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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 (similar to Quentin Tarantino ), 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 '' 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. 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two ''Troubles'' stories it was collected as a graphic novel in 1990, but religious protests led to it being quickly withdrawn from sale, apparently on the orders of publisher Robert Maxwell .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 multi-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. 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 disillusioned 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 lesser 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, garnering an average 5/10 vote from visitors to the 2000AD Online official site. Ennis himself has said 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.[http://insidepulse.com/article.php?contentid=20202] Other comics Ennis has worked on include ''Goddess'' (with '' (with Glenn Fabry) for Marvel Comics ; '' The Authority '' (with Fabry) for Wildstorm ; ''Just a Pilgrim'' (with Ezquerra) 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 the Punisher: Max series and the newly-relaunched Ghost Rider mini-series under Marvel's Marvel Knights line. In March 2006 he announced a new series with Darick Robertson titled '' The Boys '', which he claims will "out-Preacher ''Preacher''." {Link without Title} BIBLIOGRAPHY ''Comics work includes''
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