Garth Ennis

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Garth Ennis
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Garth Ennis

Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970 in Holywood, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish comics writer, best known for the DC/Vertigo series Preacher, co-created with artist Steve Dillon. His work is characterised by extreme violence, black humour and profanity, but also by an interest in male friendship and an amused disdain for organised religion. Frequent artistic collaborators include Steve Dillon, Glenn Fabry and John McCrea.

Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997.

True Faith by Garth Ennis & Warren Pleece
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True Faith by Garth Ennis & Warren Pleece

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Like the two Troubles stories it was collected as a graphic novel in 1990, but religious protests led to it being quickly withdrawn from sale, apparently on the orders of publisher Robert Maxwell. It was later republished in 1997 by Vertigo.

Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years. Ennis's most notable Dredd stories include Muzak Killer (a pastiche of mainstream pop music), Emerald Isle (a tongue-in-cheek story set in Ennis's native Ireland), and the twenty-part epic Judgment Day. Ennis also contributed the surreal Time Flies (with artist Philip Bond), dealing with time travel paradoxes and Nazis.

His first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run. The creative partnership established went on to create Preacher. From 1993 to 1995 Ennis and John McCrea worked on another DC title, The Demon, during which they introduced super-powered contract killer Tommy Monaghan, aka Hitman, whose own series would allow their creative partnership to continue when The Demon ended. Towards the end of the initial Hellblazer run, Ennis and Dillon collaborated on a one-shot called Heartland, exploring one of the secondary characters of their run. Several years after leaving, Ennis briefly returned for the five-part Son of Man story.

Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for a God who has abandoned His creation. Mixing influences from western movies and religious themes, it drew plaudits for Ennis from all sections of the media; the Guardian newspaper voted one of the Preacher collections its book of the week, and film director Kevin Smith described it as "More fun than going to the movies."

While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to goofy humour to a surprisingly tender examination of male friendship under fire.

In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd - this series cannot be considered a success, with Ennis himself saying that there is "not a hope" to return to writing Dredd as he was generally not happy with his run. "I’m too close to Dredd, I like him too much. I can’t tamper with the formula; nor can I take the piss the way I do with superheroes," he said.[1]

Other comics Ennis has worked on include Goddess (with Phil Winslade), Bloody Mary (with Carlos Ezquerra), Unknown Soldier (with Killian Plunkett), Pride and Joy (with John Higgins), and War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Darkness (with Marc Silvestri), and The Pro (2002, with Amanda Conner) for Image Comics; The Punisher (with Dillon), Thor: Vikings (with Glenn Fabry), and Ghost Rider: Road to Damnation for Marvel Comics; The Authority (with Fabry) for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim (with Ezquerra) for Black Bull Press, and 303 (with Jacen Burrows) for Avatar Press.

His work has won him a good deal of recognition in the comics industry, including nominations for the Comics Buyer's Guide Award for Favorite Writer in 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.

Ennis currently works on Marvel's Punisher: Max series and a 5 issue mini-series for WildStorm entitled Battler Britton, based on the classic British war character that Ennis grew up reading in IPC publications such as Air Ace Picture Library and Battle Picture Library. This mini-series details the adventures of intrepid WWII RAF air ace, Wing Commander Robert "Battler" Britton. Battler Britton is drawn by Colin Wilson with painted covers by Garry Leach..

In March 2006, Ennis announced a new ongoing series for WildStorm, in association with Darick Robertson, titled The Boys, which he claims will "out-Preacher Preacher." [2]

Other forthcoming work includes: Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist) and the first arc of WildStorm's Midnighter (a spin-off of The Authority) (he may stay on past the first arc; as of now, this is undecided). Ennis is also working with John Woo on a comic book called Seven Brothers for Virgin Comics.

[edit] Bibliography

Preacher by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon; cover by Glenn Fabry
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Preacher by Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon; cover by Glenn Fabry

Comics work includes:

  • A1 #6A: "And They Never Get Drunk But Stay Sober" (short story, with Steve Dillon, 1992)
  • Battler Britton (with Colin Wilson (comics), 5-issue mini-series, Wildstorm, 2006)
  • Crisis:
    • #36 "Suburban Hell: The Unusual Obsession of Mrs. Orton" (art by Phillip Swarbrick) (1990)
    • #43 "The Ballad of Andrew Brown" (art by Phil Winslade, 1990)
    • #61 "Light Me" (art by Phil Winslade, 1991)
    • #62 "Charlie Lives With ... Fang and Snuffles" (art by Ian Oldham, 1991)
  • Loaded (with Greg Staples & Les Spink, video game tie-in, 1996)
  • Revolver:
    • Horror Special: "Suburban Hell: A Dog and His Bastard" (with Phillip Swarbrick, 1990)
    • Romance Special: "The One I Love" (with Glenn Fabry, 1991)
  • Strontium Dogs:
    • "Monsters" (with Steve Pugh, #750-761, 1991)
    • "Dead Man's Hand" (with Simon Harrison, in 2000 AD Yearbook 1993, 1992)
    • "Return of the Gronk" (with Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #817-824, 1993)
    • "How The Gronk Got His Heartses" (with Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #850-851, 1993)
    • "The Darkest Star" (with Nigel Dobbyn, in 2000 AD #855-866, 1993)
  • Time Flies (with Philip Bond):
    • "Time Flies" (in 2000 AD #700-711, 1990)
    • "Tempus Fugitive" (in 2000 AD #1015-1023, 1996)

[edit] References

Preceded by:
Jamie Delano		 Hellblazer writer
1991-1992		 Succeeded by:
John Smith
Preceded by:
John Smith		 Hellblazer writer
1992-1994		 Succeeded by:
Jamie Delano
Preceded by:
Paul Jenkins		 Hellblazer writer
1998-1999		 Succeeded by:
Warren Ellis
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