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Will 'Preacher' be a 'Walking Dead'-sized hit?

Jesse Custer isn't your typical man of God. Few people of the cloth, for instance, could take down a group of angry military reenactors while hammered on whisky and wallowing in self-pity.

Jesse Custer isn't your typical man of God.

Few people of the cloth, for instance, could take down a group of angry military reenactors while hammered on whisky and wallowing in self-pity.

Then again, few clergymen are former criminals who have been possessed by a supernatural being, giving them the power to make people do whatever the hell they say.

Custer, played by Dominic Cooper (Howard Stark in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), is the title character in Preacher. AMC's newest foray into the world of comic books, it premieres at 10 p.m. Sunday with a 90-minute episode.

Based on the comic book series by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon, Preacher is a pet project of Seth Rogen and his writing partner, Evan Goldberg, who developed it with Breaking Bad alum Sam Catlin. Goldberg and Rogen reportedly have wanted to adapt Preacher since long before they had Hollywood clout, which suggests the devotion the 1995-2000 comics series elicits from fans.

Jesse Custer has returned home to take over a pulpit in rural Texas, where he has to deal not only with possession, but small-town characters and his own lack of faith. Jesse may have been great at a life of crime, but he's not so great at guiding the weary, let alone his own sorry self.

Preacher isn't as sacrilegious as it sounds. God exists in Preacher's world. The show won't make serious believers happy, but religion plays an interesting role. It's not looked down on or scoffed at. Nor is it treated as gospel. Jesse has a job, like a sheriff in an old western has a job, and that job gives him the mandate to set the rest of the plot in motion.

It's not just small-towners or possession or the gig that is giving Jesse agita. His ex-girlfriend, Tulip (the luminous Ruth Negga), has just rolled into town and wants to see Jesse get back to his old ways.

Jesse finds a new friend and fighting partner in the charming Irish vampire Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun), who is introduced doing a line of cocaine, making a few quips, and then killing a plane full of people in a spectacularly gory manner.

Preacher's violence stays true to its source material and AMC's desire for a new, Walking Dead-style hit is all over it.

But The Walking Dead's universal drive for survival and community isn't present in Preacher. The two shows share a taste for blood (and major organs), but Preacher is less linear, more experimental, and less focused.

Whereas The Walking Dead started with a small community and expanded its world, Preacher starts out sprawling, introducing a town full of characters - including a teen with a severely disfigured face from a botched suicide attempt who comes to be known as Arseface (Ian Colletti) - in a jarring structure that purposely refuses to flow from one scene to the next.

Preacher throws up title cards announcing the location (or even year) in which a scene is taking place, often not explaining how those stories fit together in the larger narrative.

Sometimes this works. Tulip and Cassidy are the show's bright lights, and any time they are on screen, Preacher becomes what it so often is not: fun. The Irish Negga plays Tulip as a tiny Southern spitfire who is not afraid to get her hands dirty (or bite a dude's ear off) to get what she wants. Tulip's compelling and funny - something Jesse isn't always. (Cooper does what he can with the moping Jesse, who becomes fun only when he begins to explore his new, possession-induced powers.)

Rogen and Goldberg's man-child humor is not as present as I would like in Catlin's pilot. When the show is fun, it's so much fun. When it's dark, it can be a slog.

Preacher can feel laconic in its early table-setting, perhaps mirroring the old westerns from which it certainly draws inspiration.

So many shows barrel through plot, even in their early goings. Shocks and twists and turns that draw people in initially can become rote and familiar after too long (I'm looking at you, Game of Thrones).

Preacher lets its mystery and mythology trickle out slowly over the four episodes provided for review, never being vague for vagueness' sake, or too obvious.

That's the funny thing about Preacher: I spent a lot of time while watching it thinking about what it could grow into. I didn't love those first four episodes, but I was still compelled to keep watching.

The pieces are being put into place and I want to see what kind of picture they form.

meichel@phillynews.com
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