Troubled Souls

Dicks

by Garth Ennis

Excellent Book

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Comic Book, Fiction

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

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, and several follow-ups from Avatar.

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. 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' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.

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 God who has abandoned his creation.

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 humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.

Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.

After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.

In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.

Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.

In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis

Reviews

[Ill D · Rating 2 out of 5]

You see this mug? It’s Garth Ennis. Can you believe it? This baby-faced garcon, is the very same progenitor of gory classics such as Preacher, the Boys, Punisher Max, and many more. Little known fact, he wrote some pretty heart felt stuff in his youth. Read on.

With only a single gun depicted within, I couldn’t believe my eyes that this was indeed an Ennis work. Upending expectations, whimsical colors saturate a loose application linage, as such, the nostalgic feel is obvious. Yet, for all the warm verbiage, not all is flowers and daisies here.

Caught up between the most recent British incursion into the Emerald Isles, our main character Tom becomes haphazardly involved in a recent IRA plot. Subsequent to a dropped in hand gun in his lap, a series of events increasingly becomes his own, as further down the rat hole he is drawn into. With mullet man Damien sucking him further and further into this terrorist maw, what will the end result be?

In between, familial relations, a sexy lover, and a whole host of contextualized reasons within, multiple gears of peoples and places click and clack against each other. Explosions boom, guilt widens, and our protagonist becomes ever more important to the overarc.

With tension only touching on about some 20% of it all, to the unitiated this tale might seem a bit on the lackluster side. For those educated and patient enough on the ins and outs of the inter Brit-Irish struggle, this tale will as much delight surely as it will astound. For the rest of us, this nostalgic piece will be best remembered as a historical artifact totally not portending of the writer-blood-letter we know of him now.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Early work by Garth Ennis dealing with life during The Troubles, set in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Good characters. It's always more complicated than it appears on the surface.

[Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brillo young people, no prospects, difficult times.

[Robert Deschain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Considering how young Ennis was when he wrote this, it's an admirable piece of storytelling.
Beautiful art also, I highly recommend reading this book.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost a character study, but in terms of violence and vulgarity the beginnings of Garth's career are marked clearly.

[Sam Morley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Integral reading if your an Ennis fan or interested in the troubles.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have become just a bit more familiar with Ireland's history thanks to this comic. I knew things were bad during Thatcher's time, but it seems that there is unrest even today, like in all of the 1900's. The story doesn't feel like an Ennis creation - I compare it with his superhero works or his War Stories. His style probably came into its own later, though the characters are as human as he makes them out to be in later stories. His attention to historical detail is there and he does a good job of highlighting the issues that keep Ireland a divided land. Through his characters he reveals both sides of the conflict and ultimately hopes for it to come to an end.

Tom Boyd is a regular young man living in Belfast in the time when Margaret Thatcher is prime-minister. He is looking for a job, he hangs out with friends, he has a crush on girl, all regular guy stuff. That is until a stranger puts a gun in his lap right before being beaten by police. The man is Damien, an IRA supporter. He forces Tom to work for him by threatening his family.

Tom reminds himself of Ireland's history. They and the British have been at each other's throats for centuries. The unionist protestants in Northern Ireland still hate the Southern Catholics, partly because of religion, partly because of political strife. The North wants to remain under British rule while the South wants all Irish lands united and independent.

While trying to return to his personal life and getting closer to Liz, Tom is told Damien's plan - to blow up a British Army Landrover. Worse, Tom is supposed to plant the bomb. He does so and soon fears for Liz's safety, since she lives nearby. His fears materialize when he finds that she is doing some quick shopping across from where he planted the bomb. He walks her to safety before the bomb goes off, while never telling her the truth. The soldiers take the full force of the blast. None of them survive.

Tom is depressed about the whole affair and worried he is going to be found out and arrested. He has more to worry about - Damien is ordered to make sure Tom can't talk about the bomb, which means killing him. He first tells Tom his back story. He joined the IRA after his brother was murdered in a crossfire between IRA and Unionist soldiers. He regrets his life choices and confesses that he sees the current conflict as senseless. They befriend one another, as unexpected as that is for both of them. It doesn't last long. Damien is shot to death when a British soldier sees him brandishing a gun at Tom - he never even wanted to shoot it.

Tom just wants to forget about everything, so he decides to leave the country, though that means parting from family, friends and a loyal girlfriend.

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've had this book since it came out in the early 90s, and have probably read it six or seven times in the interim, and I always come away from it utterly nonplussed. There's something about the story that just sort of leaves me cold. It's an interesting account of The Troubles, told using an admittedly cowardly main character whose cowardice involves him unwillingly in the bigger picture around him.
Perhaps it's the lack of character in Tom that accounts for my inability to become involved in the story. Much of his time is spent recounting to the uninitiated the roots of the problems in Ireland, and what's left is given to creating a romantic involvement for him, and showing how perfectly average a life he's been living up to the point we meet him. His emotional existence is shown almost entirely through his absolute fear of being found out, or of having his family harmed for not seeing through his role in the violence that penetrates the Irish day-to-day.
It's an interesting story, and Ennis does a nice job moving it along with realistic dialogue. McCrea's art runs a gamut from cartoony to his approximation of realistic (looking quite a bit like a pastel David Lloyd), so is pretty appropriate to the tale.
I'm sure I'll read this again in the future, and probably have the same reaction (or lack thereof) all over again. I can't really recommend it, except as part of a library of decent comics about the long-standing strife in Ireland.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is where it all started, the path of Garth Ennis, my favourite comic writer.
There are hints of themes Ennis is famous for but he tries to make a point and high drama just way too much in this story and that makes this story drag.
John McCrea has spent so much time to make his art just perfect and just so photo realistic. But I like his later, more easygoing art better.
And this is the book where later ever-fantastic (The Dicks-fame) Dougie and Ivor were born. Can this be count as an origin story too?

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious, personal work that set the stage for an illustrious career in the comics industry. Would be considered a standout book, even in today's climate of mostly apolitical comics.