Raised withno religion, Ennis's first exposure to the idea ofGod was as a six-year-old in primary school. Ennis's teacher told the class that God was a being who could see inside their hearts, was always around them, and would ultimately reward or punish them. Ennis described the idea as bewildering, strange and terrifying. He later used this experience in his comic book seriesPreacher, whose protagonist is slapped after telling his grandmother that he finds the concept of God "scary". Although the fictional violence in that story was not reflected in Ennis's real-life upbringing, his classmates later reassured each other that they all loved God, though Ennis said, "I think I hate him." Ennis later asked his mother about God, and when she asked him what he thought about the idea, Ennis responded, "It sounds kind of stupid," a statement the adult Ennis clarified was meant to mask his fear. His mother's response was, "Well, there you are, then."[8]
In 1987, Ennis befriended artistJohn McCrea while shopping at the first comic book specialty shop inBelfast, which had been opened by McCrea and another friend. Ennis would later ask McCrea to illustrate his first professional comics project.[8] It was here that Ennis first met comics writerAlan Moore, who advised him to focus on creator-owned work rather than letting comic companies take ownership of his intellectual property.[9]
Ennis began his comic-writing career on his nineteenth birthday in 1989, with the seriesTroubled Souls in the British anthologyCrisis.[10] Illustrated by Ennis's friendJohn McCrea, as living in Northern Ireland meant he did not require reference material for the Belfast-based series, it tells the story of a young,apoliticalProtestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the IrishTroubles. It spawned a sequel,For a Few Troubles More, a broad comedy featuring two supporting characters fromTroubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor. In 1997, American publisherCaliber releasedDicks, serving as another Dougie and Ivor adventure. Several follow-ups featuring these characters were subsequently published byAvatar Press.
In explaining why he chose to writeTroubled Souls as his debut comics work, Ennis explained, "It was the kind of thing that was doing well at the time. I ought to be completely clear and say that, with hindsight, what Troubled Souls really represented was naked ambition. It was a direct attempt to get published. And that was the road that seemed most likely to lead me to success."[11]
Another series forCrisis wasTrue Faith, a religious satire inspired by his school days, drawn byWarren Pleece. A collected edition was issued in 1990 but a series of complaints from churches and religious groups led to it being quickly withdrawn from sale.[12] It was republished in 1997 by the U.S.DC Comics imprintVertigo. The plot follows anatheist teenager attendingChristian school. After publicly insulting his classmates' religion to get back at a girl he was interested in who did not return his romantic feelings, the boy attracts the attention of amaltheist and is coerced into helping him murder clergy and bomb churches. Following the death of the maltheist, the book ends with the atheistic hero willingly carrying out ashooting at his Christian school. In the introduction to the Vertigo edition, Ennis described this as wish-fulfillment.[13] Shortly after, Ennis began to write for the UK comics series2000 AD, and later wrote stories for the title's flagship character,Judge Dredd, taking over from creatorJohn Wagner for several years. Ennis'sDredd stories include "Muzak Killer", a satirical attack on mainstream pop music; "Emerald Isle", a tongue-in-cheek story set in Ennis's native Ireland; and the 20-part "Judgment Day". Ennis also contributed the story "Time Flies", with artistPhilip Bond, dealing with time-travel paradoxes and Nazis.
In 2001, following much work in the United States, Ennis briefly returned to UK comics to write the Judge Dredd story "Helter Skelter". Ennis said afterward there was "not a hope" to his returning 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".[14]
In 1991, Ennis took over the horror seriesHellblazer, fromDC Comics'Vertigo imprint. He wrote the series through 1994, withSteve Dillon becoming the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run; Ennis and Dillon would later become regular collaborators on other comics, including theone-shotHeartland, exploring one ofHellblazer's secondary characters. Years afterward, Ennis briefly returned toHellblazer for the five-part "Son of Man" story with artistJohn Higgins.
Ennis and Dillon went on to create the 66-issue Vertigo seriesPreacher. Running from 1995 to 2000,Preacher has been cited as Ennis's landmark work.[15] Its plot concerns a preacher withsupernatural powers who literally searches for theChristian God, who had abandonedHis creation. Mixing influences fromWestern andhorror films with twisted humor and religious satire, it drew plaudits for Ennis from all sections of the media; theGuardian newspaper voted one of thePreacher collections its Book of the Week, and film directorKevin Smith described it as "more fun than going to the movies." TheAMC television seriesPreacher, adapted from the comic, premiered in 2016.[16] From 1993 to 1995, Ennis worked with artistJohn McCrea on another DC title,The Demon, during which the duo introduced superpowered contract killer Tommy Monaghan, a character Ennis and McCrea would go on to use in the character's own title,Hitman. With the exception of a reverent depiction ofSuperman, Ennis's writing onHitman was known for portraying superheroes as ridiculous, a characteristic commonly found in Ennis' material involving such characters.Hitman ran 60 issues from 1996 to 2001. Ennis also penned severalHitman specials and spinoffs. Following the main title's cancellation, Ennis and McCrea returned to the world ofHitman for aJustice League crossover, and later a comedicminiseries following the supporting characters fromHitman, entitledSection Eight.
Other DC comics projects Ennis wrote includeBloody Mary for theHelix imprint; a run onThe Authority for theWildstorm imprint; and the first arc of theAuthority spin-off seriesMidnighter, as well as a story for the seriesUnknown Soldier and the original creationsGoddess andPride & Joy, all for theVertigo imprint.
Ennis's first work for Marvel wasPunisher Kills the Marvel Universe in 1995. Ennis noted that he quit writing for Marvel after completing this work, as the dialogue in the comic had been altered without his consultation.[9] Following the end ofHitman, Ennis was once again offered the chance to writeThe Punisher at Marvel. The initial 12-issue miniseries was illustrated bySteve Dillon, who also illustrated much of Ennis's subsequent 37-issue run of theMarvel KnightsPunisher series. No longer finding violence comedic in light of theSeptember 11th terrorist attacks, Ennis relaunchedThe Punisher under Marvel'sMAXimprint, allowing for darker stories. His 60-issue run was released concurrently with several Ennis-pennedPunisher miniseries such asBorn andBarracuda, and theone-shotsThe End,The Cell, andThe Tyger. The creators ofPunisher: War Zone have declared Ennis'sThe Punisher MAX run to have been one of the major influences on the film, and Ennis and Dillon reunited for aPunisher: War Zone miniseries to tie-in with the film.[14][17]
In 2008, Ennis ended his five-year run on the MAX imprint's Punisher series to write the Marvel miniseriesWar Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle. Illustrated byHoward Chaykin, it featured the little-used characterPhantom Eagle, a World War I pilot.[18][19] Other series Ennis wrote for Marvel includeWhere Monsters Dwell,Spider-Man,Ghost Rider,Hulk,Thor, and a series ofGoran Parlov-illustratedNick Fury stories under the MAX imprint. These stories stripped superspy Fury of his science-fiction trappings in favor of military and CIA situations, including a focus on theFirst Indochina War in one storyline.[20]
Ennis has also done both creator-owned and commissioned work forDynamite Entertainment, most notablyThe Boys. Mainly illustrated by co-creatorDarick Robertson, who Ennis previously worked with on the Marvel seriesFury: Peacemaker andPunisher: Born,The Boys ran for 72 issues before concluding in 2012. This creator-owned extended series was a superhero satire, bringing the genre to places far darker than Ennis had before, by not only portraying superheroes as ridiculous, but also amoral, malevolent, and deviant. Announced in 2006 and originally published by DC's Wildstorm imprint,The Boys was initially cancelled after six issues. Ennis later explained that this was because DC Comics were uneasy with the anti-superhero tone of the work. The series was subsequently picked up by Dynamite.[27] The series was successful and spawned spinoffs, includinga mini-series focused on the villain protagonistBilly Butcher.[28] In 2019,The Boys was adapted into aTV series byAmazon.
Other original projects for Dynamite include theHoward Chaykin–illustrated crime comicRed Team[29] and ametaseries ofwar comics calledBattlefields,[30][31] made up of mini-series includingNight Witches,[32][33]Dear Billy,[34][35] andTankies.[36][37] Among his commissioned material, Ennis wrote the pulp characterThe Shadow for Dynamite.[38] In a surprise move, Ennis attempted to crowdfund a children's book through theKickstarter platform. Unable to secure a children's book publisher due to its violent ending (in which the main character is eaten by a monster),Erf as the book became known, was ultimately published by Dynamite.[39]
Ennis wroteSara in October 2018 forTKO Studios, a war story following a team of female Russian snipers as they beat back the Nazi invaders during a brutal winter campaign on the WWII Eastern Front.[40][41]
Ennis has explained that as an avid reader of British war comics during his formative years, he did not read superhero comics until his late teens, at which point he found them ridiculous, although he frequently cites mid-eighties superhero material among his influences.[11][8] For instance, Ennis noted that the first American comic book he read in its entirety and appreciated wasThe Dark Knight Returns byFrank Miller,[43] an author who would prove influential on Ennis's subsequent work, with Ennis citing Miller's portrayal ofNick Fury inElektra: Assassin as his model for writing the character.[44] Ennis said he was "blown away" by Miller, asThe Dark Knight Returns was the first time he encountered a comic writer who approached his work like a novelist. While Ennis was already interested in a creative profession, Frank Miller's material and other mid-eighties mature readers comics likeSwamp Thing andLove and Rockets inspired him to look into specifically writing comics as a career.[45]
Despite being influenced by superhero material and having written a number of superhero stories both for and outside Marvel and DC, Ennis is noted for subverting the genre and mocking the characters in this work. For example, in the 1995 one-shot specialPunisher Kills the Marvel Universe, Ennis has the Punisher kill every single superhero and supervillain on Earth. As aWorld War II aficionado, Ennis also said he finds characters likeCaptain America "borderline offensive, because to me the reality of World War II was very human people, ordinary flesh-and-blood guys who slogged it out in miserable, flooded foxholes. So adding some fantasy superhero narrative, that has always annoyed me a little bit."[11] Nonetheless, Ennis has admitted to having appreciation for the idea behindWonder Woman if not the character, and even to outright likingSuperman, the latter of whom he was noted for writing respectfully inHitman.[46] Ennis has since explained that his issue with superhero comics is not over the genre in and of itself, but more over its dominance in the comic book industry and the constraints imposed on superhero stories by publishers. "I find most superhero stories completely meaningless," Ennis said. "Which is not to say I don't think there's potential for the genre –Alan Moore andWarren Ellis have both done interesting work with the notion of what it might be like to be and think beyond human, seeMiracleman,Watchmen andSupergod. But so long as the industry is geared towards fulfilling audience demand – ie, for the same brightly coloured characters doing the same thing forever – you're never going to see any real growth. The stories can't end, so they'll never mean anything."[47]
Ennis has remarked that in terms of Marvel and DC characters, he prefers the ones he describes as more grounded, such asthe Punisher,John Constantine, andNick Fury. In particular, Ennis describes the Punisher as resembling the British comics characters he loved as a child more than Marvel and DC superheroes, which provided him with a way to the character.[8][48] Though hisConstantine stories, such as "Dangerous Habits" (1991), are widely acclaimed, Ennis grew to dislike the character. He toldVulture in 2014 that he had come to find Constantine morally repulsive and had "no desire to write a character who essentially gets his pals killed and then explains that they were doomed anyway, so why not just spend their lives and use them up."[49]
Ennis had become a citizen of the United States by July 2016.[2]
Ennis is anatheist,[50] and said he feels disdain towardreligion. He blamed growing up in Northern Ireland during theTroubles for influencing this attitude. While he was not directly involved in the conflict as a child, he would hear about it each morning on the radio. Ennis has related that having been raised secular,religiously motivated violence made no sense as to him, characterizing such conflict as a disagreement among participants over "how to worship theirimaginary friend. That more than anything gave me my distrust of religion."[8]
Ennis has maintained an interest in military history since childhood, inspired by the war comics from his youth.[51]
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