Preacher in French

Preacher has had three successive French publishers, with three different splits, three translations and a series cut short by a bankruptcy. Finding a specific volume therefore starts with knowing which generation of albums you mean.

As always in this guide, only verified information (creators, issue numbers, dates) is stated as fact; the analysis is our own, with no reproduction of protected artwork or dialogue.

The original US run in brief

Preacher is published by Vertigo, DC Comics' imprint for adults, from 1995 to 2000. Garth Ennis writes the scripts, Steve Dillon draws the interiors and Glenn Fabry paints the covers; Matt Hollingsworth colors and Clem Robins letters. April 1995 is the cover date of issue 1. The regular series runs to issue 66, and the collection is extended by five special stories, as well as a four-issue miniseries on the Saint of Killers.

The narrative follows Jesse Custer, a Texan preacher bound to an entity named Genesis, his partner Tulip O'Hare and the Irish vampire Cassidy, on a quest for God across the United States. For the French-edition collector, two features matter: the series is closed, with no relaunch, and its special stories have their own place in the reading order. Each French publisher decided differently where to put them, which explains most of the confusion between editions. Our article on the first issue in the US edition details the single-issue side.

The French editions, in order of publication

Le Téméraire: the first seven albums (1997 to 1999)

The first French edition is the one from the publisher Le Téméraire. According to the bibliography we consulted, it begins in 1997 and has seven albums of the regular series, covering US issues 1 to 22. Three additional albums gather special stories, titled Le Saint des Tueurs (The Saint of Killers), Cassidy and La Tragédie de Tronchdecul (a French rendering of "The Story of You-Know-Who"). The format noted on a bookseller's listing is 27 x 18 centimeters.

The titles of the seven series albums are, in order: Ballade au Texas, New York, New York, Une famille d'enfer, Jusqu'à la fin des temps, Sodome et Gomorrhe, La nuit du jugement and Que souffle la tempête. Dates vary from one record to another: a bibliographic database places the first volume in 1998 and the seventh in October 1999, while a community list cites January 1997 for the start. The sources therefore differ, and we do not settle it to the day. One point, however, is confirmed everywhere: the seventh volume is the last published by Le Téméraire, whose bankruptcy interrupted the series.

For the second volume, a listing mentions two translators, Frédéric Duflot and Damien Rameaux. We do not extend this to the other albums, for lack of confirmation.

Panini Comics: nine volumes (2007 to 2011)

Panini published Preacher in nine volumes between 2007 and 2011, at a time when the publisher held the DC license, until 2012. These volumes reprint the American collected editions, with covers and commentary by Glenn Fabry, according to the online encyclopedia. The first, Mort ou vif (Dead or Alive), is dated March 22, 2007 at one bookseller, with 216 pages and a format of 27 x 17.9 centimeters; the translation there is credited to Jérémy Manesse.

The following titles, in order: Jusqu'à la fin du monde (2007), Fiers Américains (2008), Histoire ancienne (2008), Les enfants du sang (2009), Guerre au soleil (2009), Salvation (2010), L'enfer vient avec lui (2010) and Alamo (2011), indicated as the last volume of the series. The years come from a bibliographic database; another source gives a 2011 end date for the whole, which agrees. The fourth volume, Histoire ancienne, does not reprint the regular series: it gathers stories drawn by other artists alongside Garth Ennis, among them Steve Pugh, Richard Case and Carlos Ezquerra. The sixth, Guerre au soleil, features Peter Snejbjerg.

This edition is no longer in the catalog. It can be found second-hand, and the source we consulted notes that some volumes are hard to find.

Urban Comics: six hardcover volumes (2015 to 2018)

Urban Comics took over the title after Panini and republished it in full starting January 23, 2015. According to the online encyclopedia, six volumes followed one another: two in 2015, two in 2016, one in 2017 and one in 2018. Volume 1 appears in the Vertigo Essentiels collection, runs 344 pages and reuses the translation by Jérémy Manesse; a listing notes that the French edition follows the structure of the American collected editions. Volume 6, the final one, is dated January 2018 at one bookseller.

The strength of this edition lies in its ordering: each volume combines the regular series and the special stories where they fit in the narrative. Thus volume 3 contains the Saint of Killers miniseries and the Cassidy story, which the Le Téméraire albums placed in separate special volumes.

Urban Nomad: two pocket volumes (April 2025)

On April 18, 2025, Urban Comics released the first two volumes of Preacher in its Nomad pocket collection. Volume 1 has 336 pages and reprints issues 1 to 12; volume 2 has 368 pages and reprints issues 13 to 26. A bookseller's listing gives volume 2 a format of 14.3 x 21.6 centimeters. We found no confirmation of a continuation of this reissue: at the date of this article, only these two volumes are attested in our sources.

US / French correspondence

The table below gives only the correspondences we were able to cross-check. When the contents of a volume are not detailed by our sources, the cell says so.

The US issue numbers for the Urban edition come from an encyclopedic source, cross-checked for volumes 1 and 6 against the equivalent American collected editions. Before buying a specific volume, always compare the back cover or table of contents with this grid.

Which edition to choose for your profile

You want to read the series

Take the Urban Comics edition. It is complete, it places the special stories in order, and it remains the easiest to find new or second-hand. If the pocket format suits you and your budget matters, the two Nomad volumes let you read the first twenty-six issues, but the rest is then only available in large format.

You collect the first French editions

The Le Téméraire albums are the territory of the determined collector: first French translation, unfinished series, seven albums plus three special volumes. Plan to check each title against the list above, because the "volume 1" numbering does not carry the same value from one publisher to another. The Panini set interests those who want the complete run of a generation of albums whose volumes are no longer reprinted.

You like large format

The Urban Comics hardcovers, with three hundred pages and more, are the most comfortable format for Steve Dillon's pages. The Le Téméraire albums are also large format, but their state of preservation varies greatly from one copy to another.

Pitfalls and points to watch

The first pitfall is numbering. Volume 1 from Le Téméraire is called Ballade au Texas, the one from Panini is Mort ou vif, and the Urban one has no subtitle: three covers, three titles, one and the same starting point. A listing that just says "Preacher volume 3" therefore points to three different contents, depending on the publisher.

The second pitfall is the cut-off. The seven Le Téméraire albums do not go beyond US issue 22: anyone who stops there will not read half the story. The third concerns the special stories, which publishers did not place in the same spot: the fourth Panini volume, for example, gathers stories drawn by other artists, whereas Urban inserts them in series order. Search for a special story by its US title, not by a volume number.

Finally, dates differ from one record to another for the first Le Téméraire albums, and the same year can appear under two values. When the exact year matters for your cataloging, note the source you keep.

One last pitfall on the reading side: each generation of albums has its own translation. Jérémy Manesse appears on the Panini and Urban listings for volume 1; the Le Téméraire albums are by another hand. Those who switch from one to the other midway through the series will encounter place names and turns of phrase that change.

What these editions are worth in a collection

The value of a French Preacher album is not judged like that of an American single issue. For the Urban edition, still available, condition matters most: corners, spine, dust jacket if any. For Panini, the set of nine volumes is built volume by volume, and the source we consulted notes that some volumes are hard to find. For Le Téméraire, the scarcity comes from the unfinished series: the seven albums and the three special volumes almost never turn up together.

Our estimation method is the same as for any album: identify the exact edition, compare completed sales rather than listings, then adjust for condition. A single volume from a mismatched set is often worth less than the lot average. The detail of the approach is in our page on estimating a French-language comic.

The first American issue follows its own logic, described in our article on Preacher #1. As for the gap between the 1995 single issue and the French album, it comes down to the audience: one is valued by grade, the other is chosen for reading.

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