The Punisher: Up Is Down & Black Is White - Page 2

I wasn't always the biggest fan of Soap but I liked how he left the series. He's linked to the goofy, silly issues of the Punisher in my mind. However, Ennis would probably bring him back if the story called for it.

I agree Frank looks younger, but I think it's just an artistic difference. My favourite Punisher artists have been Braithwaite and then Fernandez, but any of the recent artists is an improvement over Dillon. Braithwaite's Punny looked the oldest, a startling resemblance to Easwood in some frames.

Kinda interesting...I recently read a Punny War Journal from the mid-80s, one where Punny wishes he could go to Washington and kill all the liberal democrats. We now have a Punisher described as 'a Russian born in America by mistake.' How times change.

You're sure right about the strength of Ennis' writing. I wasn't the biggest fan of Preacher, but he's moved ahead by leaps and bounds since. Even his seemingly less serious effort, like Kev, have quite a bit of depth to them.

I'd actually like to see Ennis incorporate Soap's porn career into a storyline. Have Castle investigate some type of criminal activity in that world with Soap guiding him through the various unsavory aspects of the industry. Seems like it would fit with the MAX series.

I know there have been some recent non-Ennis mini-series with Punisher/Daredevil and Punisher/Bullseye but I'd like to see Ennis do more with Castle and Nick Fury. Their dialogue together in "Mother Russia" was great stuff and what convinced me to track down the "Fury" TPB Ennis wrote a few years back. Check it out if you haven't already, if you like his take on The Punisher you'll enjoy how he handles Fury.

Yeah, I do like his take on Fury, as a badass who lights a cigar in a new york restaurant, and is always looking for a whore to fuck. He's also the only person right now that Frank would consider an ally.

Subotai you're right in saying that Soap was linked to the more goofy issues of the punisher, but one of my favorite moments was when he stepped into his office, in the police station, and he saw Frank sitting on a box reading one of the files on him and he let out that girly scream. That freakin' hilarious.

Good idea for a storyline with Soap for the Max line Moltisanti. That is surely something Ennis would do with Soap if he ever brought him back.

I just found that all of Dillon's characters started to look alike after a while. I had the same problem with Preacher.

Dillon was always a terrible choice for Punisher. Loved his work on Hellblazer, but his quiet, minimal style doesn't work in an action packed comic about a gun-toting vigilante fighting criminals.

He did get the series off to a great start.

I loved Preacher, but you're right about all of the character's starting to look alike. I still like how he draws though. Although I prefer the John Romita Jr. renditions. I've always liked how he portrayed the punisher as a large stocky man with a permenant shadow on his face.

A really great punisher story is the graphic novel Return To Big Nothing. That was I believe the first story after the initial 4 issue mini series that became known as Circle Of Blood. Return To Big Nothing is a great story that has the punisher battling his former drill instructor. A hard ass named Cleve Gorman. It gives some really good insight into frank castle barely starting basic training, and talk about a cocky fellow. Like I said a great read. There's another one that deals with ninjas that came out around the same time called The Assassin's Guild. That one's worth a mention as well. One thing I wish that was finished off was the whole thing with the punisher's informant mickey fondozzi. The last they showed of him was him still alive in the trunk of this guy named derek smalls who was a crazy ex shield agent who was killing everyone around the punisher. If I remember correctly, he was found by some shield agents tied up and with tape over his mouth. Mickey was a character that I liked a lot, and I know Ennis wants to do his own thing, but if he could bring micro back from the dead, he could bring back a still living character.

I liked The Assassins Guild, but Return to Big Nothing - if it's the same novel I'm thinking of - didn't do as much for me. Took too many liberties with the Castle character. Mickey, I think he's the guy from the Chuck Dixon trade, War Zone? He was pretty funny.

Yeah, Mickey got his start in war zone. His interrogation was lifted from the first issue of war zone and put in the new movie.

Meanwhile, that Punny/Bullseye teamup came to a brutal ending.

Here's some news of interest:

New War Journal Comic

The article goes on to explain that this comic would give Castle the chance for more interaction with the Marvel Universe, which he can't really do in the MAX run. Hope it turns out okay because as much as I dig the mobster/government agent stuff that Ennis is so good with I always enjoyed a good storyline involving Castle and some of the other Marvel clan.

Here's a shot at the first issue's cover:

The new War Journal news has me completely jazzed based on Matt Fraction's comments during the interview. Completely reverent to Ennis' work with the Punisher line, calling Batman a pussy...plus the "Last of the Independents" TPB that he did with Kieron Dwyer was a pretty kickass slice of pulpy action.

The whole "offing superheroes" bit reeks of Ennis' "Hitman" line that he did for DC (another personal favorite), but if Fraction can spice it up with some good Punisher flava I'll be satisfied.

So....anyone read Daredevil #84?

So I take it that the new War Journal is going to be pg-rated Punisher? After reading the article, it seems both good and bad, good, because this will be the first time since 1995 that there will be more than one monthly punisher book out on the market, and bad that it's going to be out there side by side with Ennis' MAX Punisher. I wonder how they're going to show that? I'm still of mixed feelings about the whole Frank Vs. Supervillains thing, so I guess I'll wait and see when I check out the first issue. I hope that War Journal doesn't interfere with the MAX Punisher, seeing as that is how he should be represented from now on.

I got the new issue of the MAX Punisher, Barracuda part 2, this Barracuda guy seems like a worthy opponent for Frank, and I like how he's introduced with the girl and the snake. I can't wait to see how Frank takes him out. Looking forward to part 3.

The new series sounds cool. I always preferred Frank in the regular Marvel universe, where he could put down pansy PC heroes like Daredevil and go toe-to-toe with giants like Dr. Doom.

The big problem with the Punisher vs. Super Villians idea is that Super Villians don't die. And last time I checked, killing people was Punisher's thing.

True, but Spiderman never dies, and people are always trying to kill him. All that matters is that Frank gets an A for effort.

The purpose of the new comic seems to be to give the Punisher a chance to interact with all the characters in the MU, villains and heroes, who aren’t “allowed” to show up in the MAX run. I think it’s a good idea.

At one time or another the Punisher has clashed with a lot of the big Marvel bad guys. This new series probably won’t be all that different from what the character was doing in the 80’s and early 90’s, only now it'll be $3 a pop.

I've always hated whenever Bug-boy or Daredevil try to save the lives of some of the guys that The Punisher tries to take out, like that one guy in the early issues of the Spider-Man series where he was trying to make Spider-Man look bad as he dressed up like him, except he had some obvious silver shoes, and I remember even while he was fighting with Spider-Man while dressed as his own original villain, who I forget what he called himself, and Spider-Man trying to protect him and telling him he's trying to save his life while The Punisher locks on with a sniper rife from afar.

Er, come again?

I was talking about whenever The Punisher runs into Spider-Man, who he refers to as Bugboy, or Daredevil, and they intervene whenever he tries to take out a villain and they save the villains life, or try to save the villains life.

The Daredevil run, with Brubaker, looks promising...With Daredevil locked up with the Kingpin, Bullseye, and assorted other cretins...And Punny snapping a pimp's neck in front of a cop to get locked up with them. To even the odds, perhaps?

Yeah, I hate it when superheroes don't murder guys, too.

No way. I pick up Punisher for the money shots.

Just finished "The Slavers" TPB and it didn't impress me too much. Intestines wrapped around a tree aside, it didn't really have the wild sense of humor I come to expect from the series. Plus, the whole police trying to paint Castle as a cop-beater seemed pretty tacked on.

It's not so much "wacky" that was missing from "The Slavers," I know MAX is a lot different from Marvel Knights. But the other MAX stories, save for maybe "Kitchen Irish," have had a good dose of black humor in them. A lot of stuff in "The Slavers" seemed a bit forced to me.

I did enjoy the woman repeatedly being thrown into the shatter-proof glass.

Man, this Barracuda stuff is brutal. This shark thing does remind me of the Batman "Venom" storyline, though.

It was tough to get humour into that Slavers storyline. However, there was a bit between those two cops.

There's a fair bit of black humour in the Barracuda story so far.

"Punisher: Tyger" turned out to be a great one-shot. It's an interesting look at an incident from Frank's childhood that started him on his path to madness. It reads a bit like a Punisher comic crossed with an episode of "The Wonder Years." Worth picking up, especially for anyone who enjoyed Ennis' take on pre-Punisher Castle in "Born."

Punisher: Tyger was a good one shot indeed. I've always wondered how his childhood was like aside from that small scene where he saves Matt Murdock in Ennis' oneshot The Punisher Kills The Marvel Universe, and Ennis once again has proven that he is a master at writing.

I liked The Slavers storyline, and it's true that there didn't really need to be a lot of black humor in it, since it was such a bleak story. Barracuda is turning out ok. There's still 2 more issues to go, and Barracuda is starting to remind me of that nearly indestructible hitman Roc that Frank faced twice in War Zone. I can't wait to see how he takes out Barracuda, and these whiny Wall Street types.

Well, I got the last issue of Barracuda on wednesday, and it could have been better. It was ok, spoilers: I loved the sharks, and Barracuda's change of heart, and reaction to Frank when he's about to clip him was hilarious, but I expected a bit more of brutal punishment from Frank.

It's too bad the thrashing that Frank got from Barracuda prevented him from climbing on that boat and drilling everyone on there, especially with the armaments that Barracuda had. Overall, Barracuda had pretty much all of the best lines, and his fight with Frank was a great all out brawl, but the story about Dynaco and the businessmen wasn't as good as the ones that have come before it, although it still had all of the over the top violence and dialogue that I have come to expect from Ennis, and I'm looking forward to what Ennis has in store for the next six issue arc.

It looks pretty good. 'The Man of Stone', the Russian general Frank outsmarted in the Russian ICBM silos a couple of years ago, is back - back for blood! Looks like Frank is going overseas (POSSIBLE ARC SPOILERS):

http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?artist=LEO%20FERNANDEZ

Wow, Man Of Stone looks really good. I figured he'd be back, and Rawlins too. They're the only other loose ends in the Max line, Nicky Cavella already got his. Can't wait to see how this plays out, and I can't wait to see how Frank rescues O'brien.

Well, they made the point that the 'generals' still have it in for Frank .

I think Ennis's take on Punisher is probably the best we'll ever get for this character, I've been reading Ennis entire MAX run over the last few months and it's just an incredibly ballsy over the top comic. Castle's internal monologue's are morbidly funny and the people Castle keeps coming up against are so far out there, I think Castle gutting that sex trafficker and hanging his intestines over a nearby branch is about as hardcore as it get's, not withstanding the entire Cavella storyline.

I thought 'Widowmakers' could've been better, the idea of mobster's widows getting revenge on Frank could've been pretty cool but the inclusion of the sister out for revenge against one of the widows just felt weak.

How you liking the current arc, Dragon Ma? I think it has the potential to be one of the best depending how they handle it. Of course, the ending will probably be predictable, but I am looking forward to the final showdown between Barracuda and Frank.

Widowmakers definitely underwhelmed me, especially after the likes of Man of Stone and The Slavers. I wasn't incredibly fond of the art either. Never really cottoned to much of Lan Medina's stuff aside from what he did for Fables.

I still have yet to catch up on the latest run, although a friend tipped me off to something within it that was quite interesting. Going to go pick up the books tomorrow afternoon.

Well, I'll have to pick up the trade to find out, last time Frank and Barracuda went at it, Frank barely survived, then again, Barracuda was fighting a half-conscious Frank Castle.

Ah, whew, good thing I refrained from posting a massive spoiler there...yeah, at least check out #50. There's a surprise at the end, and a sweet payoff for those of us that have been following all of the Punisher stories for a while now (especially Man of Stone). Hope you enjoy it Dragon Ma and Harrybeanbag.

And I agree 100% on your assessment of Widowmaker. It started off with a very interesting premise, but then fell into the trap of "Frank steps COMPLETELY to the sidelines and lets various supporting characters do all the work." This arc, however, looks to be almost exclusively about Frank and Frank alone, which, when you think about it, is a welcome change; usually it's the villains of each arc who step into the spotlight, so it's good to get a story about Frank for his 50th issue run.

Wasn't there a Barracuda spin-off, I took a look at the trade but I'm not sure whether it's worth getting.

Maurice getting his head crushed between the shark's jaws was disturbing.

Glad I wasn't the only one disappointed with Widowmaker. Damn if Frank hasn't been royally getting the shit beat out of him in the last few story arcs.

This new story arc is definitely a step up, especially with this new "twist" in Frank's life. Can't wait to see the fight that happens between him and Barracuda.

From some of the covers I've seen, it looks like Ennis is taking Frank back to 'Nam for alittle.

Which is a recurring theme among all his protagonists - Midnighter (at least how he wrote it), Tommy Monaghan, Kev...