SPOILER WARNING: Major spoilers from tonight's pilot episode of AMC's "Preacher" (and the Vertigo comic series it's adapted from) follow.
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's adaptation of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's landmark comic series, "Preacher," deviates quite a bit from its source material -- not necessarily in tone, but in plot and character. One of the big differences is the pacing. Unlike the brisk speed seen on page, the show takes its time, content to establish Jesse Custer's (Dominic Cooper) relationships with various main and supporting roles before he embarks on his epic quest.
Yet, in a move that somewhat contrasts with the measured pace, the show wastes no time in introducing a handful of characters much sooner than the comic. Most notable is Ian Colletti as Eugene Root (a.k.a. Arseface), the disfigured son of local Sheriff Hugo Root (W. Earl Brown). Fans of the DC/Vertigo series know that he doesn't pop up until a bit later, and even then, he doesn't interact with Jesse until much further down the line. Here though, they have a touching relationship that's probably a lot healthier for Eugene than the one he has with his own father. Also, the angels DeBlanc and Fiore (Anatol Yusef and Tom Brooke, respectively) are much farther along in their mission than when we first meet them in the comic, already in pursuit of Genesis (even if it's not explicitly stated).
Finally, a hint gets dropped about one of the comic's most notorious villains, Odin Quincannon. Although we don't get to actually see Jackie Earle Haley as Odin in all his bespectacled, meat-loving repulsiveness, a member of Jesse's congregation works at his slaughterhouse. That means Odin isn't in the far-off town of Salvation as he is in the comic, but right in Jesse's current residence of Annville. Expect to see him far sooner than in Ennis' narrative, which doesn't introduce him until about halfway through the entire series. All that's missing now is The Saint of Killers...