Line #194 Creator/GarthEnnis


1	[[quoteright:167:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ennis_8931.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:167:The man who gave [[ComicBook/ThePunisher Frank Castle]] his balls back.]]
3
4	Garth Ennis (born 16 January 1970) is an American {{comic book}} 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.
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6	While he is rather fond of {{author tract}}s, Ennis's 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'').
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8	There are actually exceptions to Ennis's well-known loathing of superheroes, too -- the main one being none other than ComicBook/{{Superman}} himself, who he writes with complete and total respect, alongside an admitted soft spot for ComicBook/SpiderMan and ComicBook/WonderWoman as well. He is also known for his love of war stories (practically a DeadHorseGenre in comics) which remind us of the [[WarIsHell sacrifices, bastardry]] and many [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome awesome moments]] in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and other wars.
9
10	His most famous works are his four-year run on Marvel's adults-only [[Creator/MarvelMAX MAX]] imprint version of ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' (a.k.a. ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'') and ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'', which he co-created with artist Creator/SteveDillon. Two of his works, ''Preacher'' and ''ComicBook/TheBoys'', have been adapted into TV series. His version of the Punisher has also been adapted to the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse, starting with the second season of ''Series/Daredevil2015''.
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12	----
13	!!Works Ennis has written for:
14	[[index]]
15	* ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd''
16	* ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}''
17	* ''ComicBook/GhostRider''
18	* ''ComicStrip/DanDare''
19	* ''ComicBook/UnknownSoldier''
20	* ''ComicBook/EnemyAce: War In Heaven''
21	* ''[[ComicBook/{{Battle}} Johnny Red]]''
22	* ''ComicBook/SpiderMansTangledWeb''
23	* ''ComicBook/ThePunisher''
24	** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherWelcomeBackFrank''
25	** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse''
26	** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX''
27	*** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherBorn''
28	*** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherTheEnd''
29	*** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherPresentsBarracuda''
30	*** ''ComicBook/PunisherThePlatoon''
31	*** ''[[ComicBook/PunisherSoviet Punisher: Soviet]]''
32	** ''VideoGame/ThePunisherTHQ''
33	* ''ComicBook/NickFury''
34	** ''ComicBook/FuryMAX''
35	** ''ComicBook/FuryPeacemaker''
36	** ''ComicBook/FuryMyWarGoneBy''
37	** ''ComicBook/GetFury''
38	* ''ComicBook/ThorVikings''
39	* ''ComicBook/BatmanReptilian''
40	* ''ComicBook/JamesBondDynamite''
41	* ''ComicBook/TheSimpsonsTreehouseOfHorror'': An ''Film/{{Alien}}'' parody story
42
43	!!Works Ennis created:
44
45	* ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' - ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''ComicBook/MarshalLaw''; a squad of {{Sociopathic Hero}}es causes all sorts of hell for the local {{Smug Super}}s [[VillainWithGoodPublicity with good publicity]]. Adapted into a [[Series/TheBoys2019 television series]] in 2019.
46	* ''ComicBook/ThePro'' - A foul-mouthed hooker gets superpowers, then gets inducted into an {{Expy}} Justice League.
47	* ''ComicBook/JustAPilgrim'' - A group of survivors in a post-apocalyptic wasteland encounter a tough gunslinger who leads them. [[spoiler: He turns out to be a psychopathic cannibal and his leadership gets them enmeshed in a conflict that leaves them all dead]].
48	* ''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 we mean God]]. Adapted into a [[Series/Preacher2016 television series]] in 2016.
49	* ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}'' - A series about Tommy Monaghan, a hitman with superpowers who operates in the mainstream Franchise/{{DCU}}.
50	** ''ComicBook/AllStarSectionEight'' - A spinoff centered around some ''very'' dysfunctional "heroes".
51	* ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}'' - ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'' meets "The Screwfly Solution"; a mysterious plague turns numerous people into psychotic rapists with crosslike scars on their face. Quite possibly ''[[{{Gorn}} the most violent series of graphic novels in existence]]'' (outside of Japan, at least).
52	* ''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.
53	* ''ComicBook/TheChroniclesOfWormwood'' - Danny Wormwood, cable TV producer, is the Antichrist, and his best buddy Jay is the second coming of Christ. Many people want them to bring about the Apocalypse, but they aren't willing to play ball.
54	* ''ComicBook/JenniferBlood'' - A woman is a loving housewife by day, and a crusading vigilante by night.
55	* ''{{ComicBook/Stitched}}'' - An American helicopter crew crash-lands in the mountains of Afghanistan. They and the SAS crew they're there to pick up must then contend with a particularly sadistic breed of zombie. A short film of the same name, written and directed by Ennis himself, was shown at a couple of comic conventions in 2011.
56	* ''ComicBook/RedTeam'' - A four-man squad of New York City cops, faced with a criminal they cannot seem to catch legally, instead opt to assassinate him. [[MoralEventHorizon Things degenerate from there.]]
57	* ''ComicBook/RoverRedCharlie'' - When a worldwide epidemic causes the human race to go extinct, three dogs team up to survive and to escape New York City.
58	* ''{{ComicBook/Caliban}}'' - In the far future, the crew of a human spaceship discovers that humanity is not actually alone in the universe when they suddenly slam into an alien vessel.
59	* ''ComicBook/BackToBrooklyn'' - The story of mobster Bob Saetta, and his journey to rescue his wife Penny and son Michael from his brother, mob boss Paul "The Wall" Saetta.
60	* ''ComicBook/ATrainCalledLove'' - An honest-to-God romantic comedy. A woman meets and instantly falls in love with an English hitman as he's executing her perverted neighbor. Meanwhile, a bunch of yuppies have a plan to get rich that requires them to deal with a notorious criminal named "Mister Monsta," who's also the hitman's employer. HilarityEnsues.
61	* ''ComicBook/CodePru'' - a black-and-white horror comedy, and Ennis's contribution to Alan Moore's Kickstarter-funded ''Cinema Purgatorio'' project. A staunchly atheist woman becomes an FDNY paramedic and is assigned to their top-secret "monster unit," dealing with zombies, vampires, and Elder Gods.
62	* ''[[ComicBook/JimmysBastards Jimmy's Bastards]]'' - A slightly affectionate James Bond parody. A British super-spy is unknowingly targeted for assassination by his virtual legion of illegitimate children. Followed up by the 3-issue prestige-format miniseries ''Jimmy's Little Bastards'' in 2022.
63	* ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'' - A mob hitman is endowed with The Force on crack.
64	* ''ComicBook/{{Goddess}}'': A MagicalGirl series. No, really. It focuses on a young woman from Ireland who discovers she is one of the spirits of the planets. [[/index]]
65	* His [[MilitaryAndWarfareComics war comics]] - a lifelong fan of the genre, Ennis's war comics are his real passion, and unlike the BlackComedy of much of his work, they are usually extremely serious.[[index]]
66	** ''ComicBook/{{Battlefields}}'' is set in World War II and afterwards, following some of the surviving protagonists well into the postwar period.
67	** ''ComicBook/WarStories'' is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, various standalone stories set in different parts of World War 2.
68	** ''ComicBook/DreamingEagles'', a limited series from Aftershock Comics - on the eve of the march on Selma, one of the surviving Tuskegee Airmen tells his teenage son about his experiences in World War II.
69	** ''ComicBook/OutOfTheBlue'', also at Aftershock, revisiting a character from ''War Stories'' who now flies Mosquitos.
70	** ''ComicBook/{{Sara}}'', about a Russian sniper on the Eastern Front.
71	** ''ComicBook/TheStringbags'', about pilots flying the Fairey Swordfish.
72	** ''ComicBook/AdventuresInTheRifleBrigade'' is an early work and a rather poorly-regarded black comedy set in [=WW2=].
73	** ''ComicBook/TheLionAndTheEagle'', an account of the Chindits, British special forces fighting in the Burma campaign during [=WW2=].
74	* ''ComicBook/DastardlyAndMuttley'' - a SettingUpdate of the ''WesternAnimation/DastardlyAndMuttleyInTheirFlyingMachines'' cartoon series, with the two characters being US Air Force pilots affected by a mysterious substance that causes ToonPhysics and cartoonish insanity.
75	* ''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.
76	* ''[[ComicBook/MarjorieFinneganTemporalCriminal Marjorie Finnegan, Temporal Criminal]]'' - A limited comedy series from AWA, about a woman who makes a living by rampaging up and down the time-space continuum stealing whatever looks shiny.
77	* ''Literature/{{Erf}}'' - A children's picture book 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.]]
78	* ''ComicBook/TheRibbonQueen'' - An 8-issue horror series from AWA following NYPD detective Amy Sun as she works on a grisly murder case and discovers a unit within the department that is rotten to the core… and something even more terrifying that hunts them.
79	* ''ComicBook/{{Babs}}'' - A limited [[SwordAndSorcery sword and sorcery]] parody series from Ahoy Comics following the eponymous barbarian thief and her misadventures in a fabulous fantasy universe.
80	[[/index]]
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82
83	!Tropes present in Ennis's work:
84
85	* ActionGirl: Tulip O'Hare, Kit Ryan, Deborah Tiegel, Kathryn O'Brien, the "Night Witches" in ''Battlefields'', etc.
86	* AdaptationalDumbass: Whenever superheroes from either of the Big Two (excluding Superman) appear in his stories, expect them to lose several levels of competence and intelligence so he can make his hatred of superheroes clear.
87	* AdaptationalVillainy: Whenever Biblical figures appear, expect this to happen. God is a narcissistic tyrant in ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' and in ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', the Annunciation was actually Gabriel ''raping'' Mary to conceive Jesus.
88	* AdaptationalWimp: Garth Ennis has a tendency to ignore and remove the powers of various characters for his own convenience, for example in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'', where he outright disregards how various characters’ powers work to allow the Punisher to kill them in a swift and humiliating fashion.
89	%%* AntiHero: Type V mostly, a few type [=IVs=]. Danny Wormwood might just barely qualify as Type III. Jesse Custer is actually a pretty good example of Type III. Wee Hughie is a definite Type I.
90	* AntiRoleModel: Ennis generally seems to have a very low opinion of role-models, considering them to be childish and unrealistic (which certainly explains his hatred of superheroes which generally fall under the {{Ideal\|Hero}} and TheCape, among other archetypes like the GoodShepherd), preferring various forms and flavors of anti-heroes–{{Byronic\|Hero}}, {{Nominal\|Hero}}, {{Sociopathic\|Hero}}, [[NinetiesAntiHero '90s]], [[ClassicalAntiHero Classical]], as well as {{Noble Demon}}s and {{Vigilante M\|an}}en–who aren't really interested in telling people how to live so much as [[PayEvilUntoEvil not hurting people who don't deserve it]].
91	* AuthorAppeal:
92	** [[ShownTheirWork Well-researched]] military history.
93	** [[BandOfBrothers Noble soldiers]] brutalized by [[ArmiesAreEvil amoral superiors]].
94	** BlackComedy, with occasional forays into ToiletHumour.
95	** The idealistic view of [[{{Eagleland}} America]] versus its failures, sentimental nostalgia for [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire English history and patriotism]].
96	** Male friendship under fire.
97	** Crime drama, supernatural and/or psychological horror, science fiction, even ''romance.''
98	** '''Anything''' that was written pre-[[MediaNotes/TheComicsCode Comics Code Authority]], which he sees as having limited comics to superheroes, which he hates for that reason (Superman is the exception, partly because [[GrandfatherClause he was the first superhero]]).
99	** Elite military units. Often US Marines if American, or Special Air Service if British.
100	** In recent years, he has shown an interest in [[DirtyCop police corruption,]] particularly in the NYPD.
101	* AuthorFilibuster / CharacterFilibuster: Ennis' characters have the tendency to break into long, intense rants, which are often about his pet peeve subjects, often being hypocritical in a way that isn't acknowledged by the story.
102	* AuthorTract:
103	** The pointlessness and stupidity of racism/homophobia.
104	** The idiocy of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles, and the evils of the IRA in particular.
105	** The horrors wrought by misguided or blind faith, the Catholic church in general.
106	** 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 made by soldiers and government agents instead of members of the public.
107	** How morality can't be treated as a black and white concept. Many of Ennis's protagonists are barely better than his antagonists, with the difference that they're using their inner demons for "the right side."
108	* 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 them disrespectful towards people who are trained to make the hardest decisions.
109	** In ''The Boys'', the main characters are government agents who are fighting superheroes because the Supes do more harm than good and should be punished for their many wrongdoings.
110	** In ''Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe'', Frank Castle devotes himself to murdering every superhero in the Marvel Universe because they inadvertently killed his family during one of their battles. Frank also goes against them after he was introduced to other people who were disfigured and left brain-damaged because they were caught in the crossfire of superhero/supervillain battles.
111	** Nick Fury has his own comic series and the character has no connections with superheroes in this continuity. Garth Ennis specifically wanted him to confront real-life dealings of soldiers and spies in historical situations during the United States' Cold War initiatives around the globe.
112	* BigApplesauce: He moved to New York City in the 2000s and many of his subsequent stories are set there.
113	* BlackAndGrayMorality: Ennis' villains are among the most despicable in fiction, but his "heroes" often aren't that much better; regularly, Ennis points out that the only difference between the evils of the world and the "rough men" who protect us from them is [[AtLeastIAdmitIt an awareness of their darkness]] - and their [[TheFettered endless inner battles to control it]], a DiscussedTrope in ''[[ComicBook/TheBoys Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker]]''.
114	-->''It's time to demythologize an era and build a new myth from the gutter to the stars. It's time to embrace bad men and the price they paid to secretly define their time.\
115	Here's to them.''\
116	- Creator/JamesEllroy, ''American Tabloid''
117	* BlackComedyRape: Despite usually potraying rape as utterly horrific and monstrous, he also frequently uses it as a humurous punishment for his [[DoubleStandardRapeMaleOnMale male villains, usually by other men]].
118	* BloodKnight: He plays with this trope often in his works, especially in his ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' run to ''chilling'' effect with Frank Castle, who isn't a vengeful, pissed off vigilante but is implied to be 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.
119	* CrapsackWorld: Due to the subject matter that his stories often deal with, many of Ennis' characters inhabit a world that has little or any hope for salvation or justice. ''Preacher'' is a story about God Himself having narcissistic personality disorder and it's one of the ''happiest'' things he's ever written.
120	* CreatorsOddball: The last thing you would expect from a guy known for hyper-vulgar and hyper-violent works of darkest cynicism would be a colorful children's book. Yet, it exists. Say hello to ''Erf''. There was also the issue of ''Hitman'' where Superman is treated with respect and adoration.
121	* {{Crossover}}: Ennis doesn't do it a lot, but characters from his major works tend to wander back and forth between stories.
122	** Cassidy from ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' shows up in ''The Boys'' as the owner of a pub in New York (under his birth name, [[spoiler:Proinsias]]).
123	** 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=].
124	** 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]].
125	** Constantine is also identified by name as one of the previous holders of the Ace of Winchesters, a magical rifle that appeared in ''Hitman''.
126	** The members of the British SAS unit in ''Stitched'' have gone drinking with [[ComicBook/TheAuthority Kevin Hawkins]]
127	** Billy Butcher of ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has a fondness for "spacker porn" that originated with Spacker Dave from Ennis' ''Punisher'' run.
128	** [[ComicBook/FuryMax Nick Fury]] meets a man named Fuckface who is described as even uglier than [[ComicBook/{{Preacher}} Arseface]].
129	** While it might simply be a case of Ennis reusing a throwaway name, the title character of ''The Ribbon Queen'' is mentioned in passing during his ''Hellblazer'' run.
130	* DepravedBisexual: A lot of Ennis's villains will bang 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.
131	* EagleLand: An odd, yet intriguing form of it. He believes the United States is way too self-righteous and full of itself, but he also believes that when Americans choose to get over themselves they showcase what is best and brightest about humanity. The clearest expression of this is from ([[spoiler:secret Nazi war criminal]]) Gunther Hahn in ''Preacher'':
132	--> The Myth of America: that simple, honest men, born of her great plains and woods and skies have made a nation of her, and will prove worthy of her when the time is right. Under harsh light, it is false. But a good myth to live up to, all the same.
133	** He has similar attitudes towards the Russians; On one hand, he can't help but gush about their many, many awesome moments in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. On the other, he [[ShownTheirWork shows just as much work]] related to their inhuman behavior such as the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan and their post-breakup transition to TheMafiya. This is best summed up in "Mother Russia" by the first Russian to appear in ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'' - Alexandr Baranovich Formichenko;
134	--->Nothing left. Everything fucked. Once we are greatest peoples in world--now we sit in bars in Brighton Beach or Coney Island, drinking 'til vodka runs out. Look! Look at this animal! Leon Rastovich, how the fuck is '''he''' out of prison! Thanks to his kind, everyone looks at Russian peoples and sees only '''fucking gangsters!''' Scum like Rastovich and scum who follow him, who shame the name of Mother Russia! '''Mobster pigs''' who dare to call themselves '''soldiers!''' I was at [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Leningrad Leningrad when the Nazis came in nineteen forty-one!]] Three years we held out! Three years before they could relieve us! '''''We'' were soldiers! Fuck''' Leon Rastovich.
135	*** Notably, on his way to kill Rastovich, Frank holds a combat knife to a Mafiya bartender's eye and makes his position quite clear;
136	--->Alexandr Baranovich Formichenko is protected. ''(Got a kind of a thing about respect for the elderly.)''[[note]]Frank even smuggles home a bottle of Alex's favorite vodka.[[/note]]
137	* EveryoneHasStandards: Though his hatred of superheroes is well known (see ''ComicBook/ThorVikings'' and his treatment of Wolverine), even he treats {{Franchise/Superman}} with nothing short of complete respect.
138	** You'd think being both a costumed hero and a reverent Catholic would make ComicBook/{{Daredevil}} an instant target for Ennis, but he is depicted as the HeroAntagonist of ''ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse'' and is treated as a genuinely good man, if too [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids idealistic for his own good]].
139	** 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. He also vocally ''really'' doesn't like Captain America.
140	** Generally, you can tell how Ennis feels about a superhero by how he portrays their expies:
141	*** In ''ComicBook/TheBoys'', the Superman expy (Homelander) was implied to have been a relatively decent person before being gaslit into insanity (and despite his ''many'' crimes, indirectly saves the day at the end), the Wonder Woman expy (Queen Maeve) was the only member of the team who actually wanted to help people before a massive tragedy caused her to cross the DespairEventHorizon and turn to alcohol to deal with her guilt, and the Supergirl expy (Starlight) manages to retain her good-hearted nature for the entire series despite all the trauma she endures.
142	*** The Batman/Iron-Man expy (Tek-Knight) ultimately possesses genuinely heroic attributes despite being an asshole (he sacrifices his life to save a mother and her child), and unlike the rest of the heroes his questionable tastes were due to having a genuine problem with his brain (in this case a tumor the size of a fist) rather than being a hedonistic asshole. The Wolverine expy is a psycho with two hammers in the place of his hands whose vocabulary is limited to "Gonna!". On the other hand, ''Hitman'' features a Batman expy (who exists in the DC Universe [[ExpyCoexistence alongside the actual Batman]]) called Nightfist, who is little more than a costumed thug who goes around at night beating up homeless people. And the other Batman expy, Black Noir, [[spoiler:is probably one of the most repugnant of the already abhorrent lot of Supes, considering he's the one who turned Homelander into who he is.]]
143	*** The Captain America expy is a pathetic twit who literally wets himself at the sight of battle, is sexually violated at Herogasm, and is brutally killed by the Boys.
144	*** The Green Lantern expy is an unrepentant child murderer who gets probably the most disgusting and agonizing fate in the comic.
145	* FetishesAreWeird: This is commonly used in his work to show that a character is evil or just wrong:
146	** ''ComicBook/ThePunisherMAX'': One TrophyWife says that her husband doesn't even have sex with her; he just tells her to bend over naked on the bed and then jerks off while looking inside her.
147	** ''{{ComicBook/Preacher}}'':
148	*** Odin Quincannon regularly has sex with what is revealed to be [[spoiler:a pile of meats shaped like a GiantWoman]]. When Jesse shoots him in the head mid-thrust, he says that if this isn't a MercyKill nothing is.
149	*** Herr Starr has a thing for humiliating women, even asking how much it'd cost to piss in one's mouth (hinted to be UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher). When his series-spanning HumiliationConga leaves him more and more mutilated (culminating in the loss of his genitals), he starts having it done to him.
150	** ''ComicBook/TheBoys'': The first arc has the Boys taking pictures of Teenage Kix at a brothel to blackmail them. We're spared the visuals, but Gunpowder apparently likes having his gun shoved up his ass then licking it clean.
151	* GodIsEvil: Ennis is an atheist, and is very forthcoming about that fact. In his work that deals explicitly with the Judeo-Christian religion, God Himself is either a drooling imbecile (''Hellblazer, Chronicles of Wormwood'') or a complete asshole (''Preacher''). Summarized briefly, the world in Ennis's fiction is so deeply flawed that any God responsible for creating it is either insane or unthinkably cruel. God's ''servants'', on the other hand, run the gamut from good to bad to indifferent.
152	** One can make the argument his series ''Rover Red and Charlie'' is a case of PlayingAgainstType. The titular three are dogs in a human apocalypse, but are good and loyal servants who like having masters and cross the country searching for them, with only their faith to tell them it is where they should go. [[spoiler: Said faith is ultimately rewarded]]. Whether or not this was Ennis's intention is unknown.
153	* {{Gorn}}: Over the top gory scenes found in ''Preacher'', ''The Boys'', ''Hellblazer'', ''Crossed'', ''ComicBook/ThorVikings'', and so on....
154	* GroinAttack: Ennis is very fond of writing these - both ''Preacher'' and ''The Boys'' are littered with them, but his ''Hellblazer'' run is particularly notorious for them. It was a horror comic where the ultimate horror was always '''literal''' castration.
155	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Some of Ennis' best work revolves around exploring deep male friendships, generally HoYay-free (even when one of them ''is'' gay).
156	* 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'', ''A Walk Through Hell'' and ''The Ribbon Queen''.
157	* HumansAreFlawed: 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 in impossible situations. 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 what's best in a bad situation.
158	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Ennis really loves placing his characters in impossible situations, and feels that most mainstream comics are [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/08/24/garth-ennis-when-2000ad-was-the-future/ poor writing]] because they fail to do the same.
159	-->In the end, it was a dilemma not unlike those faced by a number of good and bad men in our own history, and if I had to sum it up in one line, I’d say this: ''what are you prepared to do when there isn’t any easy way out?''\
160	And that, I think, is why I’ve never been able to care about Batman, or Wolverine, or Iron Man… or any of them, really. Not because of what characters like that would or wouldn’t do, but because their publishers would never have the courage to have them written into such a situation.
161	* ImmigrantPatriotism: Ennis has lived in New York since the late '00s, after deciding to move there on his very first visit in the late 90s. He became a citizen in 2016. As evidenced by his love of various {{Eagleland}} tropes, he's generally a fan of the place.
162	* JesusWasWayCool: Yes, really. Despite his unflattering portrayals of The Father, he does depict The Son relatively well. Jay in ''ComicBook/TheChroniclesOfWormwood'' is Christ's second coming, but is one of the protagonists and friends with Wormwood, the AntiAntiChrist. In a ComicBook/GhostRider story he wrote, it's implied Jesus's teachings were noble, they were just perverted by Christianity
163	* LighterAndSofter: A couple times.
164	** He once wrote a children's picture book, of all things, called ''Erf''. Though the title character still does get [[spoiler: eaten by a monster at the end]].
165	** ''Adventures in the Rifle Brigade'' is a straight-up farce, a humorous satire of ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' and other TwoFistedTales of its kind.
166	* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: '''The Saint of Killers'''?
167	* OnlySaneMan: Another common theme (or criticism) of his works is most often the protagonist is the only person who's normal or has any sense of moral values, where as everyone else from side characters to the villains are varying shades of weird, idiotic, sexually depraved or utterly monstrous. It's a criticism because it's also tends to be the only reason why said protagonists are able to win.
168	* OurZombiesAreDifferent: His three comic books featuring ZombieApocalypse-type scenarios (''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}'', ''ComicBook/{{Stitched}}'' and ''Red Rover Charlie'') feature {{Technically Living Zombie}}s that break the traditional zombie mold. In the former two, the infected are extraordinarily sadists with a fondness for inflicting BodyHorror (and in the Crossed's case have a fondness for perversion and {{rape\|IsASpecialKindOfEvil}} as well). In ''Red Rover Charlie'', the 'Feeders' all go insane and either try to kill each other and/or themselves. In all three cases, the infected display some level of pre-infection intelligence and are capable of doings things like using weapons against those who aren't infected.
169	* PromotedFanboy: He [[http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/08/24/garth-ennis-when-2000ad-was-the-future/ was a big fan]] of ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' and especially ''Judge Dredd'' as a kid. He considers this to have been detrimental to his run on the strip, as he felt that he had too much respect for the character to make fun with many of his stories.
170	** Played with on his run on ''ComicStrip/DanDare''; in an essay to the collected edition, he openly acknowledges that while he respects the character he has no particular sentimental attachment to him; he does, however, appreciate the values that Dare's creator imbued him with, which attracted him to the project.
171	%%* RageAgainstTheHeavens: ''Preacher'' in particular.
172	* RatedMForManly: Ennis's work tends to emphasise traditionally "masculine" values, at the expense of more "feminine" values. As a result, many of his works (especially his earlier works) tend to feel somewhat sexist and conservative and occasionally mildly homophobic (probably as a result of growing up in UsefulNotes/NorthernIreland during the era of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_Ulster_from_Sodomy "Save Ulster From Sodomy"]] and the region's conservative nature even by Irish standards) At the same time, he got better about this as the years passed - in ''The Boys'', for instance, where Rebecca successfully manages to talk Billy into breaking the cycle of violence that started with his father. Even early on, in ''Preacher'', the climax involves Jesse learning that his self-defining masculinity is mostly bullshit [[spoiler: and he's able to cry when he makes up with Tulip]]. Many of his more recent works also deal more seriously with both women and gay protagonists.
173	-->'''[[http://brucebyfield.com/2013/02/17/garth-ennis-and-gender/ Bruce Byfield]]''': ''On the one hand, he is obsessed with machismo, and of how manly men interact with each other. On the other hand, he also views machismo as ultimately childish, and needing to give way to a less violent maturity that can only be won through the love of wife and family. The places where machismo operates may be the places where he finds stories, but he also considers those who remain there too long as immature.''
174	* SelfDeprecation: He isn't so caught up in his tracts that he can't see that his work can get grating for anyone just picking it up to read something they think is interesting. Someone with his name in ''The Boys'' is told to go fuck himself and Jesse Custer laughs that he needs to get laid when he realized how petulant and intrusive he's being when he goes on one of Ennis' rants.
175	* ShoutOut: Especially to movies like ''Film/WhereEaglesDare'' and ''Film/KellysHeroes''.
176	* 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]].
177	* SlobsVersusSnobs: Of a sort; class conflicts form a central theme in a lot of Ennis' work, and while he's often willing to skewer the negative sides of both on the whole he comes across as being a lot more sympathetic to the working-class stiffs (as represented by ordinary soldiers, police officers, street criminals etc) than people who put themselves up as some kind of 'elite' (the wealthy, elite corporate types, politicians, superheroes, etc). Although he also insists that working-class characters are not necessarily good and that a nostalgia or class solidarity can often be used to sentimentally excuse bad behavior, as in ''The Boys'' where Butcher mocks how his father's friends toast him as a WorkingClassHero when he was deeply abusive to his wife and children.
178	* SoldierVersusWarrior: Ennis heavily favors the "soldier" side, and the types of characters he prefers to write reflect that. Many of his favorite characters serve in the military or are otherwise members of professional fighting forces. His dislike of superheroes partly stems from this as well, and he often portrays them-- and other "warrior" characters-- as incompetent glory-seekers. He has a particular distaste for Captain America, who he sees as promoting a sanitized version of history that ignores the work of real soldiers.[[note]]In reality, Captain America was created by Jack Kirby, a World War II veteran, and Joe Simon, who served in the Coast Guard during the same period [[/note]]. This was shown in a monologue by Greg Mallory in "The Boys", which is shown alongside images of dead soldiers, soldiers nobly fighting Nazis, and the story ends with Greg killing the wounded Soldier Boy, an expy of Captain America and the one who caused the death of Mallory's soldiers.
179	--> ''But there some things you can always rely on and these were real men, don't forget. Real flesh and blood. Not multicolored shit dreamed up by overgrown kids. Who's going to tell the world about them? Who's going to make sure their stories live on? It's why I'll always be proud to be an American soldier.''
180	* StupidJetpackHitler: Downplayed. Ennis doesn't throw actual jetpacks into his stories, but whenever he writes anything about World War II, he shows the Nazis as a terrifying juggernaut; disciplined, merciless, and always with [[OffScreenVillainDarkMatter more and better stuff]] than the Allies. According to Ennis's [[ShownTheirWork research]] (most of it now DatedHistory at best, unfortunately-believed revisionism at worst), the Allied victory was nothing short of the greatest miracle in history, and anyone who says otherwise is either determined to [[WrittenByTheVictors re-write history]], a card-carrying idiot, or a Nazi collaborator who wants to sucker card-carrying idiotic Allies into a trap. Case in point, this conversation from ''Nick Fury: Peacemaker'';
181	-->'''Nick Fury''': That's all we need, a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_II King Tiger...]]\
182	'''Captain Kynaston''': Really? Our chaps would call it a Royal Tiger. Typical of Jerry, isn't it? They've already got the best tank in the world by far, so what to they do?\
183	'''Fury''': Build a better one.
184	** ...Or this summary from ''ComicBook/TheBoys'';
185	--->'''Mallory''': The best German tanks could turn ours into mincemeat; head to head we couldn't even scratch theirs. I must have bailed out of more [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M4_Sherman Shermans]] the previous Summer than... Well...
186	** ...Or this gem from ''Battlefields: Tankies'';
187	--->'''[[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents Stiles]]''': Ah, Jerry's '''always''' got a better tank, man. Tiger's just the most fookin' horrible one. Yer Mark Four's bad enough, so's all them self-propelled goons. Panther's a reet bastad, ye don't want to be friggin' aboot wi' them things. But yer '''Tiger'''...shite, man, the armor's foor fookin' inches thick, and the '''goon'll''' slice through 'owt' we'eve got. That Eighty-Eight, that's been Jerry's trump card since nineteen bloody forty.
188	* TakeThat:
189	** Every time he writes superheroes --even the ones he ''does'' like-- he puts them through utter hell, as he feels has hijacked an entire industry that used to be every bit as diverse as literature. Two particularly bloody swings he's taken are ''ComicBook/ThePro'' and ''ComicBook/TheBoys'', though it's also common in ''ComicBook/{{Hitman\|1993}}''.
190	** He ''hates'' religion, seeing it as bullshit that people use as an excuse for ignorance and cruelty. This is especially apparent in works such as ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' and ''ComicBook/JustAPilgrim''.
191	** He ''really'' does not like UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. So far, Ennis has written about Bush's assassination following the discovery of a conspiracy (''303''), his death by misadventure following an accident with a chainsaw (''The Boys''), unaware that ordering a nuclear strike on NYC would affect UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC (''ComicBook/ThorVikings''), and how he was one of the first world leaders, if not ''the'' first, infected by the Crossed virus ("The Thin Red Line" arc in ''Crossed: Badlands'').
192	** One he brings up almost as often as religion is PoliticalOvercorrectness, especially when it comes to the UsefulNotes/MeltingPot; in his view, a great percentage of humanity's problems is its refusal to let go of the past, especially when one has crossed oceans supposedly to do so, and a fresh start is freely offered time and time again. On the other hand, he doesn't apply nearly the same amount of vitriol to the kinds of identities he already admires (such as "true Irishmen", as opposed to American-Irishmen), and, in fact, is often quite positive toward them.
193	-->For fuck's sake!! Ye stupid fuckin' bastards! Look at yerselves! ''Yez almost fuckin' had it and now ye're '''shittin' it all away!''''' I mean what are we like anyway? All that misery an' bloodshed back home, an' we come back to the States an' the best we can do is just fuckin' carry on with it? Did yez not even hear what Maginty was sayin'? We don't '''have''' to slaughter each other! We can get what we want without that! We're '''free''' now...! ''In the name of fuckin' Jesus we're free of the friggin' past.''
194	* TearJerker [[invoked]]: As much as he's known for his love of [[BlackComedy splattery black comedy]], he's also able to wring tears from the most stony-hearted reader when he wants to. See the fate of ''HMS Nightingale'' in ''War Story'''s "Nightingale" ("Gone to hell to fight the devil"), or the finale of ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'' where [[spoiler: Jesse learns to cry again, then he and Tulip literally ride off into the sunset]], or even ''ComicBook/{{Hitman}}'' ([[spoiler: "[[DyingDream Drinks onna house fellas]]. There ain't no [[TitleDrop closing time]]. But you gotta leave your guns at the door."]])
195	* VigilanteMan: He really likes this archetype, and while he often makes these characters TragicHero and TragicVillain and doesn't glorify their actions, it's about the one kind of character he never deconstructs or attacks in any way.
196	* WarIsHell: If a Garth Ennis story involves a war (and most of them do), this trope is all but guaranteed to be at the center of it.
197	* TheWarOnStraw: Thanks to his willingness to (ab)use both AuthorTract and TakeThat, Ennis is willing to ignore or shove aside facts that contradict his preaching for the sake of giving his arguments more "weight", sometimes to the detriment of his works in the eyes of the reader. Both ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}'' and ''ComicBook/ThorVikings'' have a particular infamy for this trait:
198	** ''Crossed'' was intended as TakeThat to the "ZombieApocalypse survivalist fandom"... but replaces the [[OurZombiesAreDifferent "Romero Style"]] mindless shambling dead that said fandom actively bases its arguments on with an entirely different threat made of AxCrazy but otherwise perfectly functional humans. Which is kind of like arguing that a group of checkers players are "doing it wrong" and then trying to prove it by replacing all the checkers pieces and rules with those of chess. However, one could more charitably interpret it as saying that that so-called zombie apocalypse survivalists are [[CripplingOverspecialization narrow-minded]] in the kind of zombie apocalypse they are preparing for, and might very well find themselves woefully ''unprepared'' for a different kind of disaster.
199	* 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, and 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.

Context Creator / GarthEnnis