shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Oct 28, 2015 10:13:13 GMT -5
This truly was a favorite review thread of mine, even while I could care less about The Punisher and never read this series. Crazyoldhermit did a fine job here.
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Oct 28, 2015 16:55:21 GMT -5
This truly was a favorite review thread of mine, even while I could care less about The Punisher and never read this series. Crazyoldhermit did a fine job here.  Guess I should get around to finishing my final essay at some point. Another thing I love about Ennis' portrayal of Frank in this run, which I think people who have a particular disdain for the character can appreciate (and crazyoldhermit touches on in his reviews)... Ennis doesn't romanticize what Frank is or what he does. He portrays Frank Castle as an extremely disturbed, monstrous force of nature who goes out and does something horrible every night in order to prevent himself from doing something even more horrible. This version of Frank isn't your classical Frank who simply does what he does because he has a disdain for criminals and lives to avenge the loss of his family. This Frank Castle is a truly sick man with an undying lust for murderous actions. Lucky for us, he just so happens to focus that monstrous aggression towards the lowest dregs that society has to offer instead of totally losing his grip on reality and lashing out at society in general. It's absolutely haunting and Ennis does an amazing job at getting that across in a manner that isn't constantly shoved down your throat. Yeah, what I really love about Ennis' take on the character is that he takes all of the common criticism directed towards him and adds it to the story. The fact that Frank Castle is two-dimensional character is a major element of the plot and it's examined at length what could take a person and turn them into such a flat and static character. |
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Post by Reptisaurus! on Oct 28, 2015 19:34:21 GMT -5
This truly was a favorite review thread of mine, even while I could care less about The Punisher and never read this series. Crazyoldhermit did a fine job here. Yeah, this was a pretty great thread. (As I may have mentioned before.) I could give a wet fart for every other Punisher appearance* but this is one of my absolute favorite recent mainstream books. * Alright, I like that I just sold a Spidey 129 for 250 bucks cash which will go a long way to fixing my roof.  |
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Post by crazyoldhermit on Mar 20, 2016 10:17:10 GMT -5
I'm very pleased to say that the new season of Daredevil is heavily inspired by this series.
If anyone who liked the show and wants more of The Punisher, this series is the one to read.
When I've had more time to digest it I'll do a write up of every little wink and nod that points back in this direction, because I caught quite a few just on my first watch.
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bran
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Post by bran on Jun 18, 2017 3:04:03 GMT -5
Another thing I love about Ennis' portrayal of Frank in this run, which I think people who have a particular disdain for the character can appreciate (and crazyoldhermit touches on in his reviews)... Ennis doesn't romanticize what Frank is or what he does. He portrays Frank Castle as an extremely disturbed, monstrous force of nature who goes out and does something horrible every night in order to prevent himself from doing something even more horrible. This version of Frank isn't your classical Frank who simply does what he does because he has a disdain for criminals and lives to avenge the loss of his family. This Frank Castle is a truly sick man with an undying lust for murderous actions. Lucky for us, he just so happens to focus that monstrous aggression towards the lowest dregs that society has to offer instead of totally losing his grip on reality and lashing out at society in general. It's absolutely haunting and Ennis does an amazing job at getting that across in a manner that isn't constantly shoved down your throat. Ennis's Frank Castle reminds me of colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. What's particularly well done in the movie is when Martin Sheen reads his biography on that boat (and that leaves him with more questions than he had before). We learn that Kurtz was doing everything by the book (went on to best schools, had good grades, had some little combat experience, earned some medals etc) yet perfectionist as he was he was not satisfied with that. For him that was like a high-school cup. So he went on to post-post-graduate post-phd real-life school which is a top level combat - complete and unhinged savagery. Sure some tactics and equipment help but - a savage man is much superior to a civilized man. That was a missing part - that will ensure epic victory for his side (and so it does, he is unstoppable). His Cambodians are considered sub-human savages by Vietnamese/Chineese, in the same token as Vietnamese are considered savages by US military. He is beating them with their own weapon. In his mind, probably, he is on the course all the time - nothing changed (he just reached the higher level of warfare). |
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Post by Warmonger on Jun 18, 2017 21:45:38 GMT -5
Another thing I love about Ennis' portrayal of Frank in this run, which I think people who have a particular disdain for the character can appreciate (and crazyoldhermit touches on in his reviews)... Ennis doesn't romanticize what Frank is or what he does. He portrays Frank Castle as an extremely disturbed, monstrous force of nature who goes out and does something horrible every night in order to prevent himself from doing something even more horrible. This version of Frank isn't your classical Frank who simply does what he does because he has a disdain for criminals and lives to avenge the loss of his family. This Frank Castle is a truly sick man with an undying lust for murderous actions. Lucky for us, he just so happens to focus that monstrous aggression towards the lowest dregs that society has to offer instead of totally losing his grip on reality and lashing out at society in general. It's absolutely haunting and Ennis does an amazing job at getting that across in a manner that isn't constantly shoved down your throat. Ennis's Frank Castle reminds me of colonel Kurtz from Apocalypse Now. What's particularly well done in the movie is when Martin Sheen reads his biography on that boat (and that leaves him with more questions than he had before). We learn that Kurtz was doing everything by the book (went on to best schools, had good grades, had some little combat experience, earned some medals etc) yet perfectionist as he was he was not satisfied with that. For him that was like a high-school cup. So he went on to post-post-graduate post-phd real-life school which is a top level combat - complete and unhinged savagery. Sure some tactics and equipment help but - a savage man is much superior to a civilized man. That was a missing part - that will ensure epic victory for his side (and so it does, he is unstoppable). His Cambodians are considered sub-human savages by Vietnamese/Chineese, in the same token as Vietnamese are considered savages by US military. He is beating them with their own weapon. In his mind, probably, he is on the course all the time - nothing changed (he just reached the higher level of warfare). As I've said before...it's the greatest, pure vigilante comic in history IMO. Every once in a while the stars align and the perfect writer is matched up with a character that he just totally gets, inside and out. No one will ever write Swamp Thing better than Alan Moore. No one will ever write Daredevil better than Frank Miller. And no one will ever write the Punisher better than Garth Ennis. Everyone usually rails on about Preacher when they're talking Ennis, but to me (despite being a fan of Preacher) it's not even Top 3. His Punisher MAX run and his war comics take the cake. Just extremely well done all around and hit you right in the gut during just the right spots. |
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bran
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Post by bran on Apr 26, 2019 1:50:07 GMT -5
Here are couple of comments on Platoon.
Platoon is a nice closure to this series, or Vietnam chapters at least (I think Garth said in an interview he may do one more).
It's not a major entry, doesn't add much to the series, but it doesn't take anything away from it either. Juxtaposition of Frank's first tour of duty and veterans in modern day environment, using the cell phones and all, is a hint of optimism at the end.
For some weird reason, we the readers need, no - we are needy beyond belief, to buy the exact same story over and over and over again, to death.
Like some affirmative chant. Fortunately, Ennis, like many other A-list writers, is bored with telling the same story twice and doesn't shy away to say no. This story is over - The end, fin, das ende. Anyone who likes his stuff I recommend highly underrated SF mini-series - Caliban, or some of the War Stories he did for Avatar.
Come think of it, this entire series is probably him avoiding to do Marvel Knight's run twice (and at the same time not to turn off to gig).
Now, since these 2 runs are atop of the list, of the most popular Punisher comics of all times, this is what I would do if I were a publisher:
- One trade per story arc (exactly as listed in this thread), much better than individual issues or omnibus bundles.
- Commission Darick Robertson for brand new trade covers (toss away semi-generic Photoshop job; Born and The End are fine).
- Sort one-shots chronologically, so saga starts with Born or Tyger and ends with The End.
There you go, now it's perfect :-)
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Post by earl on Sept 12, 2020 20:42:19 GMT -5
I'd love to see Ennis' go back and do the Punisher and set the series at the beginning. Show more of how he gets started and then you could play with setting it in time in the 70s and 80s NYC (perhaps doing a Son of Sam inspired arc, use the blackout etc., crack explosion, birth of hip hop, Bernie Goetz etc.)
There is a lot of stuff you could use as raw material.
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