Jesse Custer and Tulip (Preacher)

Created by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon.
Source: Wikipedia

Jesse and Tulip continued their life of crime, sometimes landing in jail. Eventually, they ended up briefly in Phoenix, Arizona, where Jesse suggested they take a vacation in San Francisco, where Jesse had intended to ask Tulip to marry him. Unfortunately, as soon as Tulip had gone on a brief visit to buy groceries, Jesse's lifelong tormentors Jody and T.C. had suddenly appeared at his side to abduct him back to his grandmother, leaving Tulip with the impression that Jesse had abandoned her.

Tulip, embittered by Jesse's "leaving" her, then let herself spiral downward into alcohol addiction, ultimately deciding to get help when she discovered blood in her urine. She sought help from a strip-club owner (who was also a small-time hood) to help finance her treatment. When it came time to repay him, she made it abundantly clear that she would not have intercourse with him as a method of payment. She instead offered to become a hitman for him. The owner scoffed at the offer until Tulip challenged his masculinity. They then went to a firing range he also owned, where Tulip proved herself to be a more accurate shot than all the men in attendance. Suitably impressed, he hired her to do a hit, which Tulip botched badly, disfiguring one of the target's assistants, rather than hitting the target himself.

Fleeing the scene of the crime, Tulip encountered a pickup truck and decided to attempt a carjacking and escape. This particular pickup, however would change Tulip's life forever, as the owner, Cassidy, was extremely reluctant to let Tulip in, until her pursuers shot him. Cassidy then agreed to give Tulip a ride.

The pair rode until daylight, when Cassidy needed to escape the sunlight, and slept under a tarp in the truck's tailgate, and ordered Tulip not to drive. Unbeknownst to the two of them, Cassidy had happened to park close enough to the church where Jesse Custer was serving at, and Tulip had seen the sudden explosion that occurred as a result of the Genesis entity possessing Custer. Over Cassidy's protestations, Tulip drove to the church to look for survivors, finding only Jesse, who awoke only briefly enough to see Tulip and kiss her before losing consciousness once again.

After several altercations involving sheriff Hugo Root and the Saint of Killers, Jesse and Cassidy became fast friends. Tulip decided to stay with Jesse because she wanted to know what had happened to Jesse in the years since he left her.

After relating her story about what had happened to her, She and Jesse decided to pay the strip-club owner a visit to settle matters with him, one way or the other. In the midst of "negotiations" with the owner's staff, Jody and T.C. suddenly burst in and killed the owner's staff and the owner himself, and were inexplicably immune to Jesse's "Word of God" power. They abducted Jesse and Tulip and took the two of them back to where Jesse had spent his childhood, where his grandmother, Marie L'Angelle, informed them that they were immune to Jesse's power because of a pact she had made with God, and that come morning, Tulip was to be killed, and Jesse would resume his position as preacher in another church.

After grandmother and her servants left them alone for the night, Jesse confessed what had really happened to him, and the details of his hellish childhood with his grandmother and company.

Moved, Tulip forgave Jesse fully. Unfortunately, mere seconds after Tulip gave her forgiveness, Jodie and T.C. had come back to make good on Miss Marie's promise, and, in front of a distraught Jesse shot Tulip in the face.

Following instructions, Tulip's body was placed in L'Angelle's bedroom, where she was resurrected by God, who ultimately instructed Tulip to inform Jesse that further attempts to pursue him would only result in more tragedy and that as a sign of good faith Jesse's powers had returned. (Jesse would later dispute as to whether or not it was God who restored his powers.)

Coming out of the bedroom, Tulip encountered a severely beaten T.C, who had been beaten by Jesse after discovering his powers had returned. Tulip found a nearby shotgun and killed T.C. She then encountered Jesse's grandmother, who was trying to escape the burning house. Enraged, she tipped over L'Angelle's wheelchair with her and a full oxygen tank in it, leaving her to die in the house.

Tulip managed to escape the house mere moments before it exploded. She then managed to find Jesse, who had just had his vengeance against Jodie. Jesse at first thought Tulip was a hallucination, until the two engaged in a passionate kiss.