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Garth Ennis’ Punisher Ruins Other Superheroes

Garth Ennis’ Punisher Ruins Other Superheroes

The Punisher Vol. 4 1-12 (2000-2001) Vol. 5 1-37 (2001-2004) Vol. 6 1-60 (2004-2008)ITB

Written by Garth Ennis
Art by Steve Dillon, Darick Robertson, Tom Mandrake, Cam Kennedy, John McCrea, Leandro Fernandez, Lewis LaRosa, Doug Braithwaite, Goran Pavlov, Lan Medina
Published by Marvel Comics

 

It was over five years ago that a good friend turned to me and suggested I read The Punisher, written by Garth Ennis under the MAX imprint of Marvel Comics. In one of the greatest examples of understatement I have encountered in my life, he said, “I think you will like it”. He wasn’t wrong. The series has stuck with me to this day and sparked a love for the works of Garth Ennis that would eventually see me tracking down Preacher and afterwards, The Boys. It has served as a comfort, at times an inspiration, and always a thoroughly enjoyable read that for my money show cases the best writing of any comic book I have ever read.

It also remains one of the hardest comics to genuinely recommend to people. I have plenty of friends who came to me to ask for some reading advice after the big screen success of things like ‘The Avengers’ or Nolan’s ‘Batman’ trilogy. In very rare examples ,I have suggested looking at the Punisher. It isn’t for everybody, and in trying to pin down why that is I turned to that same friend who suggested I read it all those years ago. I told him I’m writing a piece about ‘The Punisher, and I’m struggling to put into words the lasting effect it has on the people who read it and connect with it. He paused for a moment.

“The Punisher ruins other superheroes”, he said. That pretty much nailed it.

The MAX imprint is Marvels line for appealing to more mature readers. Which essentially translates as meaning it’s where they put the real violence, bad language and themes that simply wont fit in a Spider-Man story. It almost seems made for The Punisher, and Ennis style in particular. It becomes very easy to forget that this is Marvel at all. The logo might be on the spine of the book, but it rapidly starts to depart from the common Marvel style. Although Stan Lee was specifically referencing the Fury miniseries, he gave his opinions on the MAX line quite succinctly when he said, “I don’t know why they’re doing that. I don’t think that I would do those kinds of stories.” The fact that Fury was also written by Ennis says all you really need to know about the tone of The Punisher’

There are no super heroes here. There are Vietnam vets, the SAS and Delta Force. Nick Fury shows up on a couple of occasions, but there is no Helicarrier in sight. This is Fury’s pre-Ultimates reimagining so the Samuel L Jackson cool is yet to replace the grim, world weary soldier who is Frank’s only reliable ally. There are no villains looking for world domination or plotting for intergalactic war. This is a world where CIA agents run heroin deals on the side, where mafiosos bully pimps for a cut of their money, and innocent waitresses get caught in bomb blasts and “vomit blood and glass and drop down dead”. Ennis brings in references to Al-Qaeda, Bin Laden, and the IRA. This isn’t for the faint hearted. Neither is Frank.

Frank Castle is drawn by a variety of artists throughout the run, but all of them present him with one thing in common. He is terrifying. It is Leandro Fernandez’s depiction that I find myself drawn to the most. Frank is presented as a bit like Clint Eastwood, if he was built like a 250 lb middle linebacker and had the weight of over two thousand kills etched into his face. But regardless of how he looks, it is the inner monologue so brilliant written by Ennis that makes Frank real. It pulls you into every thought, every feeling and brings you very close to believing a man could do the things that Frank does. You find yourself wondering, how you would react if you were put through what Frank goes through in the opening four pages of ‘In the Beginning‘. Is there a little bit of Frank in all of us, straining to be unleashed if the things we love are threatened?

MAX-Punisher-Cocina-irlandesa_03

Batman is one of the iconic superheroes motivated by revenge. The death of his family motivates him to train, to learn and to develop an honor code that he puts in place to clean up Gotham. Frank uses revenge as an excuse too, but he goes about doing his cleaning up in a much different way. Brutal, effective and without mercy. He isn’t frightening because he is in a scary suit. He doesn’t take stabbings, bullets and beatings because he has an adamantium skeleton. He is frightening, he is tough, because that is simply what he is. A trained, deadly and totally unforgiving killer. Who is, incidentally, old enough to be your granddad,  and he will never stop.

It’s at this point that my friends summation starts to ring true. Superheroes fight crime, that’s the bottom line of what they do. Through their actions they should install fear into those who seek to harm others. No matter what angle you come at this from, whether its from Captain America or Batman, after you read this run on The Punisher, you find yourself asking  a question that you already know the answer to.

“If I was a bad guy, who would I be more scared of?”

 

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