True Faith

by Garth Ennis, Warren Pleece (Illustrator)

In the controversial and thought-provoking tale TRUE FAITH, a disenfranchised young man is exposed to the destructive and manipulative sides of faith and belief when he becomes caught up in another man's vendetta against God. After his wife died during childbirth, Terry Adair suddenly saw God as an obstruction to humanity. Setting out on a path of pastoral murders and church bombings, the faithless fanatic offers innocent bystander and witness Nigel Gibson a simple join his crusade or die. Now forced to join Terry's atheist mission of devastation, young Nigel's eyes are quickly opened to the true nature of faith and how easily it can be used to destroy people.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Horror, Fiction, Religion, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2013

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

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

#ThrowbackThursday - Back in the '90s, I used to write comic book reviews for the website of a now-defunct comic book retailer called Rockem Sockem Comics. From the June 1997 edition with a theme of "Trade Paperbacks":

INTRODUCTION

Regular readers of this column have probably noticed a bias towards DC Comics trade paperbacks in the "From the Backlist" section. This happens because DC has the longest backlist in PREVIEWS each month, and I have more comics from DC in my personal collection than from any other comic book company. In the interests of equal time, I intended to dedicate this column to new and resolicited trade paperbacks from other companies. Alas and alack, those sneaky devils at DC still managed to slip in by reprinting a graphic novel originally available only through an English publisher. Honest, I'm not getting any sort of kickback for this, it just happens! Maybe next month I'll finally exorcise that demonic DC influence . . . if they stop publishing good comics by then.

TRUE ENNIS

TRUE FAITH (Fleetway Publications/DC Comics)

In the wake of tragedy, a man's faith is shattered and he vows to . . . kill God?! Some of you may recognize this premise as the crusade which drives the Reverend Jesse Custer to hunt God each month in PREACHER (DC Comics, grade: A+). However, long before writer Garth Ennis set his angry young preacher loose on an unholy vengeance trail, he unleashed Terry Adair, "toilet cleaner product salesman."

Mere hours after praying to God for a safe delivery, Adair is sent reeling when his wife and their baby both die during childbirth. Betrayed, bereft, and broken, Adair finds strength in insanity. To get God's attention -- to become God's nemesis -- Adair begins to burn churches and kill clergymen. When God comes to confront him, Adair is sure he will be able to cut Him down with a weapon of legendary force: a Dirty Harry .44 magnum, " . . . the most powerful handgun in the world . . . "

The protagonist of the story, however is not Adair, but rather a young high school boy named Nigel Gibson to whom Adair tells his plans and of whom Adair makes an unwilling accomplice. Nigel is your typical alienated teen. His parents are aloof, his sister is hostile, and he is considered worthless by both his peers and the school faculty. Just when he thinks the girl of his dreams has agreed to go on a date with him, she shows up with a Christian discussion group to convert Nigel to their faith. Nigel catches the attention of a nearby Adair by loudly spouting blasphemy and professing his atheism to the group. Adair steps up to support Nigel with an incoherent argument and threatening posture that cow the Christians. Intrigued by Adair's strange demeanor, Nigel follows him and discovers his mission. Unfortunately, Adair discovers Nigel's discovery and threatens to kill Nigel unless he keeps quiet and assists in the violence. The intense relationship is heightened as Adair becomes Nigel's personal God, a being to fear for his power over life and death and to worship for the strength and conviction of his ideals.

If TRUE FAITH had continued to explore the relationship between Adair and Nigel, I'd be giving it the highest grade possible. Unfortunately, the plot gets muddled with the introduction of Cornelius Garten and his Truth Commandos just over halfway through the book. Garten, too, wants God dead and enlists Adair and Nigel in his army. Meanwhile, a fascistic Margaret Thatcher and her secret police are set on the trail of the church burners, and the whole story races towards a bloody and unsatisfying conclusion.

Despite the bad turn, this book is worthwhile for the curiosity factor. It is the second published work of one of today's most prolific and controversial writers: Garth Ennis. You love him or you hate him, but it's impossible to ignore him. Originally serialized in England in a magazine called CRISIS from 1989 to 1990, Ennis wrote TRUE FAITH when he was only twenty years old. Not much older than his protagonist, Ennis' youth helps explain the bleak, nihilistic vision of the piece. (I'm not sure how to explain the bleak, nihilistic vision of his current works though.) His signature wry, black, and sarcastic humor is already evident in TRUE FAITH. My favorite line is spoken by the Margaret Thatcher character: "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm not interested in why people do things. I'm only interested in stopping them." Ennis showed he had great potential with this work and has since realized much of it. Thankfully, along the way, his plotting skills improved drastically.

The book is well served by bold artwork from Warren Pleece. Heavily inked and unconventionally colored, the artwork has a visceral quality which supports the dark themes. Likewise, the characters all have a bulking ape-like appearance to reflect their savage interior lives.

TRUE FAITH is a flawed work with touches of greatness. While it's literary significance may be debatable, it is historically significant for providing a snapshot of a writer immature in age and skills developing the techniques for which he would eventually garner fame and notoriety.

Grade: B-

[Alex Sarll]

Ennis has the good grace to be quite embarrassed in his introduction to this very early work - though even that introduction was from 1997, a mere eight years after he wrote it and more than twice that back from now. As he says there, many of his concerns (faith, violence, human idiocy) are here in embryonic form; still, thank goodness he refined his treatment of them all pretty sharpish.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating to see one of the more accomplished outsider comics writers finding their feet at the tender age of nineteen.

Knowing what Ennis wrote afterwards, I read this with an appreciation that it doesn’t deserve on its own. Not terrible, bit pretty average for unseasoned writers.

A classic? Fuck no.

A glimpse into themes that Ennis has been chasing his whole career? Yup.

If you’ve ever gone back to a favourite artist’s early stuff out of a devotion to their oeuvre then you’ll probably find this not a total waste of time if you’ve enjoyed Preacher or The Boys. Worse ways to spend an hour on a lazy Saturday afternoon.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Controversial and though-provoking"?
No.
Sophomoric and boorish?
Yes.

[Nate]

True Faith is very early Ennis (it was his second published work, at age 19). While it holds together as a story and is generally well-written, it suffers a bit in the plot department and comes off as a piece of edgy teenage rebellion. Ennis himself is dismissive of the book in his introduction. Thankfully he would sharpen his skills soon after with the likes of Hellblazer and Preacher, which shares several similarities with this book.

[Marlan Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Garth Ennis’ first works. It’s good work, as far as writing goes, and it’s easy to see where Ennis later became a better writer, in terms of developing characters, an ability later honed, and what themes, like religion (duh), he continued to explore in other books, most notably PREACHER. The short selling summary makes it sound a lot more complex, but, like a lot of Ennis's work, it's a fairly simple story about a lout who'd rather be drinking than doing whatever they have to do here. Pleece's art can be divisive, but here it's less abstract, more human, than most of his Vertigo work (showing that his style might have worked better before it developed, particularly for American audience), and it adds a certain bizarre mystery to the story, which is a lot more down-to-earth than Ennis’ later stuff (though it's still Garth Ennis). Pleece’s MOBFIRE from the early '90s is worth searching for. This was for a cash-cow once Ennis got big with PREACHER, but it's a suitable step in his journey for his fans. There may be fewer of those now so this old work may not hold the same value, but it can at least be interesting to see a criticism of religion, rare in comics to not just dismiss it or be childish about it, especially from a European point of view (at least something that might appeal to Vertigo readers). The title is also more literal in relating to its subject matter than the New Order song with the same name.

[Carlo Gnutti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lo stile di disegno e’ marcio e punk ma molto acerbo, soprattutto nelle espressioni facciali e nella stesura del colore. Nella sequenza dell’attentato alla chiesa di St Paul a Londra, inoltre, la gestione del posizionamento dei personaggi e’ abbastanza confusionaria.
La storia e’ fortemente dissacrante sia mei contenuti che nelle immagini, come il cane crocifisso o gli attentati alle varie chiese. La metafora Dio= wc che Terry ripete ossessivamente e’ ugualmente dissacrante ma poco ficcante. Sorprendente il plot twist di Cornelius che rivela di essere stato lui a far uccidere la moglie di Terry durante il parto.
Nel fumetto fa una comparsa addirittura Margaret Thatcher, ma ne vediamo solo la silhouette.

[Vittorio Rainone · Rating 3 out of 5]

True Faith è il secondo lavoro mai pubblicato da Garth Ennis. E' la storia di Nigel Gibson, ragazzo in piena crisi mistica, solitario e bastiancontrario per vocazione, che si trova incastrato nei folli piani di un gruppo di esaltati, decisi a uccidere dio distruggendone i simulacri, destinati al massacro per mano dell'establishment britannico. TF è un piccolo ed efficace resoconto di una rapida discesa nella follia, forse non sempre perfettamente a fuoco, ma di sicuro buona prova di un autore che farà faville. Carini i disegni.

[Enzo Nicolini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Se nota que es uno de los primeros trabajos de Ennis. Estaba muy inmaduro aún como autor y narrador. Aunque su actitud desenfadada estaba ya ahí. Mejoró una enormidad con el tiempo.

[Michael Cook Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poignant. Garth Ennis is one of my favorites. You can tell Preacher was coming after publishing this super early in his career.

[Bryan D · Rating 4 out of 5]

The great thing about my library is the joys of re-reading some of the classics I read a lifetime ago.
Here's a great little tale, distinctly Garth Ennis.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely love this one! The gratuitous violence and swearing made my inner teenage boy squeal with glee and guaranteed my love of Garth Ennis.

[Steve Howells · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of Garth Ennis first TPB and you can see the roots of his brilliance. His religious storylines that are in a lot of his works.

He is my favorite writer and this was a fun read.

[Roman Colombo · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, today I found out that both Garth Ennis and Grant Morrison are like me. Like me, they are both skeptical of Christianity and fascinated by it. And in True Faith, Ennis seems to be doing exactly what I was doing in Trading Saints for Sinners, puzzling out what bothers him about the religion by writing a fiction around it. Paired with great artwork by Warren Pleece, the novel might show signs of a young writer and artists still figuring out their styles, but it a very strong story nonetheless.

And I think Morrison, Ennis, and I need to figure out what this genre is. Mainly, I want to have a conversation with Morrison and Ennis. :)

[Norah]

I picked this up years back and discovered it in the roofspace with my kids'' school reports etc!! Having been recently involved with Belfast emerging church group Ikon, I decided to have a read at it, and maybe bring it to Greenbelt, for a bit of interesting discussion before releasing there!!
I haven''t read many graphic novels before but decided to have a go with this one, as it might provide interesting discussion material for Greenbelt, where I will release it to a suitable person!

I empathised a lot with the 2 guys who found the Christians so pi and holy but not loving, though some of the aspects of the Christians'' attitude were a bit exaggerated in my experience. Yep, I think Christians ought to read this!!

[D.M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

It would have been nice if Garth Ennis had only written this book, rather than starting out with Troubled Souls, because this is basically a very similar plot but told without the reach to Issues. That makes this one a much more enjoyable, fluid and complete story than ...Souls. This is also the beginning of Ennis' long history of gleeful disrespect toward religion and it's nice he found that in himself.
Of course, we also get the flowing, rugged art from Warren Pleece. The colouring is a little off sometimes, which could be disconcerting but instead works to the benefit of a fairly unpleasant (though still funny) story.
A little part of me wonders if this book could even still see publication today, and that makes me even happier that it already did.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just found this old graphic novel, Ennis' second published work, in a stack of comics I'd never got around to reading. This short work is al look into the mindset of a Columbine type shooter and the other dissaffected youth, tied up with Thatcher Era British social commentary, and Ennis' trademark over-the-top violence. It reads, today, 24 years after it came out, as just another screed of the angry youth, since we've seen so much of this kind of pathology play out in real life, but in the context of when it was written, it was, unfortunately, quite prescient.

Worth a read.

[Stephen Hines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given that this was Mr. Ennis' second professional writing job in comics, I should probably rate this higher but I can't. There are some brilliant parts but Garth was obviously learning his craft.

Still, the most hilarious lines of dialogue are: "Lo, the seven seats have been lifted, and the seven flushes sounded! And I behold a pale horse: and his name that sits on him is Overflow, and he heralds the coming of the Blockage! And the Blockage cometh forth in the seepage over the rim, and it is like unto a great and mighty number two".

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Granted this is an EXTREME example of what religion can mean to people, but Ireland in the '80s (where this book is set) was often a rough place. The moody art by Warren Pleece is an excellent to Garth Ennis' tale of blurring the lines of morality and finding just how far one is willing to go to forward their beliefs.

[Matt Buchholz · Rating 5 out of 5]

An early overreaction to the foibles of organized religion that would go on to define a big portion of Ennis' work, but which hangs together better than a lot of the more current stuff. Helped in large part by Pleece's visual storytelling chops which make a strong case for his being a bigger deal than he is. A nice surprise all around.

[Krystl Louwagie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting to see such an early work of Ennis, especially one showing so many similar violent religious themes as Preacher. Definitely interesting, once again, I was only really let down by the ending. I wanted more direction in it, more finality.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

"True Faith" is one of Ennis's early works. This is not nearly the compelling read that "Troubled Souls" is, it shares the theme of unwitting involvement of a protagonist in criminal activities. If I had to choose, "Troubled Souls" is the clear winner.

[Neil Carey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done enough, but Ennis has said he finds it 'a bit rough,' and you can see what he means, from the sheer contrivance of the end. But the promise is there, all the same; in the haunted face and haunted words of Terry Adair.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

With his second work, Ennis brought up his favourite subject religion.
Grim art, moody story. Not bad, but the last kick that made Ennis über-writer is still missing.

[Stanley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 if anything, for the "God is a blockage in the toilet" metaphor.

[M0rningstar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice art. Hilarious dialogue (including a very tortured prayer.) Weak ending. Easily offended readers need not apply.

[Damon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Humorous story: read the intro and shocked to see that the church of England could have exerted influence to have this banned. It must have been to close to the truth.

[Drew Canole · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first Garth Ennis comic is a rough-ride but it was interesting to read early work from a creator I enjoy. Not sure why this got a reprint though! Should have been left in the past.