Matt Cordell was once an honest, effective cop. So effective that he was dubbed "Supercop" by his fellow officers. However, his refusal to go along with a corrupt administration led to his framing and sentencing to Sing Sing Prison... the very same prison where many of the vile criminals he brought to justice were sent. Cordell was brutally murdered by these inmates, but his soul refused to rest. Fueled by a now supernatural rage to seek vengeance against not only those who framed him, but the city corruption itself, Cordell rose from the grave. His rage now blinds his sense of justice, and he sees all as guilty. While he ultimately targets the corrupt and evil, he has no regard for those in his way, especially innocent bystanders.
Cordell possesess near superhuman strength, as he is easily able to throw people around with one arm. He also has the competency to operate equipment, plot, and carry out plans, so he is far more formidable than typical zombie fare. Conventional weapons are effectively useless against him, and seldom accomplish more than just slowing him down for a bit. The fact that he was impaled in a truck crash that sent him into the ocean, only to rise again, shows that he has practical invulnerability.
Jesse is a small-town reverend who becomes fused with a powerful entity named Genesis, gifting him with the ability to order people to do whatever he commands. Using this power, he begins a journey of discovery and revenge across America, with the aim of forcing God to answer to his creation for his sins. Assisting Jesse in his travels is Tulip O'Hare, his gun-wielding girlfriend, and Proinsias Cassidy, a hard-drinking Irish vampire.
Jesse is a loyal devotee to the Western film genre (best epitomized by the guiding spirit of John Wayne, whom only Jesse sees), an accomplished fist-fighter, and a cunning strategist. His tragic flaw perhaps is his strict observance of his code of honor. His name is an anagram of 'Secret Jesus'.
When his soul merged with the angel-demon entity Genesis, its powers, that of which is greater than God's, would be focused into what Jesse Custer would refer to as "The Word of God." When he uses the Word, his eyes turn red and his voice changes that sounds like "nails scraping against [your] soul." Although, no one can resist his commands, his victims must be able to understand them. For example, animals would ignore his commands, and a group of attacking French-speaking soldiers were able to resist him. Jesse prefers to keep his Word in reserve, using it only when he has to. However he has used the word for all sorts of situations before, from ordering a Ku Klux Klan member to 'shit himself' to calling in on a radio phone-in show and ordering the guests to tell America what is it they really want, with embarrassing results.
"It's like a gun, you keep it in reserve and only bring it out when you have to, that's good. When you start waving it in a receptionist's face, that's bad." - Jesse Custer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Custer