A Perfectly Cromulent Blog

Once more into the Preach

Oh...darn.

Fans won't be seeing an adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's Preacher on HBO.

Mark Steven Johnson, who wrote the pilot and was set to serve as an executive producer, tells Comics Continuum that the new head of the cable network thought the series "was just too dark and too violent and too controversial."

"It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word," says Johnson, who directed Daredevil and Ghost Rider. "They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO."

Plans for the one-hour TV series, announced in November 2006, were welcome news for fans who had been disappointed when a previous attempt to adapt Preacher as a feature film was abandoned.

"Too dark and too violent and too controversial." I'm sure that's what the suits at HBO told Johnson to his face while muttering when he left the room, "We're going to put a long-running miniseries in the hands of the guy who directed two of the worst comic adaptations since that Captain America movie where Steve Rogers drove a Good Times van? Let's make a vampire show instead."

I greeted news of a Preacher miniseries with an emphatic "meh." The comic series had its moments, but Ennis' best work has been on Hellblazer (which Hollywood already screwed up) and The Punisher (which Hollywood is in the process of screwing up...again). HBO - Generation Kill aside - may be staring at a serious lack of original drama, but they're apparently not willing to hand their future to the guy who tried to turn Daredevil into Diet Batman (though in his defense, Ghost Rider was a losing proposition from the start).

And now, for no reason, here's a pic of Cap's van from the 1979 TV show. Note the inconspicuous way the Captain America cycle is sitting on the back of the goddamn vehicle. Way to preserve that secret identity, Rogers.

And were loners driving vans less creepy 30 years ago?