Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970 in Holywood, Northern Ireland) is an Irish comic writer, who wrote the Star Wars Tales comics Trooper and In the Beginning. He is best known for the DC/Vertigo series Preacher and his successful revival of Marvel Comics' The Punisher franchise. His work is characterized by extreme violence, black humor, profanity, an interest in male friendship, a disdain for organized religion, and contempt for superheroes.