kainedamo
Superhero
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- Sep 11, 2001
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Well, it's been a heck of a ride, going back all the way to 2000 with the brilliant Welcome Back, Frank. That's eight ****in' years of Garth Ennis writing The Punisher.
Welcome Back, Frank was incredibly violent and bloody, with a dark humor running through it, and a very high body count. I remember after I first read it, I went back to the start and tried to count the number of people killed on panel. I can't remember the exact number, but it was well over 60. It was a very entertaining book.
Once the book shifted over to the Max line, it became infinitely darker and more violent. In Up is Down and Black Is White, The Punisher is like an unstoppable force of nature. Going from drug dens to gang hangouts, elminating dozens and dozens of people in a hail of blood and bullets.
Born - a story of Frank's Vietnam days. In many ways this is where the Punisher really started (thus the title). Some unnamed dark force talks in Frank's head. Is it the devil? The Grim Reaper? Some dark force that feeds on the dead of all wartime throughout history? Frank, through the eyes of one of the other soldiers, is shown as a man that has fallen in love with war and doesn't ever want it to stop.
The End - spectacular piece of work. There is a running theme through some of Ennis' work on The Punisher. The Punisher, or maybe another unnamed force of nature, seems to feel fury at those who profit from war.
Tyger - I haven't actually read this. I sorely want to. It's not available in stores. But this goes back even further than Born, to Frank's childhood. Garth Ennis' work has spanned Frank's entire life.
Valley Forge, Valley Forge - definately seems like a critique of not just the Vietnam war but of the Iraq war. It's not overly preachy, it just shows things from the point of view of an author whose brother died in Vietnam. The only good thing he took out of Vietnam was that never again would America be lied into a war. To his horror and anger, he is proven wrong. Some of the best fiction is fiction that reflects reality, and this story arc certainly does that. It covers some facts of the Vietnam war and puts it in a poetic perspective.
The book does not overtly state this, this is my own interpretation. But I feel that maybe Frank Castle is the embodiment of the anger and rage of dead soldiers, made to die for a lie.
"In the end, the war in Vietnam was much like any other.
There were those who profited.
Those it devoured.
And then there were those for whom there are no words"
I feel I will ask for Punisher to be taken off my shelf now. I don't think there will ever be anyone that got the character like Ennis did.
Discuss Garth Ennis' Punisher here.
Welcome Back, Frank was incredibly violent and bloody, with a dark humor running through it, and a very high body count. I remember after I first read it, I went back to the start and tried to count the number of people killed on panel. I can't remember the exact number, but it was well over 60. It was a very entertaining book.
Once the book shifted over to the Max line, it became infinitely darker and more violent. In Up is Down and Black Is White, The Punisher is like an unstoppable force of nature. Going from drug dens to gang hangouts, elminating dozens and dozens of people in a hail of blood and bullets.
Born - a story of Frank's Vietnam days. In many ways this is where the Punisher really started (thus the title). Some unnamed dark force talks in Frank's head. Is it the devil? The Grim Reaper? Some dark force that feeds on the dead of all wartime throughout history? Frank, through the eyes of one of the other soldiers, is shown as a man that has fallen in love with war and doesn't ever want it to stop.
The End - spectacular piece of work. There is a running theme through some of Ennis' work on The Punisher. The Punisher, or maybe another unnamed force of nature, seems to feel fury at those who profit from war.
Though they are the last people alive, The Punisher eliminates them unrelentingly
Tyger - I haven't actually read this. I sorely want to. It's not available in stores. But this goes back even further than Born, to Frank's childhood. Garth Ennis' work has spanned Frank's entire life.
Valley Forge, Valley Forge - definately seems like a critique of not just the Vietnam war but of the Iraq war. It's not overly preachy, it just shows things from the point of view of an author whose brother died in Vietnam. The only good thing he took out of Vietnam was that never again would America be lied into a war. To his horror and anger, he is proven wrong. Some of the best fiction is fiction that reflects reality, and this story arc certainly does that. It covers some facts of the Vietnam war and puts it in a poetic perspective.
The book does not overtly state this, this is my own interpretation. But I feel that maybe Frank Castle is the embodiment of the anger and rage of dead soldiers, made to die for a lie.
"In the end, the war in Vietnam was much like any other.
There were those who profited.
Those it devoured.
And then there were those for whom there are no words"
I feel I will ask for Punisher to be taken off my shelf now. I don't think there will ever be anyone that got the character like Ennis did.
Discuss Garth Ennis' Punisher here.
t:.
