Preacher VOL 07: Salvation (Paperback)

"Salvation" doesn't deal with the main storyline of the comic (neither did "Ancient History"). This time around, Jesse finds himself in a small Texas town called Salvation, where he is reunited with his long lost mother, and where he also gets to play at being sheriff. Jesse puts his pursuit of the almighty on hold and goes after a local baddy, Odin Quincannon, a truly bizarre individual who looks and acts like a demented Ross Perot.

Jesse nearly falls in love with a black woman and finds himself dealing with the clan, but before the grass has a chance to grow too high under his feet, he's back on the road, chasing after God.

This is one of the best "Preacher" books I've read, if not the best. It's focused, tight storytelling that keeps propelling you to find out what happens next. Now I've got to go down to the bookstore and cross my fingers that they have #8 in stock.

A little about the story:
After witnessing 'that nasty event' with Cassidy and Tulip (see previous volume "War in the Sun") Jesse turned around and split. He drove into this little in-the-middle-of-nowehere town called "Salvation" and became sherif of it.
There he went to live with Lorie, the sister of his childhood friend Billy-Bob (see volume 2 "Untill the end of the World"), and another woman called Jodie. A woman who will later on in the book turn out to be a lot more than 'just a woman'. Especially for Jesse. The red line in the story is Jesse having his own private war with the local redneck, bigmouthed meatcompany owner. His quest to find God is off for now.
Next to the mentioned things, the gap between 'now' and the moment he fell from the plane gets filled in as well.
There's also another meet-up between Jesse and 'Spaceman', the man who went to Vietnam with Jesse's father. This also makes for another great warstory, Garth Ennis' guilty pleasure.

Next to "Untill the end of the World" this is probably the best collection of the series. It's a little less forced than several of the trades that have gone (shortly) before and Ennis lets himself go to just tell an entertaining story. Some things are uncovered, but never forced. Ennis goes all out putting humor in the clash between Jesse and 'The Meatman'. If you haven't read a Preacher collection yet don't get this though ! Start with "Gone of Texas (volume 1), because with this series it's highly neccesary to read the collections in order.
I'm glad the series has fully restored itself with this collection and the slump only was one trade long (Dixie Fried).