Ennis and Punisher at Their Best

Blood, guts, guns and grit- that’s what you can expect in your average Punisher comic book from Marvel comics. However, under the company’s MAX imprint, Frank Castle just got a whole lot bloodier, gutsier and grittier, with more guns present than ever before.

Add in some foul language, suggestive sexual themes, the mafia and Irish terrorists and you have the first 12 issues of the Punisher MAX series, which is easily the best set of tales involving the character today. Written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Lewis LaRosa and Leandro Fernandez, with covers by Tim Broadstreet, this is the one collection every Punisher fan should own and every comic book fan should read.

Great action scenes are customary in every Punisher comic and all 12 issues in this hardcover collection are full of shootouts, explosions and death. However, not to be undervalued here are two excellent stories that show Frank Castle as more than a gun-crazy lunatic bent on revenge; they show him as a man that fights because he has nothing else to live for.

The way Ennis shows Castle to the reader is not very different from the way he has in other trades, such as ‘Welcome Back, Frank,” but the way the characters around him are showcased make this the most polished and deep Punisher story ever told. Unlike other tales in the Punisher universe, the characters here are more than just eventual corpses for Castle to consume. Instead, you have a cast of criminals, cops and innocent people that matter, making them viable and creating an emotional connection between them and the reader. While in the end, you know some of them are destined to a fate they can’t avoid, none die exactly the way you originally thought, proving that Castle is an old dog that still has a fair amount of tricks up his sleeves.

Powered by Ennis’ writing, these stories were already something special, but thanks to the artwork of LaRosa and Fernandez, this trade has it all. Depicting Castle as a bit older and worn out physically and emotionally, they go hand in hand with Ennis’ writing and make the tale a memorable one. With so much action and a nice variation in the size of the panels, the art flows marvelously and is descriptive as the stellar writing. While Broadstreet’s covers don’t look much like the comic, they are great-looking in their own right and are the cherry on top of what is testament to the ability of all four of the people majorly involved in this project.

All in all, while Marvel’s MAX imprint and the Punisher is obviously a match made in heaven, Ennis and the artistic team behind “Punisher MAX Vol. One” makes sure first 12 issues of the series set the bar as high as possible.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14260 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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