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aka: Preacher Comic

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Character Sheet for Preacher. For the AMC series, see here.

Characters in the comic book Preacher.

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    Jesse Custer 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p1_9.jpg

  • The Ace: As is appropriate for the star of the story. Jesse's handsome, witty, charming, tough as all hell, charismatic, well-read, good with machines, guns and horses, and uses his fists like Picasso used paint brushes. All BEFORE he gained "The Word".
  • Amazon Chaser: If Tulip, Amy and Cindy are an indication, Jesse is drawn to smart, strong, outspoken women who are good with guns.
  • Badass Bookworm: Read every book in the Annville library to pass his nights.
  • Badass Creed: Jesse Custer learned his from his father, cribbed from John Wayne;
    John Custer: Don't take no shit off fools. Judge a person by what's in 'em, not how they look. An' you do the right thing. Be one of the good guys. 'Cause there's way too many of the bad.
  • Badass Normal: Before being possessed by Genesis.
  • Bar Brawl: It's one of the main ways he and Cassidy bond.
  • Bash Brothers: With Cassidy
    Jesse: I get through with you boy, your Daddy is gonna wish he pulled out early.
  • Badass Preacher: Even though he never wanted to be a preacher, he still wears the collar even after his church is incinerated.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Be it animals, women, or children; DO NOT abuse the defenseless in his presence.
    • Threatens the Allfather with unthinkable wrath for daring to insult his parents.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Was nearly subjected to this by Odin Quincannon's Neo-Nazi secretary Miss Oatlash who knocked him out, tied him to a bed, gagged him, cut his hair, and even dressed him in a Nazi uniform.
  • Blood Knight: Nothing helps Jesse unwind like beating the snot out of somebody who really has it coming.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Jody kills John Custer with a shot to the head right before his young son's eyes. Jesse himself is later slain by a sniper's bullet toward the end of the series. He gets better.
  • Broken Ace: Becomes this after his near-death and Tulip and Cassidy's apparent betrayals. He stays in a major funk for months, but still manages to kick ass while trying to fight the good fight.
  • Bully Hunter
  • Character Development: Gradually stops seeing the world in such a black-and-white viewpoint and realizes that a macho attitude isn't without its flaws. The Manly Tears he sheds at the end of the last issue confirm his growth.
  • Combat Pragmatist: He won't hesitate to go for a nut shot in a fight.
  • Compelling Voice: The Word, compliments of hosting Genesis, and it has some serious ups and downs. It can only work on somebody or something who can hear and understand him, and has some Literal Genie tendencies, and God can shield others from its effects for a time. It also works on anything up to and including angels and the Saint of Killers, and can even command a man to die or a group of men to spontaneously combust.
  • Cowboy Cop: Becomes this during the "Salvation" arc.
  • Crazy Sane: Depending on how one interprets The Duke, Jesse may have created an imaginary friend to help deal with the trauma of his childhood.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Upon discovering super cop Paulie Bridges in full gimp gear, Jesse quips: "This what they call 'deep cover'"?
  • Destination Defenestration: A common occurrence during Jesse and Cassidy's frequent bar brawls.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: After displaying his character growth by tearfully asking Tulip to stay with him, Jesse rides off with her and his dog Skeeter into the sunset.
  • Everyone Has Standards: As a youth, Jesse worked as a freelance criminal but refused to go along with a job when he found out it involved stealing horses. As an adult, he retains it as the one act he will not commit, though he does make an exception in the series' final issue when he catches a mounted policeman physically abusing his steed.
  • Excrement Statement: Jesse pisses on (and out) a miniature burning cross placed by the KKK.
  • Eye Scream: After Jesse's Spiteful Spit, God responds by biting one of Jesse's eyes and pulling it out of its socket.
  • Eyepatch of Power: After he inexplicably loses his eye in the War In The Sun arc.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Jesse's preferred fighting style, but can also be a Combat Pragmatist when the situation calls for it.
  • Heroes Fight Barehanded: Although he's a crack shot with a gun, he prefers to stick to his fists.
  • Heroes Love Dogs: Skeeter! Loyal, affectionate, and with the face of a teddy bear, to boot!
  • Hetero Sexual Life Partners: After getting used to Cassidy being a vampire, he and Jesse really hit it off, bonding over Laurel and Hardy and become great friends. This doesn't stop Cassidy from trying to seduce Tulip even before Jesse is presumed dead. Learning about Cassidy's true nature and Dark and Troubled Past hits Jesse really hard.
  • Iconic Item: The "Fuck Communism" lighter bequeathed him by his father, that he received from their mutual hero, John Wayne himself.
  • Likes Older Women: Tulip is three years older than him.
  • Literal Genie: All orders that Jesse issues using his "Word of God" power are interpreted this way.
  • Manly Tears: In the final issue, after a whole series of building up a macho John Wayne image, Jesse allows himself to cry when he thinks he might lose Tulip forever and it's enough to show her that he's moving past his macho bullshit and takes him back.
  • Morality Chain: For Cassidy, whose nastier side shows once Jesse seemingly dies. Tulip, while depressed, does attempt to move on eventually.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Jesse is a very pretty man, and the comic's art shows him off almost as much as it does his girlfriend Tulip.
  • Nice to the Waiter: Seems to have a soft spot for working class people in general, to the point where it comes off as a benign Author Tract.
  • Only Sane Man: Jesse is this in relation to everyone else in the book, except maybe Tulip. Word of God says this is why he's the hero of the piece.
  • Papa Wolf: Not too pleased when he finds out De Sade is trying to use a child in his porno.
  • Pet the Dog: Hoover pops up out of nowhere to (possibly?) shoot Jesse for using The Word on him, damning him to count grains of sand and nearly ruining his life. Jesse, sincerely sorry for what he did (acknowledging it as Disproportionate Retribution), tries to fix things and relieve Hoover's anguish by again using The Word on him, this time to make him forget his pain. This is a very telling bit of Character Development for Jesse, as up to this point, his usual response to having a gun pointed in his face is to beat the holy hell out of his assailant (or worse).
  • Rage Against the Heavens: His childhood kind of soured him on the idea of a loving God, and he intended to make God answer for the state of the world even before he found out all of the things he's responsible for.
  • The Reason You Suck: Delivers one of these to nearly every major adversary he faces in the story. Even God! Comes with being a preacher, most likely...
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: He gets these whenever he uses the Word.
  • Semi-Divine: As the result of having the "Word of God."
  • Sexy Priest: Almost every female in the series has commented at least at some point on how attractive Jesse Custer is.
  • Significant Anagram: Jesse Custer = Secret Jesus. Also, of course, his initials.
  • Smoking Is Cool: Adds to his "rebel without a cause" demeanor. Jesse has often been depicted lighting up a cigarette immediately after beating someone up.
  • Southern Gentleman: Has some elements of this, which are a source of endless entertainment for Amy and Tulip.
  • Spiteful Spit: After God enters "Wrathful God" mode and demands that Jesse beg for forgiveness, Jesse answers by spitting in the flabbergasted face of God All Mighty.
  • Story-Breaker Power: "The Word" has the potential to be this, allowing Jesse not only to control someone's mind but their bodies as well such as when he caused his grandmother's enforcers to spontaneously combust just by telling them to "burn". However, Garth Ennis managed to avoid this by giving Jesse's power some very believable limitations. 1) They have to be able to hear him 2) They have to be able to understand him; making the word powerless against those who don't speak English, animals who aren't trained to respond to verbal commands, or those who are either deaf or can drown out his voice. Jesse also doesn't use the Word as much as one might think, including one incident in the "Dixie Fried" arc where, by his own admission, he forgets he has it.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Looks a lot like his father, but has his mother's eyes and some of her body language.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: Large brown eyes, which some of the female characters are all too happy to comment on. They automatically draw the readers' attention, a handy thing when they indicate his powers by turning red.

    Tulip O'Hare 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p2.jpg

  • Action Girl: She's Hell with a firearm.
  • Audience Surrogate: Somewhat, since she's the only non-supernatural protagonist and has the most normal back story.
  • Badass Normal: Unlike Jesse or Cassidy, she has no powers. She still manages to fight her way through anything they encounter due to being one hell of a good shot.
  • BFG: If given the choice, Tulip always goes for as high a caliber as she can get away with. Amy gets her a Desert Eagle chambered for .50 at one point early on.
  • Boom, Headshot!: How she takes out Herr Starr.
  • Daddy's Girl: She was very close with her father, and considers him one of the most decent guys she's ever met.
  • Destination Defenestration: She expels an unwelcome Cassidy from her hotel room in this fashion, with a big ass bullet from a big ass gun.
  • The Determinator: Her hand is stabbed and stuck to a dashboard with a knife, but she still gets up to warn Jesse. And she later overcomes drug addiction with sheer willpower.
  • Does Not Like Guns: She hated guns for a time because her dad was shot in a hunting accident. She rediscovers her love for him when she's forced to use them to fight the Grail's assassins.
  • Does Not Like Men: She generally had bad experiences with men until she met Jesse. She got worse after he apparently dumped her, although she was unaware that it was against his will.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: Amy does.
  • The Gunslinger: Her dad taught her how to use a gun, and she got damn good at it. However, she's reluctant to pick up a gun again at the start of the story.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: As a child, the girls didn't want her because she liked boy things, and the boys didn't want her because she was a girl.
  • Living Emotional Crutch: Completely falls apart when she thinks Jesse is dead, and with a lot of pills, Cassidy becomes one.
  • Missing Mom: Due to Death by Childbirth.
  • Ms. Fanservice: The world of Preacher is a serious Grotesque Gallery, and her classic beauty and range of flattering outfits (or lack thereof) stand out by a country mile most of the time.
  • Mugging the Monster: Attempts to carjack vampire Cassidy in the course of escaping her intended hit targets. This is met with bemused, but delighted indulgence.
  • Raised by Dudes: Raised by her dad, and influenced by his buddies.
  • Straw Feminist: At her worst. In fairness, she has been messed with a lot by men.
  • Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Amy's girly girl, though it's downplayed.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Mess with her man and you'll find out.

    Cassidy 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p3_0.jpg

  • And Then John Was a Zombie: In hindsight, his siring as a vampire was this. In the flashback to this moment, Cassidy's older brother Billy merely turns around to view the sudden horrific image of a vampire hag draining young Proinsias' blood. Billy shoots the hag, chasing it away before his brother falls into a river. Cassidy tells Jesse that he never saw the hag again or learned anything about her.
  • The Atoner: After being brought back to life as a human in the final issue, Cassidy decides to follow Jesse's example and "act like a man".
  • Bait the Dog: He spends much of the story as a Lovable Rogue, with hints about his darker potential that the reader is persuaded to ignore... until his abusive and exploitative behavior towards Tulip when they both believe Jesse dead reveals how bad a person he actually is, and meanwhile Jesse learns from Sally how monstrously he's behaved towards his partners in the past.
  • Bar Brawl: Jesse at one point starts one under extremely minor provocation just to "cheer Cassidy up" at one point. It's such a primal bonding element for he and Jesse that even at the end of their final sit-down conversation, they indulge in a last one with the rude, drunken bruisers in Hondo's.
  • Broken Pedestal : For Jesse, the poor bastard was really enjoying their bromance.
    Jesse: WHY THE FUCK DID YOU LET ME DOWN SO BAD???
  • Car Fu: Attempted to drive a pickup into the Saint Of Killers, to no effect.
  • Cool Shades: Never seen without his sunglasses. They cover up his wrinkled, bloodshot eyes.
  • Cursed with Awesome: His view of being a vampire.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: He's experienced a lot of trouble over his long life, most of it self-inflicted.
  • Deathless and Debauched: A cheerfully depraved Irish vampire, he has no overriding goal apart from getting drunk, high, or laid; for good measure, since he's effectively invincible in the face of everything other than direct sunlight, it's no trouble to indulge as much as he likes. Unfortunately, as time goes on, it becomes clear that Cassidy is also extremely selfish and fully prepared to do some very unpleasant things in pursuit of his hedonistic desires, including sex trafficking or even Domestic Abuse.
  • Deconstructed Character Archetype: Cassidy is one for Lovable Rogue. Cassidy is fun to be around, light hearted, loves to party, and can show people a really great time. He has this naughty charm and amiable demeanor that ingratiates him to the many people he meets. It takes a dark turn when it's shown that Cassidy is an It's All About Me Manchild who doesn't think about consequences because he's a super strong and immortal vampire that doesn't have to worry about anything except being out in the sun. The lack of tangible consequences and the fact the he's The Drifter means he never puts any serious attachment into his relationships, doesn't care about the bad things that might happen from his actions (after all, it's not like he can die), and his self centered nature means that he thinks things are cool afterwards because he never meant any intentional harm. There's a reason why the word rogue is used to describe people like Cassidy and most people seem to forget that word when dealing with this type of character.
  • Did Not Think This Through: Combined with Living Forever Is Awesome and Good Thing You Can Heal, Cassidy rarely considers the long term consequences of his hedonistic lifestyle since he barely ages and can heal from injuries as severe as decapitation. What's to stop a near invincible party animal from taking all the heroin he wants? Nevermind that his body will still become savagely addicted and the girlfriends he pushed the junk on can't heal like he can. Even worse is his delusion that he can wait out Jesse and Tulip's relationship to dry up, swoop in to nab Tulip for himself, face no hard feelings from Jesse, and keep it so everyone can go on being friends.
  • Does Not Know His Own Strength: He's well-aware most of the time, but in the past, smacked a woman across the face, breaking her jaw. The shock on Cassidy's face implies he didn't mean to go that far. There was also former girlfriend Dee, a New Orleans bartender. He once hit her hard enough to burst her eyeball.
  • Drugs Are Bad: A good case could be made for Cassidy to be the page image. He mentions early on a problem with heroin in his past, but it's slowly revealed just how bad his addiction was, in which during he hit his girlfriend and performed oral sex on a drug dealer for a fix.
  • Everyone Has Standards:
    • Disgusted by the Saint of Killer's complete disregard for human life when he saw the massacre the Saint caused at a bar with innocent people literally piled up in a corner all dead. He immediately attempts to beat the Saint to death though obviously failed due to the Saint being Nigh-Invulnerable.
    • Horrified by the Reaver-Cleaver's actions, even vowing to kick his ass when he finds one of the mutilated (and still living) victims. And this is before he realizes the Reaver-Cleaver has hurt Tulip.
    • He was disgusted to find out that Eccarius was feeding on his own followers, and killed him by putting him out in the sun.
    • With Jesse's assumed death, Tulip is left so vulnerable and run down with grief yet Cassidy really tries not to take advantage of her despite his feelings, even rejecting her stupored advances.
  • Exposition of Immortality: He's a vampire and was made one during the Easter Rising in Dublin 1916 at the age of 16. He tells Jesse all about how he was turned and how he came to America and all the friends he's left behind and lost to old age through the years during a long conversation on top of the Empire State Building. Turns out he missed a few details, though.
  • Fish out of Water: Cassidy, the just out of his teens Irish immigrant (who has just been turned into a vampire), finds himself in the heart of New York City. Naturally, he is immediately mugged.
  • Good Thing You Can Heal: He takes decapitation in stride. This is used against him when Herr Starr, furious at the depth of his error in kidnapping Cassidy instead of Jesse, calls in his old friend Frankie to continuously shoot him to near-death, then wait for him to heal, then repeat.
  • Hidden Depths: Some better than others, but a more benign example would be that a note he leaves for Tulip apologizing for his actions reveals he has really nice handwriting.
  • Inhuman Eye Concealers: Always wears sunglasses; it's revealed close to the end of the series that his eyes are extremely bloodshot and have red irises.
  • Karma Houdini: After all of the skeletons in his closet are revealed at how much a monster he is, he pulls it off by making a deal with God to capture Genesis. The last pages show him alive, with his curse removed. To be fair, he also demanded that Jesse would survive no matter what happened as one of the conditions. He also lets himself burn to "death" in the sunlight. Before that, Jesse beats the shit out of him. It doesn't really make up for everything he did in the past, but at least he doesn't get away without some pain. He's also going to have fun dodging the many enemies he made around the country when he was too strong to care, now that he's relinquished that super-strength.
  • Lovable Rogue: An Irish vampire who loves to party? Boy, that Cassidy sure is a riot!. Painfully subverted by just about everything revealed in his Dark and Troubled Past and his selfish desires overtaking him when Jesse is briefly out of the picture.
  • Manchild: Cassidy is impulsive, arrogant, self-centered, and hedonistic.
  • Never My Fault: When called out on his actions, he likes to gripe about living with the guilt and experiences of the things he's done, ignoring that most of it is his own fault. As Jesse says, "Way you make it sound, you had alla that done to you. 'Steada you bein' the one that did it."
  • Noodle Incident: A good chunk of his life are these. During his last drinking session with Jesse, Cassidy alludes to an instance where he killed a man, and didn't realize he'd done so until much later.
  • No-Sell: He's the only person to survive being shot by the Saint of Killers, because You Can't Kill What's Already Dead.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Shortly after being turned into a vampire, Cassidy is overcome by a ravenous thirst for blood. He attempted to grab a sheep from behind to feed upon, but was caught in the act by a shotgun toting farmer who assumed Cassidy was accosting the animal for more carnal purposes, and opened fire.
  • Off with His Head!: The leader of Les Enfents du Sang decapitates Cassidy with a samurai sword in the midst of a melee. Cassidy gets better.
  • Our Vampires Are Different: Loves garlic, is unaffected by holy water and crosses and survives decapitation. He can also enter a church, can't turn into anything, and doesn't need invitations to enter any place. He doesn't even have any fangs, just regular teeth. The sun's a killer, though.
  • Redemption Equals Death: He decides that the evil he's done can't be forgiven, and that he has to burn it out. After committing suicide by standing in the sun, he's brought back to life as a human, and intends to be a better person.
  • Selective Obliviousness: Does this repeatedly, causing much grievous harm to other people. When Jesse calls him out repeatedly, he gets self-righteous.
  • Suicide by Sunlight: Subverted. He appears to do this, but it turns out he already made a deal with God that will ensure his survival.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Especially after the events of War In The Sun.
  • Unreliable Narrator: Cassidy is ultimately this, as it turns out that in both instances where he related his life's story to Jesse, he left out key elements like his rampant heroin abuse, using of people whoring himself for drugs and his abuse of women.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: As strong as about thirty men, but never learned to properly put simple punches together. Which is why Jesse is able to hand him his ass in their confrontation.
  • Vampire Bites Suck: He doesn't have fangs. He gets blood by ripping into a victim's neck with his teeth and brute force.
  • Walking Spoiler: Highlighting the spoiler tags reveal a great deal about the tone for the second half of the series.
  • Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: "So I got kind of a question. 'Proinsias'?"
  • Would Hit a Girl: He has a bad history of domestic abuse, and because of his strength, usually ends up crippling the girl.
  • You Can't Go Home Again: Poor Cassidy has just been turned into a vampire, right in front of his beloved brother. After realizing what he has become, Cassidy decides that he can't possibly return home to his family, undead but well, as his condition would invite too many uncomfortable questions, as well as the fact that he will likely outlive all of his loved ones.
  • You Can't Kill What's Already Dead: As the Saint of Killers found out.

    The Duke 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2019_11_30_at_124529_pm.png

  • Ambiguous Situation: We never find out just what/who the Duke truly is. Is he really the spirit of John Wayne offering Jesse comfort and counsel in hard times? Is he just a coping mechanism that Jesse developed to keep his sanity as a result of the horrific trauma he endured throughout his life? Or is he in fact the spirit of Jesse’s father John Custer looking out for his son from the afterlife? Him being the ghost of John Wayne doesn’t seem as likely given that Jesse started seeing him a few years before Wayne passed away.
  • Backup from Otherworld: It’s possible that he’s actually the spirit of Jesse’s dead father, John Custer, watching over his son and comforting him in bad times.
  • Brutal Honesty: His main function is to drag Jesse out of his funks and bouts of self-pitying indecision and get him back on track. And he's not required to be nice about it...
    "WELL EXCUSE ME ALL TA HELL! SEEMED TO ME YER BACK WAS UP AGAINST THE WALL! DIDN'T SEEM TIME FOR ANY DAMN FOOL QUESTIONS!"
  • The Faceless: His face is always kept in shadow.
  • A Form You Are Comfortable With: Heavily implied to be Genesis speaking to Jesse or at least how Jesse's mind translates/interprets when Genesis is communicating with him as The Duke informs Jesse about things that there is no way Jesse could have known before hand. Either Jesse's mind brought him back as a way of dealing with having a celestial entity in his head (Jesse saw him when he was young but he'd since been gone for years) or Genesis went through Jesse's mind and took this as its guise to put him at ease when it communicates with him.
  • Imaginary Friend: He likely isn't real, but Jesse still uses him for support.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: We never see his face, and he's only referred to by name once.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: We never find out for sure if he's a hallucination or the actual ghost of John Wayne. However, Jesse admits that he started seeing him four years before John Wayne passes away, so it seems more likely that Jesse developed him as a coping mechanism. Then again, he might be the spirit of Jesse’s dad looking out for his son from the afterlife. Who really knows?
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Guy's a dead ringer for John Wayne.
  • Precision F-Strike: The other "f-word". Let's just say he didn't take kindly to Jesse giving up and settling into becoming the preacher man that his grandmother demanded.

    Herr Starr 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p4_8.jpg

  • An Arm and a Leg: Herr Starr survives a plane crash caused by a nuclear explosion(!), only to have his leg severed and eaten by the cannibalistic Chunt Brothers. This incident was a major step on his road to Sanity Slippage and subsequent Villainous Breakdown.
  • Ass Shove: After his violation at the hands of Sexual Investigator Bob Glover, Herr Starr finds that he can no longer achieve sexual satisfaction without having prostitutes penetrate his nether regions with various objects.
  • Bald of Evil: A truly diabolical bastard, with nary a strand of hair to be found on his dome. The penis scar undermines this somewhat, however.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Orders his underling Hoover to procure a prostitute for him. Hoover however accidentally hires Sexual Investigator Bob Glover who sodomizes Starr in an alley.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Starr kills a number of people in this way, especially after obtaining his BFG. He shoots a hapless Samson trooper at Masada, sparing him death by torture at the hands of the Allfather D'Aronique for accidentally dropping the grotesquely obese Grail leader. He personally kills his assistant Hoover with a shot through the face, and has a sniper kill Jesse with a bullet through the brain. Starr himself is immediately killed by Tulip with an upward blast through the chin.
  • Butt-Monkey: Undergoes a Humiliation Conga like no other. At the time of his death, this is the sum total of his injuries: One of his eyes is blind and scarified, one of his ears was shot off, a scar was carved over his head making it look like a gigantic penis, cannibals ate his leg and a Rottweiler bit off his genitals. Oh, and he's bald and has a harsh voice, too. Since childhood. He literally becomes this when he is anally raped by Bill Glover.
  • Combat Pragmatist: A subversion. He claims he doesn't need to learn unarmed combat because he never intends to be unarmed. However, he continuously ends up totally weaponless, and in big trouble.
  • Compensating for Something:
    • After losing his genitalia Herr Starr feels the need to get a bigger gun. And then stand in front of a mirror with it, muttering, "Doomcock. Doomcock."
    • In a way, that turns out to be his downfall: if he was still using his old nine-millimeter pistol, he wouldn't have run out of ammunition in his final gunfight with Tulip.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Starr is probably the foremost snarker in the series, and that's saying A LOT. A prime example is his response to his assistant's expressed misgivings at taking on a "hands on" approach to a mission: "Hoover, thanks to you I won't be able to sit down without gasping for at least a week. Don't talk to me about 'hands on'!" (alluding to his recent rape).
  • Determinator: Hops his way out of the desert on one leg, falling every few steps.
  • The Dreaded: Brendel Hauptmann, the agent for the Grail who originally recruited Starr into the organization, takes him to a fancy dinner filled with world leaders and captains of industry, all of whom are under the thumb of the Grail. Hauptmann tells Starr to mingle, with the purpose of familiarizing them with the Grail's newly appointed Sacred Executioner (the organization's chief assassin and commander of its military force, the Samson Unit). When Starr states, "So what do I do, walk up to each of them in turn and say - I'm Sacred Executioner. I'm the one who shoots you if you ever piss us off?" Hauptmann merely sticks a rose with thorns in Starr's lapel, telling him: "They'll know".
  • Eunuchs Are Evil: He was pretty evil to start with, but after losing his genitalia to a Rottweiler Starr becomes even more ruthless and decidedly more reckless, even unhinged, perhaps verging on nihilistic.
  • Europeans Are Kinky: Made no secret or excuses for his predilection for engaging in whores in the grimiest of circumstances and locales, but his perversion is taken up to eleven after his rape by Bob Glover.
  • Every Scar Has a Story: "A Star For Star"...
  • Eyepiece Prank: He looks through a pair of binoculars and gets black rings around his eyes in the 63rd issue.
  • The Heavy: Pretty much Jesse's archenemy and the biggest obstacle to Jesse's search to make God answer for his crimes.
  • Holy Hitman: As Sacred Executioner, this was what he was supposed to be. He never had much interest in the "Holy" part, though.
  • If I Wanted X, I Would Y: Forced to 'socialize' at a Grail meeting, Starr snarks at the Prime Minister of Australia in this fashion.
    Starr: If I wanted to visit a bunch of sheepshaggers, I'd go to Wales. It's closer.
  • Klingon Promotion: Becomes the Allfather of the Grail by rolling the previous one out of a helicopter. In a conversation between him and Marseilles, it's revealed that this has happened a number of times in the Grail's history, but always in secret. The destruction of Masada and the helicopter pilot meeting with an unfortunate "accident" ensures that the full details of Starr's ascension remain a secret.
  • Laughably Evil: His Butt-Monkey status and Humiliation Conga are the defining facets of his character arc. And let's not forget his unfortunately modified cranium. But the fact remains that Herr Starr is still an extremely formidable adversary, as brilliant as he is ruthlessly pragmatic, and has resources at his beck and call that make him the most dangerous man in the world not named The Saint of Killers.
  • Masturbation Means Sexual Frustration: He complains that his sexual urges won't go away no matter how much he masturbates.
  • Motive Decay: Starts off wanting to use Custer and The Word to replace the inbred, demented "Messiah" the Grail has been protecting, viewing him (quite reasonably) as an infinitely better prophet for the masses. But after his plans fail and he endures a series of humiliations (see the extensive list above), by the end he just wants to kill Custer for revenge, even wiping out the Council of the Grail so they won't get in his way.
  • Murder Is the Best Solution: Starr's ruthless efficiency is what originally induces the Grail to recruit him: his eventual role as Sacred Executioner is entirely this trope in practice.
  • Only Sane Man: Herr Starr is definitely the Grail man most in-touch with the way the world thinks outside of their circle. He's the only one who expresses anything distasteful for their methodology of "preserving" the Messiah's lineage, and one of his main reasons for attempting to take over is that he alone recognizes that no one will accept a heavily mentally-retarded Manchild as Christ Reborn, not even if his arrival appeared to stop every launched nuke on Earth from detonating.
    Starr: Son of man or son of God, you can't fuck your sister for two thousand years and expect much good to come of it.
  • Please Keep Your Hat On: After Jesse scars the top of his head, Starr adopts a really neat white Panama.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: He at one point refers to Irish vampire Cassidy as "an unkillable mick".
  • The Power of Hate: In his first meeting with the Allfather, the latter reveals that he had Starr recruited because of the way he systematically murdered the childhood bullies who blinded him in one eye. D'aronique claims that it showed "Patience. Resolve. Skill. Steel." Later, after puking his guts out in private from the shock of being confronted with his childhood trauma, Starr has one addition to make.
    Starr: Patience. Resolve. Skill. And hate, Allfather. And hate.
  • Prematurely Bald: It is established in the Preacher Special: One Man's War one-shot that Starr has been bald since he was five years old.
  • Pyrrhic Victory: Herr Starr's career is defined by this. All of his campaigns and endeavors, even the ones that end successfully for him, ALWAYS result in him suffering a horrendous loss of some kind. Starr's kidnapping of Cassidy and subsequent overthrow of Allfather D'Aronique came at the cost of a huge number of resources and personnel, as well as the Grail's sacred Masada fortress, on top of having his ear shot off by Tulip and his head made to look like a dong by Jesse. He survives a plane crash, only to have his leg eaten by cannibals, though he escapes them as well in the end. Starr's thwarting of Grail leader Eisenstein's attempt to kill him resulted in the loss of Starr's genitals at the hands (jaws) of a vicious Rottweiler. And finally, Starr's assassination attempt on Jesse ultimately succeeds, but Tulip blows his head off immediately after.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Got his scar, voice, and baldness from a childhood incident where a gang of schoolboys cut his eye out with a piece of glass. They all ended up dead before his tenth birthday. This incident got him the job as the Sacred Executioner of the Grail.
  • Sanity Slippage: If you went through his Trauma Conga Line don't you think you would end up just a little psychotic?
  • Smokescreen Crime: Herr Starr is tasked with killing two journalists who are in a mental hospital, but to do it in such a way that the authorities don't investigate too deeply. Starr blows up the hospital, killing everyone inside and leaving the investigators with several hundred potential targets to sort through. This also avoids posthumously vindicating the journalists, who were sent to the asylum before they could reveal too much about the Grail.
  • The Starscream: To D'Aronique, who thinks being savvy about this will make using him anyway less risky.
  • Start of Darkness: If what D'aronique says is true, Starr used to be a quiet unassuming boy until a group of bullies used a piece of broken glass to carve a five-pointed scar over his right eye, essentially blinding him and infecting him with a fever that left him completely bald. After he recovered, each of the bullies apparently died in a series of bizarre "accidents".
  • The Stoic: Exaggerated to the point of parody, after every terrible link of his Trauma Conga Line, everything he says is: Ah, shit. Even after being shot in the head.
  • Villain Has a Point: Though his actions ultimately lead to the Grail's downfall and his own death, Starr wasn't wrong in observing how horribly and fatally flawed from the onset the Grail's 2,000-year-long plan of preserving Jesus's bloodline (by forcing his descendants to only breed with each other) was. In that regard, his plan of replacing the severely inbred and heavily mentally-retarded descendant of Jesus with a more "presentable" person (Especially one who can speak with the literal word of God) to take up the role of Christ Reborn was a lot more sensible.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: He started out as one. He hated the chaos of the world, and he would kill anyone to bring about his vision of order. He also arranged for others to continue his plan in the event of his untimely death, proving his sincerity.
  • You Monster!: Admits to being one by the end, when a tearful Featherstone finally calls him out on all his abuses of power, twisting him from a ruthless but ultimately well-intentioned man into a vengeful, unstable bastard.

    Arseface 
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  • Abusive Parents: His dad was a hateful, bigoted, misogynistic asshole who responded to his son smoking weed by putting a cigarette out on his arm. His mother, while not openly cruel to him, was contemptuous enough of him to not take him with her when she left (when he was still underaged), referring to him in her "Dear John" Letter as her "idiot son".
  • Appropriated Appellation: He took his name from a comment from Cassidy. Even though he didn't know what an "arse" was.
  • Cigarette Burns: His dad put a cigarette out on his arm after he caught him with marijuana on his shirt.
  • Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": We never do learn what he was called before he took on the name "Arseface". All we can say for sure is that his last name is probably Root. The AMC series reveals his real name to be Eugene.
  • Happily Failed Suicide: Arseface tried to kill himself because he was sad and lonely, and his idol Kurt Cobain and his only friend had both just killed themselves and the friend had told him to do the same. After the failed suicide attempt, he does all he can to turn his life around, but can never get away from his face being horribly mutilated by the shotgun blast that so fortunately missed his brain.
  • Heel Realization: After surviving his suicide attempt, he's on the receiving end of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from his best friend's traumatized sister.
  • Hope Spot: Experiences this when his father directly addresses him from the ambulance he's in, which are the first words he's said to him since his suicide attempt (with the last time he spoke to him likely being when he said "Shoulda put it in your mouth, you dumb little fuck" back in the hospital). He joyfully exclaims that this is a new beginning for them and that everything is going to be all right now... right before his father blows his brains out.
  • Nausea Fuel: Was this In-Universe to most people he met, causing them to involuntarily vomit upon seeing him.
  • The Scapegoat: Wound up as this for the jocks and other youths at school whom his father, Hugo Root, arrested and brutalized for their pot use; as they couldn't take revenge on the Sheriff without risking jail or worse, they settled for the next best thing: Root's son, whom they proceeded to bully and brutalize.
  • Stupid Good: Goes a little overboard in trying to be a good person, and gets taken advantage of.
  • Token Good Teammate: The only member of the cast to be a genuinely good person, full stop.
  • The Unintelligible: Thanks to his facial injury, he's hard to understand.

    John Custer 
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  • Badass Normal: A tough as nails Marine who single-handedly carried his friend on his back through hostile territory, he also proves capable of handing legendary henchman Jody his ass.
  • Berserk Button:
    • Mocking his hero John Wayne is a good way to get your teeth knocked down your throat.
    • Threatening his family is probably the dumbest thing you could do, as Jody found out.
  • Boom, Headshot!: How Jody gets his fatal revenge on John.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: John delivers a truly memorable one when he, "Space" and Gonny are ordered into a Vietcong trap that costs Gonny his life.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Even John's good friend and fellow Marine Billy Baker isn't safe from John's acerbic wit. When "Space" confides in him his desire to be an astronaut, John replies that the chances of him achieving that are as remote as the stars they're currently viewing. "Sorry 'bout that."
  • The Determinator: Carries his wounded buddy Billy "Space" Baker across several miles through enemy territory to safety. That's how you earn the Congressional Medal of Honor.
  • Generation Xerox: He looks, talks and acts almost exactly like Jesse, to the point where Space, upon meeting Jesse many years after losing touch with John, for a moment mistakes the former for the latter.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: Knows the American government has basically dumped him and thousands of other soldiers into an unwinnable, horrific war, but steadfastly believes that achieving his little piece of the American Dream when it's all over will make it all worth it.
  • The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Starstruck and rendered nearly speechless when he meets his hero John Wayne.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: Johnny and Space find themselves covered in this when they encounter a Vietcong suicide bomber and Gonny is blown up.
  • Manly Tears: Sheds a single, long tear when his future wife Christina spits in his face and calls him a "baby killer". She goes after him to apologize and sees that he's been crying.
  • Meet Cute: "Cute" might be stretching it, as Christina L'Angelle (John's future wife), egged on by her hippie acquaintances, spits in the returning soldier's face while screaming "baby killer" at him. When she later apologizes and sees a single long tear of sadness and bewilderment trickle down John's face, they immediately embrace and fall in love, marrying shortly thereafter.
  • My Country, Right or Wrong: A mild example, but strongly indicative of John Custer's character. Custer tells his friend Space that he realizes that their fighting a shitty war for shitty reasons, but he will nevertheless fight tooth and nail to survive so that he can not only eke out for himself a piece of the American Dream, but also help preserve the rights of other Americans like him to pursue theirs.
  • Papa Wolf: Handily beats the fearsome Jody's ass when he threatens John's family.
  • Posthumous Character: Dead for many years by the time the story begins, John Custer is nonetheless a huge factor in his son Jesse's actions, motivations and morality.
  • Revenge Is Sweet: He and Space killed the crooked Gunnery Sergeant who tried to have them-and succeeded with their friend Gonny-killed by sending them into a booby-trapped village. Neither one lost much sleep over it.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Gets his sadistic sergeant killed in revenge for getting Custer's friend Gonny blown up.
  • Semper Fi: A proud US Marine and Vietnam Veteran; winner of the Congressional Medal of Honor.
  • Shotgun Wedding: Practically forced at gunpoint to marry the love of his life and mother of his son Jesse by the megalomaniacal Marie L'Angelle, to satisfy her own religious mores.
  • Undying Loyalty:
    • Loves his country deeply, despite the shitstorm of horror he endures in Vietnam.
    • Refuses to abandon his good friend Space, even though he's wounded and carrying him to safety will likely get them both killed.

    Christina L'Angelle Custer "Jodie" 
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  • Abusive Parents: Marie L'Angelle thought it more than prudent to discipline her only daughter by having her locked in a weighted coffin equipped with a hose for air, then dropping said coffin into the swamp. And when years later, Christina vehemently objects to her mother subjecting her son Jesse to the same treatment, the elder L'Angelle orders Christina killed.
  • An Arm and a Leg: Lost her left arm to an alligator in the swamp after narrowly escaping death at the hands of Jody.
  • Badass Bookworm: Made a point of teaching her son Jesse the value or reading, and proved she can take care of herself physically when her mother's henchman Jody attempted to kill her.
  • Because You Were Nice to Me: After her near murder at the hands of Jody, Christina is rendered a mute, totally unresponsive amnesiac, and is laced in the care of the state. After the state facility declares her "competent", she is released into a bus station. After an extended period of time where Christina (Jodie) just stands in the station totally immobile, Lorie Bobbs, the cyclopean sister of her son Jesse's childhood friend Billy Bob, reached out to "Jodie", took her home and cared for her, helping "Jodie" reclaim a great deal of her humanity. From that point on, "Jodie" became Lorie's protector, best friend, confidant, and surrogate mother.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Not due to anything she's done personally, but her family has saddled her with a LOT of evil baggage.
  • Deadpan Snarker:Smacked of this quality before her brush with death, but her snarkiness went up to eleven after she became "Jodie".
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Has a thin scar above her right eye, stretching to her brow, from where Jody shot her. It's later obscured by her letting her hair down.
  • Meet Cute: Spits in the face of returning Marine and future husband John Custer, calling him a "baby killer", but later tracks him down to apologize, and the two immediately fall deeply in love.
  • My Beloved Smother: A cardinal example. The L'Angelle clan has for generations designated females to be good only for breeding stock, and as such, the latest matriarch Marie L'Angelle took extreme steps to ensure her only daughter Christina legally marry and provide male progeny that would be brought up under the exacting parameters of piety of Angelville, regardless of who has to die.
  • Never Found the Body: So "Jodie" naturally turns out to be Jesse's mom.
  • Say My Name: Marie L'Angelle orders her chief henchman Jody to take her only daughter out to the swamp to execute her. Christina fights back, narrowly avoiding certain death but nevertheless taking a bullet to the skull, resulting in Christina gaining amnesia. When she is rescued from the swamp by hunters, she suddenly snaps back to consciousness, shouting "JODY!" (the name of her would-be killer). And as that would be the only word she would say for years afterward, her saviors assumed that was her name and she was christened with it in the hospital recovery ward.
  • Shotgun Wedding: Her own mother forced her to legally marry the beloved father of her son Jesse, with the threat of death by Jody (and his sidekick T.C.) hovering over them.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: As "Jodie", Christina feels this way concerning the general population of Salvation, Texas, and specifically the patrons of her bar and at least one member of her staff.
  • Wham Line: Jesse sits down on a stool, alone with Jodie. He stares at her for a short while, before apparently coming to a sudden realization and simply asks "Mom?".

    Allfather D'Aronique 
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"Bless you... Bless you... All of you are blessed..."

  • Adipose Rex: The leader of the Grail, and so fat that he needs his followers to help carry him. He's so huge that Starr comments the Grail spends millions every year on replacement aircraft to transport him.
  • Belief Makes You Stupid: Is unyielding in his belief that the Grail's plot to preserve the bloodline of Christ by having his descendants inbreed for over 2000 years will inevitably produce a second Messiah.
  • Big Eater: He's almost never seen without a veritable mountain of pastries surrounding him.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: He's the brilliant, ruthless head of an Ancient Conspiracy that even God's leftover angels fear, and seems set up as the obvious Big Bad of the story. He dies in the arc where he's introduced, no more than a third of the way through the series.
  • The Dreaded: Is this to his own people as well as major world leaders, requiring them to call him daily and thank him for allowing them to remain in power. Starr himself, despite his revulsion towards D'Aronique, has good reason to be scared shitless of him.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Marie L'Angelle (Jesse's Gran'ma), was Allfather D'Aronique's aunt. He was none too pleased to learn Jesse killed her.
  • Evil Uncle: Jesse's grandmother Marie L'Angelle was Allfather D'Aronique's aunt. It turns out that one of the reasons the Grail leadership supported Starr's pursuit of Jesse was because D'Aronique wanted to punish Jesse for killing his "Aunt Marie".
  • Fat Bastard: Very fat, and very evil.
  • Fate Worse than Death: Herr Starr implies this about Allfather D'Aronique quite a few times. Starr shoots a Masada soldier who accidentally drops D'Aronique, whispering to his adjutant Marseille out of earshot of the Allfather that the alternative would be the soldier being tortured until he dies. Later, Starr tells Marseille that if it seems D'Aronique is aware of their conspiracy against him, he strongly suggests they commit suicide, which would be far preferable to the Allfather taking them alive.
  • Honor Before Reason: When D'Aronique learns Jesse killed his beloved "Aunt Marie", all notions of using Jesse's powers to further The Grail's agenda go right out the window, as he intends to kill him outright in retribution.
  • Jabba Table Manners: He's usually seen eating. And he's bulimic to boot.
  • Large Ham: And a fat pig, too.
  • Villainous Glutton:
    Marseilles: God he (D'Aronique) disgusts me, what do you suppose he's thinking about?
    Starr: His favorite subjects-mass murder and big pies.
  • Zerg Rush: His answer to the Saint of Killers problem is to send wave after wave of Masada soldiers to overwhelm the gunslinger. It fails spectacularly. Though to be honest, Starr does the same thing himself later in the story, albeit on an even larger scale, and it ends up being even a bigger failure.

    Marie L'Angelle 
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  • Asshole Victim: Is burnt to a crisp and left for dead, however it’s clear that alongside Jody, no one will miss her.
  • Bait the Dog: While she did allow Jesse access to comforts like a dog, TV, and birthday cakes, it is repeatedly made clear that this was just part of her plan to mold and control Jesse.
  • Arc Villain: Of the "All in the Family" arc. She has her henchmen hunt down Jesse to try and force him to live under her tyrannical rule on her estate once again.
  • Bald of Evil: A decrepit old crone over a hundred years old, the vast majority of her hair fell out long ago. Oh, and she's the Devil's own piss.
  • The Dreaded: Was this to Jesse his entire life. Just hearing her name mentioned in the first volume was enough to make him freeze in terror.
  • Evil Matriarch: The head of the L'Angelle line, and determined to make Jesse follow the path she's chosen for him.
  • Evil Old Folks: She's around a century old.
  • Faux Affably Evil: Talks sweetly and nicely to young Jesse when she's trying to indoctrinate him into her religious dogma, but swiftly reveals her true colors when she slaps Jesse for making an innocent observation.
  • Gruesome Grandparent: As horrifyingly abusive a grandmother as she is a mom, who put Jesse under similar abuse to her own daughter.
  • Improbable Age: Had Jesse's mother at 60, and is likely over 100 in the current story. To put it in perspective, she's older than Cassidy.
  • Non-Action Big Bad: A terrifying woman through the power she holds because of her servants, Marie's declining health means she herself is confined to a wheel chair and unable to get in on the action.
  • Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In one of the most pivotal and chilling instances of the "Until The End Of The World" story arc, Marie L'Angelle delivers this cruel mandate:
    "If I say he goes in the coffin, HE GOES. IN. THE COFFIN."
  • Would Hurt a Child: Not only cruel to Jesse-her idea of disciplining Jesse as a child was to lock him inside of a coffin and submerging it at the bottom of a river with only an air hose to keep him alive, but was to his mother, her own daughter, too.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Why she decided to kill Christina. Since Christina had already provided her with a grandchild, there was really no more point in keeping her around, especially with her still acting all defiant.

    Jody 
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  • Abusive Parents: It's implied Jody's horrific abuse of Jesse as a child is because Jody genuinely thinks it's doing the right thing by the boy.
  • The Ace: Widely regarded as the toughest, baddest hombre in Angelville and its wide environs, at least in his youth. His friend T.C. extols his virtues as being nearly superhuman, as Jody's generally stronger, faster, and above all smarter than anyone he comes across.
  • Achilles' Heel: To quote Christina L'Angelle Custer (in regards to Jody), before she turns around and kicks him in the balls: "You were strong and tough as hell, but you were always slow."
  • Almighty Janitor: Is far stronger than his boss, the decrepit centenarian Marie L'Angelle, and smart and brutal enough to run Angelville himself. Nevertheless, he is completely and unquestioningly loyal to her.
  • Ass Shove: Does this to scumbag fight promoter Le Chance when he offhandedly tells Jody he wants his baseball bat back. OUCH.
  • Asshole Victim: Is beaten down by Jesse, has his spine broken by him and is choked to death, his body left to rot out in the open, but he was so utterly, monstrously evil that, alongside Marie L'Angelle, it’s clear no one will miss him.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: When young Jesse's puppy playfully humps Jody's leg, Jody kills and nails the dog to a fence post. This cruel act launches a series of events that ends in Jesse being locked in a coffin and his mother being dragged away to be killed. And then there was the gorilla incident...
  • Badass Normal: Once killed a gorilla with a baseball bat.
  • Bait the Dog: He offered the captive Jesse a cigarette, seemingly just to show Jesse his murdered father's stolen "Fuck Communism" lighter.
  • Blood Knight: An evil smile crosses his face just before he's about to whup some ass. Jody loves his work.
  • Boom, Headshot!: How Jody kills Jesse's dad, right before the young boy's eyes. It's also how he dispatches Tulip, at the behest of Miss Marie.
  • Evil Mentor: To Jesse. Strong emphasis on the "evil" part.
  • Jerkass Has a Point: When Jesse enters a near catatonic state after Jody kills Tulip, Jody expresses his utter disgust and disappointment at Jesse's total breakdown and utter capitulation. Even Jesse's own spirit mentor John Wayne comments on and agrees with this, stating "The bastard's sorta got hisself a point."
  • Kavorka Man: Not exactly ugly, but with his missing ear, creepy smile and sunken, soulless eyes, he's no matinee idol. Regardless, gorgeous blonde Tommi seems quite taken with him.
  • Lack of Empathy: He called Jesse - not much older than a toddler at the time - a crybaby after he shot his dad in the head in front of his eyes, and didn't understand why Jesse got so upset when he nailed his dog to a fencepost. He also resents Jesse because he feels that Marie never showed Jody the same "kindness" she showed Jesse.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: Jesse beats him down, buries a nail-bat in his jaw, and then shatters his spine with a Finishing Stomp before strangling him to death. Interestingly, he seems to accept this, as he admits he's proud of Jesse finally taking his revenge.
  • Literal Metaphor: Upon seeing his opponent in the fight pit: "So when you said you had a 'real gorilla', you meant a real gorilla."
  • Made of Iron: Even in his current advanced age, he can still tank a ton of hooks to face, kicks to the stomach, and being set on fire. Even having nails puncture his jaw doesn't make him look more than mildly annoyed. It takes Jesse breaking his spine in half to keep him down for good.
  • Manly Man: This muscular, psychopathic killer considers over the top violence and general brutality the epitome of what a man should be, and is determined to forge young Jesse into his spitting image. Oddly, he's not a hypocrite - when Jesse displays these qualities by utterly destroying him and prepares to finish him off, Jody's last words are an admiring, "Proud of you, boy..."
  • Noodle Incident: Jody's exploits have earned him a reputation as a near superhuman, mythical figure in Angelville and its environs. Two spectators at one of his fights recall the time he cracked a Mexican man's skull so hard the skull bone came out through his hair.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Pretty much the only time the normally stoic Jody loses his cool is when Christina kicks him in the balls, resulting in him wounding her and her falling unconscious into the water. The physical pain combined with him failing to confirm the kill causes Jody to lose it and shoot blindly into the water while he screams like a madman.
  • Parental Substitute: To Jesse, after Jody killed Jesse's real father.
  • Psycho for Hire: His family worked for the L'Angelles and he's devoted to Marie. His perpetual creepy smile and sunken, soulless eyes is a dead giveaway for the "psycho" part.
  • Sadist: Derives the most joy from brutalizing, torturing and killing those weaker than him.
  • Small-Town Tyrant: Is Miss Marie's chief enforcer and is able to act with impunity on account of no one in the area daring to oppose the L'Angelles.
  • So Proud of You: To Jesse right after Jesse breaks his back. Doubles as his last words
  • The Stoic: Despite all the ultra-violence and brutality he engages in, Jody almost NEVER raises his voice or loses his cool.
  • Those Two Guys: With T.C. They're hardly ever alone when doing work for Marie.
  • Undying Loyalty: Jody's only positive quality is his steadfast devotion to Marie L'Angell. Despite admitting that she has never shown him even one-tenth the "kindness" that she has showed Jesse, Jody still swears that he would be willing to die for Marie; he goes on to say that the reason why he never "took" to Jesse is because Jesse hates and has caused nothing but trouble for Marie, despite her being Jesse's own kin, and disloyalty to one's "own" is something that even Jody cannot abide, as he explains to T.C.
    Marie: I'm glad this is over. I know I've outlived my three-score and ten, just to ensure the future of this grand old place... it'll be a relief to rest at last, Jody.
    Jody (looking forlorn): .... yes, ma'am.
  • Wrestler of Beasts: He once killed a gorilla with a baseball bat.
  • Villain Protagonist: Along with T.C. in the one-shot "The Good Old Boys."
  • Villainous Friendship: With T.C., who is the only person who Jody has displayed any kind of endearment for besides Marie L'Angell. When Jesse interrupted Jody's monologue during their climactic battle to boast that he had bashed T.C.'s head in, Jody notably stopped ranting mid-sentence and just stood there, stunned, only snapping out of it when he was sucker punched by Jesse. And earlier, he interrupted to say that he did not think that T.C would stoop to having sex with a dead person while Marie was instructing him to keep T.C. at arm's length while moving Tulip.

    T.C. 
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  • Affably Evil: He'll kill anyone at the drop of a hat, for pay or out of anger, but is generally the negotiator when he and Jody have business or conflict. Notably, in "The Good Ol' Boys", he tried to tell the mercenaries accosting Tommi and Cal that he and Jody had no intention of interfering and were just going to walk away. Unfortunately, the mercs did not believe him, and things escalated. T.C. later had a pleasant and rather thought-provoking conversation with Tommi about general misconceptions of the Deep South.
  • Asshole Victim: Has his brains smashed in and is then shot in the head with a shotgun, but it was far from undeserved.
  • Ax-Crazy: He's pretty sadistic, and a lot more outspoken than Jody.
  • Badass Normal: He and Jody show an uncanny knack for surviving in the swamp, if need be.
  • Bald of Evil: A murderous pervert who has lost most of the hair on his head since his youth, leaving only wispy residue on the sides.
  • Bad People Abuse Animals: T.C.'s bestiality certainly qualifies. He immediately murders teen Jesse's childhood friend Billy Bob when caught in the act with a chicken.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: T.C.'s pretty tough, but he's no match for Jesse, as proven by Jesse literally beating T.C's brains out of his head.
  • Extreme Omnisexual: He's had sex with women, dogs, chickens, fish, and a birthday cake. And while Jody did not think that T.C would do it with a dead woman, Marie was not so sure...
  • Oh, Crap!: T.C.'s reaction when he realized that The Word works on him again, and that a horrific ass-whooping from the captive and vengeful Jesse is imminent.
  • Profane Last Words: When Tulip puts a shotgun to his skull and asks if he knows her name (as T.C. only ever called his impending killer "the cooze"), his last words are a broken sob of "Fuckin' yesssssss..."
  • Psycho for Hire: Like Jody, he does any dirty work Marie needs.
  • Those Two Guys: With Jody. They're hardly ever alone when doing work for Marie.
  • Villainous Friendship: With Jody, to the point that he even displayed genuine concern for him when Jody was swindled into fighting a Killer Gorilla.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Jesse and his best friend, that is.

    Jesus De Sade 
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    Odin Quincannon 
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  • Arc Villain: Of the "Salvation" arc. Quincannon rules the titular town by intimidating the citizens for his own profit and comes to blows with Jesse, who takes up the position of town sheriff.
  • Bald of Evil: Not a hair on his head.
  • Bring Me My Brown Pants: After Jesse bursts into his office and hangs him upside down by one leg out his office window, letting him live and leaving only due to the intervention of Deputy Daggett, Odin states, "I, uh... have to go to the bathroom."
  • Cargo Ship: Meat got him where he is today, so one supposes it's only natural for him to, uh, give a little something back.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: His plant regularly commits numerous health code violations which are dismissed by bribes and the efforts of his retained corporate attorney Miss Oatlash, he routinely unleashes his workers upon the town of Salvation, heedless of the mischief and mayhem the get up into, murders a previous sheriff who eventually tires of taking Quincannon's financial incentives to look the other way, brings the Ku Klux Klan in to intimidate and murder the current sheriff (Jesse Custer), and ultimately threatens to blow up the entire town.
  • Depraved Dwarf: Odin is only four feet tall, but is a ruthless, amoral business owner guilty of numerous crimes and safety code violations. Then it's revealed that he makes love to a women statue sculpted from meat, to fully cement how psychotic he is.
  • Destination Defenestration: He tries to bribe and intimidate new Sheriff Jesse Custer. The meeting ends with "The Meatman" flying through a window.
  • Equal-Opportunity Evil: Played with. He does employ Miss Oatlash, a female, as his aide-de-camp, personal assistant and lieutenant, noting that (especially in the South) a woman would ordinarily never be allowed to climb that high in the corporate world. And he is well aware of her questionable extracurricular activities. But it's obvious that Odin uses that as a sword over her head, forcing Miss Oatlash to go along with whatever evil plan he lays out, regardless of how illegal, diabolical or depraved it is.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • A minor example, but as horrible a person as he is, even he calls bullshit on Ms. Oatlash's claim that Adolf Hitler wasn't a racist (of course, even given how he derisively refers to him as her "big hero Adolf," it's possible that Odin doesn't like her denying this because he's such a gigantic racist and anti-Semite himself).
    • Is also on the other end of it. Even members of the Ku Klux Klan realize the man just isn't right. They're racist and proud of it, but at least they talk about something else sometime.
  • Evil Old Folks: It's not obvious, but he's seventy-five years old.
  • Hand Cannon: Packs a .357 Magnum toward the end of the story-arc that breaks his wrist when he tries to fire it.
  • I Have Your Wife: A subversion, as Jesse and Cindy only tease the possibility of a romantic entanglement and are certainly not married, but Quincannon does realize their closeness and has the deputy kidnapped to use as a bargaining chip against Jesse.
  • I Own This Town: Introduces himself to Jesse with a very lengthy monologue about how indebted Salvation is to the Quincannon family and their industry, and that he expects his new sheriff to toe the line as well and act as a figurehead while he does whatever the hell he wants. Jesse tersely yet eloquently tells him in response that he's not playing ball.
    Odin: ...Okay, I can see Jim Bewley didn't quite fill you in on how things are around here. On just what bein' sheriff of Salvation means. Ol' Odin runs a business a couple miles outta town. Quincannon Meats. Pretty much everyone knows it. Lot of folks 'round here call me The Meatman. Now Ol' Odin brought a lot of dollars into this county, yessir. Lot of jobs, too. An' frankly I expect the respect that's due to me. My men are regular patrons of Salvation's services. They got plenty of money to spend, and local law enforcement has to bear that in mind when dealin' with any high spirits that might arise. Same principle applies to the liberal interpretation of certain regulations at the plant, both environmental an' safety-oriented. Summin' up, then: you do your job nice an' quiet an' handle everything right here at local level, no need to go no higher... an' you'll soon see that Odin Quincannon's generosity knows no bounds. Are we clear?
    [Cut to Odin getting thrown like a football through the sheriff office's window and sailing out onto the lawn]
  • Laughably Evil: He's about four feet tall, with a gnome-like appearance and an extremely over-the-top Napoleon complex (not to mention his bizarre sexual proclivities). But he is also a cold, calculating racist megalomaniac who orders up murder like take-out Chinese.
  • The Napoleon: He's about four feet tall, but that doesn't stop him from throwing his weight around.
  • Noodle Incident: Relates to Miss Oatlash a time he and some friends bought a senator who, in Odin's words, "fucked up and totally screwed the pooch".
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: To the point that even some of his fellow Klansmen were disturbed, commenting how Odin seems incapable of talking about anything other than how much he hates blacks when he's around them, like he's trying to prove he's more racist than any of them.
  • Rags to Riches: In his own words:
    Ol' Odin never had no fancy education, no sir! Odin Quincannon started out so poor he had to wipe his ass with his hand! But he pulled himself up by his bootstraps an' made something of his life, an' by God he did it alone! Odin cleans his crack with smoothest silk today, an' he didn't get there by exploiting' contacts an' callin' in favors from no faggy fuckin' law school! He got there by hard fucking work!
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to his brother Conan's blue.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: He practically owned the town of Salvation (as well as its previous sheriff) by throwing his money-backed weight around. Odin openly mocked sanitation and health code violations routinely committed by his meat packing plant and let his workers run roughshod over the town, free from prosecution.
  • Small-Town Tyrant: A truly nasty son of a bitch who ruled Salvation like his own personal kingdom until Jesse's arrival.
  • Smug Snake: Has an extremely supercilious and incredibly inflated egomaniacal manner that he displays in his dealings with all he comes into contact with. So secure in his sense of superiority and entitlement that he reacts with extreme hostility and even violence when crossed, defied or even contradicted.
  • That Came Out Wrong: When his workers complain about Sheriff Custer beating them up and throwing them in jail, hampering their riotous and brutish activities (like reckless whoring), Odin tries to console them by asking them to "put matters into his capable hands". His not-too-bright men take that as an offer for manual sexual release.
  • Third-Person Person: He likes referring to himself in the third person. Jesse finds it annoying.
  • Villainous Breakdown: By the time Jesse tracks him down to his private chamber with the God of Meat, Odin has already been struck by lightning, broken his own wrist, been thoroughly humiliated, and turned into a rambling, infantile shell of a man by his own failure; in his last moments on Earth, he's unable to defend himself or even see his killer coming because he's delirious and sexually spent from humping a woman-shaped meat pile. By that point, Jesse firmly considers breaking his neck with his boot a Mercy Kill.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Has Bewley, the previous sheriff of Salvation, killed when he retires, as it was Bewley's departure that directly resulted in the incorruptible Jesse Custer gaining the badge.

    Deputy Cindy Daggett 
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  • Action Girl: Comes with the job, but getting involved in Sheriff Custer's war with Quincannon brings along with it acts of violence and derring-do above and beyond the job description.
  • Boom, Headshot!: How she takes out one of Quincannon's henchmen who kidnap her. Threatens a Klansman with this.
  • Boyish Short Hair: Is very skilled, cool under pressure, and dangerous, and sports a smart, short cropped 'do. Still very easy on the eyes.
  • By-the-Book Cop: Starts off as this before Jesse takes over as Sheriff and stays that way for the most part, doing her best to reign in Jesse's Cowboy Cop ways. "Because it's THE LAW".
  • Chekhov's Gun: Jesse uses part of the windfall from Odin Quincannon's check to buy a sniper rifle for his deputy. Said sniper rifle becomes extremely useful to the department later.
  • Chekhov's Skill: Deputy Daggett proves to be a very adept shot during her and Jesse's shooting match. Her skills as a sniper prove crucial in a future incident.
  • Damsel out of Distress: Quincannon has Deputy Daggett kidnapped to use her as leverage against Jesse. But Cindy freeing herself and taking out both her captors torpedoes that plan.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Manages to be this even when she's being kidnapped at gunpoint by Quincannon's goons.
  • Everyone Can See It: Jodie, Lorie, Gunther Hahn, and at least half the population of Salvation can see that Cindy and Jesse have strong feelings for each other.
  • Flirting Under Fire: She and Jesse enjoy a very intense, near-sexual relationship while going to war with Quincannon.
  • The Gunslinger: Quite adept with firearms. And she beams like a lighthouse when Sheriff Jesse gets her a top of the line rifle.
  • I Have Your Wife: "Wife" is stretching it a great deal, as Cindy and Jesse never even kiss, but Odin Quincannon knows they have a relationship deep enough that having his men kidnap her would put Jesse in a tough spot.
  • Knight in Sour Armor: When Jesse meets her for the first time, she's either this or well on the way to becoming one as a consequence of both winding up stuck in Salvation due to various setbacks and her boss treating her in a patronizing and mildly racist way. She soon recovers, however, once it's clear that Jesse is nothing like her old boss...
  • Little Black Dress: Wears a very simple but very sexy one in her final meeting with Jesse.
  • Morality Chain: Cindy is this for Jesse, keeping him from simply killing Odin Quincannon and indulging in other downright unlawful or otherwise morally dodgy measures while he's Sheriff.
  • Not What It Looks Like: Catches Jesse in full Nazi regalia leaving Miss Oatlash's boudoir of depravity. Initially taken aback, but knows there's more to the situation than is readily apparent, and knows Jesse better than that.
  • Token Minority: Jim Bewley, Jesse's predecessor as Salvation's sheriff, tells Jesse that Cindy's the deputy pretty much to just keep the "local nigras" happy. Once Jesse is sheriff he'll have none of it, and he treats her as a valued partner.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: SO very much between her and Jesse.

    Conan Quincannon 
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  • The Atoner: Comes to Salvation to help atone for the damage his brother, Odin, caused.
  • Cool Old Guy: Offers Arseface a job simply because Lorrie asked him to.

    Hugo Root 
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  • Abusive Parents: He regularly beat his son whenever he pissed him off. His first words to his son after Arseface comes out of a coma following a suicide attempt is to mock him for screwing it up?
    Hugo Root: Shoulda put it in your mouth, you dumb little fuck.
  • Asshole Victim: He blows his brains out with his service pistol after learning from the paramedics that they can't reattach his severed penis, which he cut off and thrust up his rectum after a furious Jesse used The Word to tell him to go fuck himself. However, after all the horrible physical and mental abuse he heaped on his son, along with his general racist and abusive behavior toward everyone else as well, he definitely had it coming.
  • Ate His Gun: In his last encounter with Jesse, he uses The Word to tell him to go fuck himself. He does just that with his own severed penis. He asks his son to hand him his pistol, and blows his brains out right in the ambulance. Eventually, this is one of the factors that leads Jesse to be more discriminating with the use of his power in future.
  • Conspiracy Theorist: He thinks the FBI is hiding a ship with a dead Martian in it, and stayed up firing his shotgun into the sky to scare off any aliens who tried to abduct him. He also thinks that Jesse's Word and the Saint of Killers are the result of government experiments.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As much of an idiotic Conspiracy Theorist and racist asshole as he was, he was no coward. He doesn't take shit off of an FBI agent who makes fun of his story about Jesse and the Saint, and he gets the drop on Jesse and Tulip and threatens to shoot either of them if they don't surrender. The only person who manages to scare him is the Saint of Killers.
  • Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: He regularly beat his son with his belt whenever he was angry with him.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Inverted. After his failed suicide attempt, Arseface tried to turn his life around and become the son he felt his father would be proud of. To Root however, he's just a reminder of how an utter failure he is.
  • Groin Attack: Jesse uses his Compelling Voice to force Root to give himself a self-inflicted one, specifically by telling him to "go fuck yourself."
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: He once hit his son just for starting a sentence with "I don't see".
  • Hated by All: Hugo Root is feared and loathed by everyone in Annville, his wife left him and it's heavily implied that even his deputies despise him. As he was basically just a thug with a badge, this comes as no surprise. Ironically, the one person who doesn't hate him at the start of the series is his biggest victim: Arseface, his own son, whom he mercilessly abused until the latter's failed suicide attempt.
  • Hypocrite: Is this in two ways. First, he has a rabid hatred of marijuana, beating up anyone he suspects of using it - even as he himself is an alcoholic who drinks like a fish and whose alcohol use only fuels his aggression and violent behavior, making him far more disruptive than his pot-smoking son; often when drunk, he will stay up firing his shotgun into the sky to scare off any "Martian niggers" who try to abduct him, heedless and uncaring of disturbing and endangering his neighbors with such reckless behavior. The second way he is a hypocrite is more subtle: when his son tells him about his bullying at school, he taunts him for not standing up for himself and being a man... but hits him when his son "talks back," i.e., defends himself. This shows that Root ultimately doesn't want to raise his son to stand up for himself. Rather, he considers him nothing but his property and a clone to be molded and beaten into the "right" shape.
  • It's All About Me: He basically only sees his son as an extension of himself; he is far more concerned with how his son's behavior reflects on his image and status as the town sheriff than with the latter's personal well-being, as exemplified by the following exchange when Arseface is going to listen to a band at a club:
    Arseface: Well what do you care what I do? What difference does it make?
    Hugo Root: Don't be so damn stupid. I'm a law officer, in case you forgot. To do my job I gotta have the respect of the citizens. How's it gonna look if every time I run some shitbag in for possession, he turns 'round and says "Fuck you, Sheriff Root. I bought the stuff off your goddamn son."
    Arseface: So what really matters is what people think of you.
    Hugo Root: Yep.
  • Kick the Dog: His treatment of his son in The Story of You-Know-Who is this from start to finish.
  • Lack of Empathy: Has none for anyone, least of all for his son whom he sees as an embarrassment and an unwelcome annoyance. Him mocking his son after the latter comes out of his coma following his suicide attempt is a prime example.
  • Married to the Job: Is effectively this by the time the regular series starts. The only meaningful thing he has left in his life is his job as sheriff. When we see him at home with Arseface, he refuses to so much as acknowledge the latter's existence, with his expression being a mixture of depression and barely suppressed rage. Only once does his mask break while at home, when Arseface goes to the kitchen to fetch him a beer; Hugo promptly sags and buries his face in his hands, fully acknowledging how fucked his life is. When he gets called by Meeker, he springs back into life again, as even going after the guy who killed all his deputies is better than having to stay a second longer in his barren home.
  • Papa Wolf: Thoroughly subverted. When his son tells him about his bullying at school, his only response is to contemptuously tell him to "stand up" for himself and "grow some fuckin' balls," ignoring the fact that the bullies in question are rather numerous and that they tend to be jocks who are considerably bigger and brawnier than Arseface.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: He likes to talk about the threat of "Martian niggers", and doesn't seem too fond of the regular kind either.
  • Rabid Cop: An alcoholic, virulent racist redneck and homophobe who is prone to fits of drunken and sober rage, Root regularly beats up and brutalizes both the suspects that he arrests in town as well as his own son. Ultimately, he is nothing but a power-tripping thug and bully who embodies the very worst aspects of American law enforcement.
  • Resentful Guardian: Is very much this, and much of his abominable treatment of his son likely stems from this.
    Hugo Root: I can't believe I had a fuckin' hand in makin' you, 'less you grew from the sweat of my balls. I'd of known what a asshole you were gonna be, I woulda got your mother an abortion.
  • Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Averted. After encountering an actual angel and learning the full scope of what's going on, Root realizes something involving God and a demon-angel half-breed is well above his pay grade and suggests to Jessie that they both just walk away. Jesse, however, isn't about to let him off the hook for pointing a gun in both his and Tulip's face and tells him to literally "Go fuck yourself!".
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: His dialogue is peppered full of swear words and slurs toward blacks and homosexuals, though excessive profanity is the least heinous of his characteristics.
  • Small-Town Tyrant: Because of his position as sheriff, nobody in town could do anything to stop him from assaulting suspects or beating his son.
  • Starter Villain: He uses his department to hunt down Jesse after the destruction of his church and along with the Saint of Killers becomes one of the first threats to the group. Unlike the Saint, however, he doesn't last too long.
  • Teeny Weenie: When he wife left him, she ended her note by telling him that she lied—three inches is below average.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Suffers this twice. First at the end of Arseface's origin story as the result of his son's suicide attempt (and the hefty medical bills involved) and his wife leaving him, but not before writing him a venomous "Dear John" Letter that, among other things, insults his manhood. The final straw for him is realizing that his son is now a severely disfigured, unintelligible freak. As such, he is so dispirited and defeated that he can't muster the strength to do anything to his son anymore, except refusing to speak to him or acknowledge his presence, which lasts all the way until his second villainous breakdown as a result of castrating and sodomizing himself upon being subjected to Jesse using The Word on him, after which he finally speaks to his son again and asks him to hand him this gun, which he uses to shoot himself.

    Billy "Space" Baker 
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  • Boom, Headshot!: "Space" apparently intends to kill himself this way at one point, so that John doesn't throw his own life away trying to save him. John stops him.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Delivers a racial epithet laden one of these to his buddy John to drive him away and stop him from preventing Space from killing himself. Custer gives one right back to "Space" and stays.
  • Cool Old Guy: Is this by the time he meets John's son Jesse.
  • Cruel to Be Kind: Wants to kill himself so that John Custer doesn't throw his life away needlessly trying to save his. When his buddy steadfastly refuses to let this happen, "Space" unleashes a stream of racially charged invective towards his buddy with the underlying intent to offend John enough that he'll let Space do it. This also fails, though "Texas" does respond in kind...
  • Deadpan Snarker: "So how come you assholes never write?" At the Vietnam Memorial, no less!
  • Fire-Forged Friends: Several tours in Vietnam will invariably make soldiers this.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Realizing that his buddy "Texas" would never leave his wounded friend behind, and that Space would likely slow John down to the degree that they'd both be caught and killed by Vietcong, Space is prepared to shoot himself in the head so that John, unencumbered, can escape. John stops him, and nevertheless gets them both to the safety of base camp.
  • Ironic Nickname: Baker is called "Space" because he wants to be an astronaut. His good buddy "Texas" and his other "good buddies" find this hilariously tragic, as the likelihood of Baker ever achieving that goal are remote at best.
  • I Will Only Slow You Down : Why he nearly kills himself to keep his buddy Texas from trying to drag him along.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses: Vietnam (and, some would argue, being a Black man in America) will result in this.
  • Ludicrous Gibs: A hand grenade explosion results in him and his buddy "Texas" being covered in this. "Space" is shocked into silence, unlike "Texas", who explodes into a fantastic Cluster F-Bomb.
  • Mexican Standoff: A very bizarre variation. Space is ready to shoot himself to keep his buddy John from throwing his life away trying to save him in a hopeless effort. John catches him and points his own rifle at Space to prevent him from shooting himself. Space immediately lampshades the utter absurdity of this.
  • Revenge Is Sweet: He and John killed the crooked Gunner Sergeant who tried to have them-and succeeded with their friend Gonny-killed by sending them into a booby-trapped village. Neither one lost much sleep over it.
  • Semper Fi: Former Marine who's seen his share of combat.
  • Tell Me About My Father: How he and Jesse bond.
  • Verbal Tic: Does like to say "muthafucka" a lot, in all sorts of situations, even in front of Jesse, an ordained preacher, before he knows Jesse would have no problem with it.

    Jacob "Jake" O'Hare 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/86602_155990_jake_ohare.jpg

  • Accidental Murder: Is on the receiving end of this during a hunting trip with Tulip. He went off to find a quiet spot to crap, and when he was squatting down another hunter mistook him for an animal and shot him dead.
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Somewhat averted, as he never really drops the f-bomb:
    "Damn wife died. Damn baby's a girl."
  • Cuteness Proximity: After meeting his daughter for the first time:
    "Aw, so you're a girl. That needn't be so bad."
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's redneck as you can get, and he's not one for political correctness. But he was a very loving father to Tulip.
  • Manly Man: A guy who liked hunting, fishing and sports. He and his friends laughed at the idea that his wife would ever have a girl.
  • Papa Wolf: Even though he wanted a son at first, he never failed to stand up for his daughter when necessary.
  • Verbal Tic: "Damn" among his friends, although he avoids it when speaking to Tulip.

    Saint of Killers 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saint_of_killers.jpg

  • Anti-Villain: As frightening as he is, he makes no excuses for what he's done and it's thanks to God himself that he lost his family, and any good he may have had left in him.
  • Badass Boast:
    "There ain't worse than me in all of Hell. Go an' look." (Gunshot)
    • He gets another in when a squad of soldiers is trying to kill him and their squad leader screams for them to "give him hell!"
      Saint of Killers: Yeah. Give me all the hell you got to spare.
    • Gives possibly the most epic one in the entire series when he tracks down Jesse and warns him not to even think about using The Word on him...
      Saint of Killers: I'm bettin' I can clear the holster fore your words hit the breeze, Preacher. First twitch I see... that's what I'm gonna do.
    • His response to being nuked? "Not enough gun."
    • His ultimatum to the angels, when Custer commands him to summon them:
    "Get down here or I'll kill my way across half creation."
  • Badass Longcoat: Always wearing an old fashioned duster.
  • Blood Knight: Is clearly far more The Stoic by the time he becomes The Saint Of Killers, but was depicted as being in a state of glee killing soldiers in during the Civil War.
  • Boom, Headshot!: Despite the fact that ANY wound his supernatural Colts deliver will be fatal to the target, The Saint seems to favor these.
  • Bottomless Magazines: His guns never need reloading, never miss, never jam, and with the exception of Cassidy, every shot is fatal.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Being the Patron Saint of Assassinations doesn't preclude him from indulging in some Black Comedy, often at his victims' expense.
    Pilo (an angel who has just been shot by the Saint upon awakening him): I've never even though about sinning...and it ends here..in this black cave with... with my brains blown out... what do you call that, huh?
    Saint of Killers: Good start.
  • Death Glare: He scares the hell out of people who don't know anything about what he is, just by having a very mean stare.
  • The Determinator: He never gives up. Ever.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: He shot the Devil in the face, and God as well.
  • The Dreaded:
    • Even Jesse-whose entire goal is to find and call out God for the shape of the world-is terrified of him.
    • The Angel of Death nearly shits himself immediately after giving up his power to the Saint. Even when he was mortal, his deadly prowess in war and his murderous temper made him the most feared man in the land.
    • His timely arrival is enough to scare off God, saving Jesse from His wrath.
  • Exposition of Immortality: The Saint Of Killers got a four-issue mini-series all of his own to tell us about his mortal life in the Civil War and the terrible winter of 1878. He dumps a silver dollar with just that date on the counter of a bar in Gone To Texas, too.
  • Expy: A rather blatant one of William Munny.
  • Fastest Gun in the West: He used to be this. These days, he's the fastest anything in anywhere, and just so happens to have guns as his weapons. If he can detect you and knows you're trying to attack him, or if you're even strongly considering trying to attack him, you're dead. Period.
  • Gone Horribly Right: The Angel of Death's plan to make a murderous, cold-hearted bounty hunter his replacement as The Reaper of Souls succeeds; and the very first thing The Saint does with his new powers is kill Satan himself.
  • Good Is Impotent: While he's the exact opposite of this for most of the story, this is how he willingly departs from it - the heir to the throne of God and sole remaining resident of a butchered Heaven, peacefully napping in it like a comfy armchair for what is implied to be eternity while the mortal world goes about its business uninterrupted.
  • Go-to-Sleep Ending: How he ends the comic. Not with redemption or further damnation, as he doesn't much care for the former and can't really receive any more of the latter. But finally, with God and Satan dead, he can sit in God's Throne, tip his hat over his eyes... and rest.
  • Gun And Sword: When he was mortal, he sometimes fought with a pistol in one hand and a sabre in the other.
  • The Gunslinger: Deadly with normal Colts as a human. When he's gifted Colts forged from the sword of the Angel of Death, he literally becomes Death in a Duster Coat.
  • Hidden Depths: Shows a hint of humanity and introspection when Jesse informs him of God's manipulations. The Saint recalls instances during his human life where he felt that "something was following me, waiting for me to become it".
  • I Gave My Word: He will keep his promises. He backs up everything he says. It's one of the reasons why Jesse grows to trust him.
    Saint of Killers: You tell me what I got to know, Preacher, and this thing between us is settled. That right there is more than I ever promised a living soul.
    Jesse Custer: I got your word on this?
    Saint of Killers: You reckon it's worth anything, boy?
    Jesse Custer: Well, I sure as hell know you keep your promises, so... yeah. I reckon so.
    Saint of Killers: Then you got it. Don't need yours. Cross me, you know what happens.
  • Immortal Assassin: He lived since the Civil War, went to Hell, sleeps in a remote cave. And is only contented to kill. Then in the finale, after killing God, he rests on the throne.
  • Implacable Man: Nothing can stop him.
  • Instant Death Bullet: Nothing that gets shot by him survives. Unless they're already dead.
  • "Instant Death" Radius: His sensory range. Everything within it lives or dies entirely by his permission, and it takes more than you'd hope for him to permit you to live.
  • Invincible Villain: A classic example. He may be nasty, but he's also completely impossible to fight, so the main challenge for anyone unlucky enough to be in his crosshairs is to find a way to convince him not to kill them. The first time is fairly easy for Jesse thanks to the Word taking the Saint by surprise, but after that, things get significantly more complicated.
  • Mook Horror Show: The inevitable fate of any group of poor fools who get in The Saint's way, regardless of their manpower or armament. Squads of cops, swarms of Grail soldiers, whole Army regiments, and even the Angelic Host of Heaven prove to be no match for him.
  • Moral Event Horizon: In-universe, it's when he shoots a prostitute that McReady was using as a human shield, just to get to him. He "spilled innocent blood" and thus was damned to Hell. Arguably marches right over it for sure when he's resurrected and rather than just kill McReady and his remaining lackeys, he wipes out all of Blackwater, down to the last woman and child.
  • Morality Chain: His wife and daughter keep him to a level of morality. Without them, he is worse.
  • More Dakka: He's got the fastest trigger finger in existence, and his guns never run out of ammo. He only ever uses one Instant Death Bullet per target, but when facing an army, he's a storm of fire and lead.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: As Herr Starr said upon being told by an Angel the name of the fearsome juggernaut cowboy of death: "Shit- well, that tells you everything you need to know, doesn't it?"
  • Nigh-Invulnerable: Minus the "Nigh." Nothing harms him, not even having a nuke dropped on him.
  • Old Master: He was old even before he became immortal, but you wouldn't want to have messed with him then, either. He was a master of his craft.
  • Person of Mass Destruction:
    • If you take place of the Angel of Death, whenever you draw your guns, this will be the result.
    • In pretty much every pre-monotheistic society, he would be considered nothing less than a dark god.
    • He summons an angel to talk with Custer by threatening to "kill my way across half creation" if he's ignored. How do we know he isn't kidding? The angel shows up.
  • Perpetual Frowner: He's got three expressions - 'grim contemplation', 'contemptuous sneer', and 'enraged snarl'. Smiles aren't on the menu.
  • The Power of Hate: The hate he had for his killers is what allowed him to keep his sanity when he went to Hell. His hate ended up freezing the entire place, and not even being tortured by Satan could drive the hate from his heart.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Delivers a brief one, before killing God himself, after being asked what he wants:
    "To rest."
  • Quick Draw: The Saint of Killers can draw his guns faster than a man can see. He uses this to shut down Jesse's Word the second time they meet.
    Saint of Killers: I'm bettin' I can clear holster 'fore your words hit the breeze, preacher. First twitch I see... that's what I'm gonna do.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: After Jesse reveals to him his backstory.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Becomes this to Jesse and his group after meeting the angel who sired Genesis in Vol 3.
  • Shoot the Hostage: The man who becomes The Saint opts for this to get at his nemesis Macready in his origin story. And with this act he damns himself.
  • Shooting Superman: No matter what the kind of gun, everything is useless against him. This includes even tanks, explosives, and a nuclear bomb.
    "Not enough Gun."
  • Start of Darkness: A preacher (not our story's hero) states that the man who would become the Saint developed his taste for killing during the Civil War. The accuracy of this assumption is debatable, but the War was definitely the birth of his legend.
  • Super-Strength: In addition to the invulnerability and magic guns, he's much stronger physically than the average person too. Enough to stop a charging Abrams tank by kicking it, and how did he survive an entire mountain being detonated and collapsed on top of him?
    "Dug my way out."
  • Super-Reflexes: He doesn't travel around very fast (which is one of the few defenses his targets have against him), but his reflexes are almost instantaneous - see Quick Draw above. If he can see you, it's entirely his choice whether you're dead or not.
  • Undying Warrior: Started off as a Sociopathic Soldier in the American Civil War, and even his attempt at retiring ended in bloodshed; after dying and inheriting the power of the Angel of Death, he became not only immortal but effectively invincible, and is now employed exclusively as a hitman on behalf of Heaven.
  • World's Best Warrior: Being a candidate for this when he was mortal was part of how he became eligible to become the Angel of Death. He's long since transcended the concept, though - warriors fight people, while the Saint just makes them die.
  • Would Hit a Girl: ....with a bullet.
  • Would Hurt a Child: More like cold-bloodedly slaughter a town full of them, just to build his legend.

    Satan 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2019_11_30_at_121626_pm.png

  • Affably Evil: Established in his first appearance where he's seen playing cards with the Angel of Death.
  • The Devil Is a Loser: He doesn't last long, after all.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Is utterly horrified at the frozen wasteland the Saint of Killer's hatred turned his kingdom into, replacing the technique and ingenuity of the various torture machines with the primal fury of a force of nature.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He brutally admonishes a man whose strong feelings of hatred inadvertently froze his entire kingdom. But when the man asks him how to let go of it, he is taken aback and confesses he doesn't know. That man is The Saint of Killers who eventually kills him.
  • Informed Ability: Implied to have some kind of power the way the narration stressed that nothing happens in his realm without his command. But he does a shoddy job in repairing the Saint of Killers' wounds (with a needle and thread) and puts up no defense whatsoever when the aforementioned guns him down.
  • Odd Friendship: Frequently plays Poker with the Angel of Death, who all things considered is still a servant of God and a disciple of Heaven.
  • Pet the Dog: When the Saint gets promoted to Death's job, he sews the back he whipped into shreds.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: He uses the “n” word at one point. But then, he’s the Devil, the living embodiment of evil. Of course he’d be an asshole.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: All in all, he takes his work as a job he's good at that keeps him busy.
  • Sir Swears-a-Lot: Every. Other. Word. And he can be quite blasphemous too.

    God 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/screen_shot_2019_11_30_at_121859_pm.png

  • Achilles' Heel: A handful, actually:
    • Exemplifying the dichotomy of "good" and "evil", the power of Genesis either matches or outright exceeds that of God Almighty, forcing Him to quit Heaven in fear.
    • God is totally invulnerable and all powerful only when seated upon the Throne of Eternity. If away from it, He's vulnerable to another weakness: death by The Saint of Killers' guns.
  • Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When the Saint finally cornered Him, He begged for his life.
  • The Aloner: As everything He does is because He felt lonely at the beginning of time.
  • Asshole Victim: After all the suffering He caused and all the people He’s killed, His death at the hands of the Saint of Killers was a longtime coming.
  • Badass Boast: Gives plenty of them, being God and all, but the final one stands out: "I am the Alpha, the Omega, the Brightest Star In The Morning. The Lord Of Hosts. Your God."
  • Berserk Button: Being judged by his own creation.
  • Big Bad: Everything (Genesis coming into Jesse, the war with the Grail) was all done as a long-winded way for God to see how loved and adored He was.
  • Deus ex machina: Literally played straight in sense that this is God who can swoop in and fix the plot when need be. Given His personality he really didn't have to do things like resurrect Tulip, save Jesse from falling out of an airplane into an atomic bomb blast and finally resurrect Jesse and Cassidy but still did it all for the sake of the story.
  • Dirty Coward: If it would mean any possible harm to Him, He won't take a chance facing it.
  • Game Face: When enraged, He hulks out, His eyes turn red, and His hair becomes brown.
  • God Is Flawed: It is eventually revealed that all of the world's problems are caused by it being created by a guy who grew up in total solitude (because there wasn't any universe yet!) and thus developed what could be considered a narcissistic personality disorder as well as any number of related mental problems.
    God: You do not understand. You cannot know what it was like to be the Creator in the time before Creation. There had to be a world. It had to be the way it was. Men had to choose to love me. I was alone. I wanted to be loved.
  • Gold and White Are Divine: His standard color setting, until he becomes angry.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: While ultimately the Big Bad of the comic overall, God is uninvolved in the Grail arcs, though he is indirectly responsible for the state of the world that allowed them to exist as well as the ultimate being they worship.
  • Hate Sink: The culmination of the author's distaste for religion, God is portrayed as a brash, intolerant, narcissist who kicks off the whole plot by hiding from responsibility after creating an entity strong enough to threaten countless lives and after a history of bloodshed in wars fought so he could feel loved. Running at the first sign of danger, God never displays so much as an ounce of nobility when it doesn't stroke His ego.
  • I Just Want to Be Loved: His whole motive for starting a war in Heaven, creating Genesis and crafting a Crapsack World.
  • Jerkass God: The world's a shithole because God's a dick.
  • Kick the Dog: Appears before Cassidy and only halts (temporarily) the horrific torture he's going through so that He may use him to deliver a message to Jesse. When Cassidy calls him out on this, God responds by saying Cassidy deserves this treatment and far worse, calling him a "beast". However, from what we later discover about Cassidy's true nature and past, Kick The Son Of A Bitch might be more appropriate here.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: Is in the midst of "disciplining" Jesse Custer and seems to be on the verge of killing him when The Saint of Killers suddenly shows up. God Almighty visibly quakes in fear and vamooses.
  • Let's Get Dangerous!: You really do not want to piss Him off.
  • Little "No": Gives one when The Saint of Killers points his gun at Him.
  • Love Hungry: God's fatal flaw.
  • The Man Behind the Man: In certain arcs God takes a background role, such as Jesse facing his grandmother; while she ultimately answers to and is empowered by Him, He does not really play a role at the forefront.
  • Man Bites Man: Bites and sucks on Jesse's eye when enraged, and because of that the preacher must wear an eyepatch for the rest of the series.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Manipulated all the events needed to create the Saint... which in turn came to bite him in the ass.
  • Mood-Swinger: Very prone to bursts of anger, which ends up being very unsettling when compared to his "Loving" personality.
  • Oh, Crap!: When encountering the Saint on Heaven.
  • Pet the Dog: Subverted; although God resurrects the protagonists as per his agreement with them, it's to stroke his ego as the "loving God" of the world as opposed to any genuine goodwill.
  • Physical God: Is very much this, as despite His great power, God is manifested as a tangible being much more than the Bible would suggest, and is very much possessed of human traits and/or failings such as insecurity, fear, self-aggrandizement and the need for love and security. And his physicality proves His downfall when The Saint kills Him.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: He's very emotionally immature, as shown by his massive ego and constant need for love and attention.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: God delivers one to Cassidy at one point, calling him a foul blood-drinking thing that crawls in the night. He ends it by naming Cassidy Beast. Cassidy pretty much lives down to the name too.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When He gets angry, His eyes turn into a fiery red.
  • Supernatural Gold Eyes: His eyes are entirely gold.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: A chronic trait of this "fair and loving God":
    • To both Satan and Death, as He started the chains of events that would create the Saint of Killers and end up being their doom.
    • After delivering Jesse and Tulip into the hands of Marie L'Angelle and her henchmen, professing His Divine approval, God suddenly turns his back on them and leaves them to face Jesse and Tulip's fatal retribution.
    • God shows up in Masada to burn Herr Starr's captive angel to death, the very same one who (at His direction) fathered Genesis in the first place.

    Genesis 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/86634_121325_genesis.jpg

  • Enfant Terrible: Usually portrayed as a baby head made of light.
  • Living MacGuffin: Genesis escaping to Earth is what sets the plot in motion. God abandoning Heaven, Jesse being possessed by him and burning his church and parishioners, then going in the run, the Grail and Starr targeting Jesse...
  • Oxymoronic Being: The offspring of an angel and a demon, whose contradicting origins gave rise to a new, mysterious power.
  • Satellite Character: All we know about Genesis is on regard to how God and Jesse feel about his powers. Nothing is known about his personality other than he wanted a host and didn't want to be found by God, hence him escaping to Earth.
  • Story-Breaker Power: God fears him with good reason, as he's possibly the only being on creation stronger than him. Although this is never quite shown in the comic proper.

Alternative Title(s): Preacher Comic

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