History Creator / GarthEnnis

* ''[[ComicBook/SpiderMan Spider-Man: Tangled Web]]''

* HumansAreBastards: A running theme through much of Ennis' work; regardless whether or not the story has non-human antagonists (demons, aliens, etc.), ordinary humans show themselves to be perfectly capable of committing cruel, vile and evil acts to each other. The darkest examples of this trope in action are ''Crossed'', ''The Punisher MAX'' and ''A Walk Through Hell''.

* In recent years, he has shown an interest in [[DirtyCop police corruption,]] particularly in the NYPD.

* ''303'' - A Russian soldier discovers a well-kept secret about the American President and sets out to exact revenge, using an old Lee-Enfeld .303 rifle with one bullet left. Readable, but very much an anti-Bush II revenge fantasy.

** Kathryn O'Brien from ''Punisher'' is the same CIA agent who appeared in the last arc of ''Hitman'', then using her maiden name of McAllister.

** Cassidy from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' shows up in ''The Boys'' as the owner of a pub in New York (under his birth name, [[spoiler:Proinsias]]); Kathryn O'Brien from ''Punisher'' is the same CIA agent from the last arc of ''Hitman''; the vampires that Tommy Monaghan kills in the "Dead Man's Land" arc in ''Hitman'' are led by the new King of the Vampires, after the previous king was killed by [[ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}} John Constantine]]; the members of the British SAS unit in ''Stitched'' have gone drinking with [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Kevin Hawkins]]; Billy Butcher of ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has a fondness for "spacker porn" that originated with Spacker Dave from Ennis' ''Punisher'' run; and [[ComicBook/FuryMax Nick Fury]] meets a man named Fuckface who is described as even uglier than [[ComicBook/{{Preacher}} Arseface]].

** The idiocy of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles.

* ''ComicBook/AWalkThroughHell'' - A straight-up horror comic from Aftershock. In the aftermath of a mass shooting, two FBI agents pursue two other agents into the depths of an ordinary-looking warehouse, not knowing that there's something inside that drives men to suicide. Notable for having one of the single most legitimately disturbing Wham Panels in 2018.

* ''Erf'' - A children's picture book, yes you're reading that right, about four organisms on a very young, then-unnamed Earth who encounter a monster who threatens to eat one of them. [[spoiler: While ''very'' idealistic by Ennis's standards, the titular character still gets eaten, sacrificing himself for his friends, leading them to name the planet after him in respect.]]

* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman|1993}}'' - An underrated series about Tommy Monaghan, a hitman with superpowers who operates in the mainstream Franchise/{{DCU}}.

* ''ComicBook/JenniferBlood'' - A woman is a loving housewife by day, and a crusading vigilante by night. Ennis appears to have intended the book as a comedy, but instead it reads like a distaff version of his run on ''Punisher''. It's one of his less popular works.

* ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' - A preacher with a DarkAndTroubledPast finds himself the RightManInTheWrongPlace, empowered with a CompellingVoice and makes a vow to use it to [[CallingTheOldManOut Call The Old Man Out]] - [[RageAgainstTheHeavens by the Old Man I mean God]]. Adapted into a [[Series/Preacher2016 television series]] in 2016.

* DepravedBisexual: A lot of Ennis's villains will bang [[AnythingThatMoves anything that doesn't run away fast enough]]. He frequently uses a particular brand of anything-goes, hedonistic bisexuality as a character trait for his villains, as further evidence of their utter amorality. Almost as if to balance this out, though, he's gone well out of his way in many stories, including ''The Punisher'' and ''The Boys'', to depict gay people in dedicated, healthy relationships.

* BloodKnight: He plays with this trope often in his works, especially in his ''ComicBook/PunisherMAX'' run to ''chilling'' effect with Frank Castle, who isn't a vengeful, pissed off vigilante but a psychotic nutjob who was so in love with war that he used his family's death as an excuse to wage a war forever.

* NiceGuy: You'd be excused to think of him as an angry cynical jerk who applauds to violence. However, in real life he is quite polite and friendly, and if his works doesn't make it clear enough, he hates racism and homophobia with passion.

* HumansAreFlaw: Despite being presented in an overly-cynical and aggressive way, Ennis's issue with superheroes is that humans are way too irresponsible and flawed to have superpowers and untrained civilians shouldn't be trusted to make major decisions. Ennis favors soldiers or BadassNormal heroes because although they are humanly flawed, they either learn to live with these flaws or they overcome them to do the right thing.

* NiceGuy: In spite of his incredibly grim writing and distaste for superheroes and religion, he is quite polite and genial in interviews.

** The flaws of living in the superhero genre. Specifically the inherent problem of untrained and undisciplined civilians having immense power and making decisions that should be reserved for soldiers and government agents.

** The flaws of living in the superhero genre.

* BadassNormal: A theme with his protagonists is they are well-intentioned but fundamentally flawed characters who use their wits to overpower stronger adversaries. He also portrays them as either more heroic than the superheroes and/or better skilled due to relying on self-discipline and training. His portrayal of superheroes varies in animosity because he believes they are too venerated by the public and finds thems disrespectful towards people who are trained to make the hardest decisions.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: A lot of his best-written characters are Irish. Although unusually for this trope, his actual opinion of "Irishness" is... extremely mixed, to say the least, especially in contrast with his high opinion of "Britishness" and "American-ness". Many of his Irish characters are also among his ''worst'' characters, as people. They often display the effects of Protestant-Catholic conflict in Ireland, but Ennis's writing tends to portray this as a toxic morass where neither side is in the right and there are no clear solutions. He also emigrated to America as soon as possible, and became a citizen in 2016.

Garth Ennis (born 16 January 1970) is an American ComicBook writer originally from Holywood, UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland, known for his love of graphic violence and BlackComedy and his intense dislike of organized religion and the superhero genre. As you can imagine, [[BrokenBase he has developed quite the devoted amount of detractors among some people in the comics community]], but at his best, Ennis writes with engaging intensity, fierce humanity and complete fearlessness.

While he is rather fond of {{author tract}}s, his excellent plotting and grasp of character voice can make them work (assuming you can stomach the subject matter). Many of his characters function as {{Badass Longcoat}}s, but he is also very good at writing down-to-earth, mortal characters as well (Agent Clive in ''ComicBook/UnknownSoldier'', Tommy in ''Hitman'', Kev in ''The Authority''). There are actually exceptions to his well-known loathing of superheroes too - the main one being none other than ComicBook/{{Superman}} himself, and he has admitted a soft spot for [[WorkingClassHero Spider-Man]] and ComicBook/WonderWoman as well; Ennis writes Superman, in particular, with complete and total respect. Also known for his love of war stories (practically a DeadHorseGenre in comics) and reminding us of the [[WarIsHell sacrifices, bastardry]] and many [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments Of Awesome]] in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and other wars.

He has written for:

and created:
* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' - Film/InglouriousBasterds [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] Super Heroes; A squad of {{Sociopathic Hero}}es cause all sorts of hell for the local VillainWithGoodPublicity {{Smug Super}}s. Adapted into a [[Series/TheBoys2019 television series]] in 2019.

!Tropes Present In His Work:

** While Ennis has come up with a great deal of unflattering parodies of various superheroes, most notoriously in ''The Boys'' and ''Hitman'', he's more even-handed when he actually ''writes'' those characters than many fans give him credit for being. Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are all depicted in his work as thoroughly competent. Similarly, Ennis' depiction of ComicBook/SpiderMan in Tangled Web #1-3 was extremely sympathetic and touching, showcasing Spidey's compassion and genuine heroism. Kyle Rayner was portrayed as naive, well-meaning but ultimately ineffectual, and Wally West was, well, really kind of a dick. Even Thor, despite his portrayal in ''[[ComicBook/ThorVikings Vikings]]'', still gets some genuine moments of badassery. He's gone on record stating that he is more accepting of characters like Nick Fury or the Punisher. The only mainstream superhero that Ennis has consistently refused to write well is ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}, who is an idiotic collection of his own cliches every time he appears in Ennis' work.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: His works are [[ComicBook/TheBoys very,]] [[ComicBook/{{Crossed}} very,]] [[ComicBook/AWalkThroughHell very]] cynical, oftentimes veering disturbingly close to outright nihilism. The villains are probably among the most depraved in all of fiction, the "heroes" make morally reprehensible decisions, extreme violence is his characters' solutions to problems, and [[HumansAreBastards the human race is not depicted very pleasantly]]. He could give Creator/AlanMoore, Creator/MarkMillar, and Creator/WarrenEllis a run for their money in cynicism in comic books! Coincidentally, all of them are from the UK.

Compare with Creator/GenUrobuchi and Creator/MohiroKitoh, essentially his Japanese equivalents.

*** ''Punisher: Soviet''