Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A serious explanation of the roots of Urban violence...Not!!, 19 Feb 2002
By A Customer
For those of you who have never read the Punisher, how can I set the scene? Picture this: A lone embittered vigilante character, a thinly veiled rip-off of the Death Wish movies and Dirty Harry characters from the past. Originally created during the 1970's as a supporting character, he got his shot at the spotlight during the more gung-ho late '80's and early 90's. Over exposure (and by that I mean the flogging of a dead horse) saw the popularity of the character take a swan-dive in the mid-90's.
So, you would think that this sort of gratuitous violence would be unlikely go over well in the more enlighten 21st Century. No, not unless you hire Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon (both of Preacher fame) to update him.
Garth and Steve decide from the outset to strip the concept bare and build back it up. You don't need to know anything about the history. That isn't what the story is about.
At it's bare essentials, it's a story of a big nutter with a gun (and knives, and a flame thrower and at one point, quite curiously, a polar bear) declaring war on the Gnucci mafia family, its matriarch Ma Gnucci (Imagine what you would get if you crossed Don Vito Corleone and Cruella DeVille and sprinkled on a bit of Darth Vader to season) and the Russian (the guy who beat you up in school, except bigger and Russian).
Well, not a problem for our Frank!! He can always call on his allies (in this case, a piercing fetishist, the world's largest man and a nice lady who makes pies.....Oh, dear. He may be in some trouble).
Yes, this is violent, but not gratuitously so. This book is mainly played for laughs (except where it isn't). Buy it and find take a trip into Frank (and Garth and Steve's) twisted little world. You'll want to come back and visit again.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Brains, blood, balls and brilliant storytelling, 26 Feb 2009
Okay, just to confirm, this review is about the hardcover volume 1 of the Punisher Max series.
I'm a huge fan of Garth Ennis's initial Marvel Knights run of The Punisher - enjoying his trademark sense of dark and twisted humour - and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy the more serious MAX series as much.
However, I am happy to state that the two stories contained in this lovely, sumptuous hardcover book are both thrilling, entertaining, unnerving, intriguing and gripping in the extreme.
Frank Castle's persona can sometimes come across as stubborn and lacking in feeling, but Ennis creates in him an almost demonic force for vengeance, one in which, now and then, cracks appear and we get to see the hurt man beneath. This is a man who has never fought for closure or forgiveness or understanding over the horrible deaths of his family, but has simply pushed back such pain into his subconscious and replaced it with an anger that burns like the heart of a sun.
In some ways this makes him all too human, as grief and loss are sometimes so vile to deal with that denial is a natural and believable human trait.
Therefore, we follow Frank as he cuts a bloody swathe through the shallow denizens of New York's underground, delighting in stories that offer up many complex and interesting new characters - some of whom are so sick of nature that we revel in Frank's dispatching of them to whatever Hell they deserve.
This is dark, gory and sometimes amusing adult fair that is excellently written and competently illustrated and, all in all, is a total page-turner of a compelling read.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Punisher is back better than ever!, 25 April 2008
The revamp of the Punisher under the MAX title allows the punisher to reach its full potential for violence, sex and of course punishment!
This is how the Punisher should have allways been. The whole serise is amazing, cannot recommend enough.
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