better help himself direct his own mission. His encounter with the Lord did not go well. This volume ended on a very powerful note in which Custer learned the truth about his father's most terrifying experience in Vietnam. I'm still eager to read the rest of this saga. Ever onward... ( )

Ennis is at his best when he's writing about what matters.

Four stars for the Vietnam story, and three for the remaining plot about the going-ons in Salvation. ( )