PunisherMAX #20 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writing), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Frank finds himself locked in a battle to the death with Elektra.

The Review:  If there’s one this issue shows, and really that goes for the rest of this series as well, it’s that Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon are absolutely fantastic, as well as brutally creative, when it comes to putting together an action scene.  Not only is every blow of the fight between Frank and Elektra wince-inducing, the fight as a whole is excellently paced.  Their duel is more than your regular, bland comic book brawl: there are crescendos and suspense amidst the violence, with the actions actually telling a story more than just filling an action quota.

The best part of this scene is that the fighting styles of Frank and Elektra both say a great deal about who they are.  Elektra’s is cold, ruthless, and efficient, while Frank fights like a self-destructive savage.  Really, they the fight ends is a very creative testament to that.

Beyond the fight, however, it’s amazing to see that in his final three issues, Jason Aaron is still doing great character-work in exploring who Frank is and what the Punisher is.  That is really what pushes the issue into being something truly special.  While it’s something that Garth Ennis focused on quite well in his run, we see Aaron also unpack Frank’s relationship with death as an elemental force.

In heartbreaking fashion, as well as in his fighting style against Elektra, Aaron shows that Frank essentially cannot be killed, but it’s in a flashback to the birth of his first child that Aaron touches on something truly unsettling.  Frank is shown to be so closely tied to death, that indeed, the only thing he can’t seem to stomach or show a weakness towards is life itself.  His reaction to the birthing process is a very, very interesting twist for the character.  In being so good at, and so defined, by death, Aaron paints life-giving as anathema to Frank.

Overall, it’s clear that Jason Aaron is setting up his big finish for the series.  It’s an absolute pleasure to see Frank and Fisk return to their game of cat-and-mouse, as much a battle of wits and cunning as it is of knives and bullets.  Of course, much like the Frank/Elektra physical struggle, the mental chess match between Frank and Fisk also shows their differing personalities – Fisk is a talker, while Frank is anything but.

PunisherMAX #15 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: The mob makes young Frank Castle an offer he can’t refuse, but Nick Fury has other ideas.

What’s Good:  There’s a scene this month that sees Frank and his wife, separated by a closed door, with Frank’s wife screaming at him for his failure to open up to her.  It’s around this point that I realized that, holy crap, we were seeing a Frank Castle domestic drama.  And it actually works.  So much for all those folks who keep saying how Frank isn’t a compelling character.  Aaron makes it all feel sincere and genuine and it’s heavy stuff, where Frank’s sparse, even non-existent, dialogue speaks volumes, allowing for Steve Dillon’s subtle nuances in his illustrations of Frank’s face to shine through and making every slight response he issues to his wife hit like an emotional hammerblow.  Seeing Frank deal with marital discord and his inability to maintain a family life is uncharted territory, but it’s hard to believe that it’s remained unexplored for this long.  Aaron makes it seem like a natural part of his Punisher comic.

But it’s not all domestic drama.  We also see just how committed Frank really is in his hopeless struggle to put his old life behind him.  There are choices of morality aplenty and the constant sense that trouble just won’t leave Frank behind, nor will it stop from seeping into Frank’s private life.  Indeed, what is Frank’s private life?  His life at home with wife and son, or the things he has going on that he keeps secret from his family?

PunisherMAX #13 – Review

by Jason Aaron (script), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Stuck in a cell, Frank contemplates his past life with his wife and kids, realizing that family life and prison life might not be so far apart.

The Review:  Since coming back from its hiatus, Jason Aaron and Steve Dillon has truly found its voice, finding a perfect tone that has made it one of the best reads out of Marvel.  This month’s issue does nothing at all to buck that trend.

A heavily introspective issue, this issue leans heavily upon narration/monologue from Frank.  It’s the sort of gritty sincerity that Aaron excels at and is a joy to read.  If you were one of the readers who lamented the lack of Frank in Aaron’s run up this point, this is the kind of issue that ought to make you happy.

One of the strongest portions of this month’s book is a moment where Aaron robs Frank of his Punisher mystique.  It’s a process that’s painful to watch and heavily internal.  Frank ends up looking old and vulnerable and feels almost naked without the Punisher rep scaring off the crooks.  It’s a heavy moment that makes this arc feel legitimately dangerous for the main character, a feat not easily accomplished in Marvel comics.

Other than this, however, most of the issue is spent in flashback.  It’s cool enough seeing Frank’s family life, but more than that, Aaron and Dillon make it horrifically mundane or, rather, they make it clear just how antithetical it is to what Frank is.  Things feel repetitive and Aaron and Dillon do a fantastic job showing how Frank doesn’t fit in with average life and how it deadens him.  In fact, it’s here that Dillon’s artwork most excels, as he draws younger Frank with a completely dead-eyed expression throughout that is fairly disturbing.

PunisherMAX #12 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Locked in a prison infirmary and unable to defend himself as enemies surround him, Frank recalls a chance encounter back in Vietnam.

The Review: That’s two for two.  Last month, I ranted and raved about just how awesome this book is and now, 12 issues in, I honestly believe that we are seeing the very best of this series.  Since returning from that long hiatus, Aaron is creating an exemplary Punisher comic.

This issue is a massive success because it touches on so much of what makes the Punisher a compelling character (contrary to the belief that many seem to have of his being two-dimensional).  On the one hand, there’s the public persona, the Punisher mystique that haunts the streets and is both myth and legend.  On the other hand, there’s the beast that lurks within Frank Castle, the incomprehensible drive and relentlessness. I truly believe that using and addressing these two points is critical to making a good Punisher comic.  Here, Aaron divides this issue into two stories, each of them addressing one of these two aspects of the Punisher and both succeed massively.

In the present-day portion, the sheer terror and suspicion that the Punisher has clearly ingrained in the collective criminal consciousness is a lot of fun to read.  Prisoners prepare to attack a bed-ridden, restrained Frank Castle with his limbs in casts and all, but they’re still too scared to do it.  It’s all part of Frank’s plan, he’s just waiting for them to try something.  Of course, that’s just paranoia on the part of the prisoners.  Frank’s too broken to even move.  But this terror and doubt is amazing to read.  It’s ridiculous to the point of comedy which only makes it that much more fun to read, to see the legend of the Punisher having such an effect.

The flashback to Vietnam is essentially Jason Aaron analyzing the Punisher/Frank Castle character, and it is a fantastic piece of work.  It sees Frank conversing with a physically restrained soldier gone murderously insane.  This soldier hits many of the same notes that Bullseye did last month, albeit at greater length and in more detail.  But what makes it so special is that, particularly given that the soldier is never named, this almost reads like a surreal, internal dialogue, as though Frank is conversing with and denying a part of himself.  That raving, bloodlusting lunatic could just as easily be the frothing animal that lurks behind Frank’s stoic exterior.  The result is unsettling, but also absolutely gripping.

PunisherMAX #11 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: At long last, Frank and Bullseye go one on one in a fight to the death.

The Review: I’ve read a lot of people, including other reviewers, really taking this series to task and frankly, I just don’t get it.  All right, there were a couple of issues that were weaker, but unless you’re reading a different comic than I am, PunisherMAX #11 is goddamned amazing.  It sees Jason Aaron both nail what Garth Ennis was going for in his Punisher work, while also truly establishing a creative voice all his own.  Issues like this one are everything you want out of a Punisher MAX book.  If you don’t like it then, quite frankly, you don’t like the franchise.

There’s so much to love here, but let’s start with the main event: the big brawl between Punisher and Bullseye.  Put simply, this was the best one on one fight scene I’ve read in a comic in quite some time.  It was insanely intense, personal, and goddamned savage.  It’s indescribably brutal, barely managing to skate past slapstick, instead managing to be just violent enough to challenge suspension of disbelief without breaking it.  The fight is crazed, wince-inducing, sickening, and I think I already said “intense,” but I’ll say it again to hammer that home.  Jason Aaron pulls out all the stops here.  You get construction tools, you get chemical weapons… You get it all.  At one point, Bullseye even uses his own vomit in a scene that is, quite honestly, one of the most disgusting things that I’ve ever seen in a Marvel comic.  It’s the sort of fight that pulls you the reader into it, managing to put you on the edge of your seat.  It’s also the kind of fight that, blow by blow, tells an actual story.  It’s a fight with a physical narrative, with a tempo and various chapters.

PunisherMAX #10 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Frank reaches new levels, now working with chemical weapons, while Bullseye finally reaches an epiphany.

The Review: After finishing this comic, I was completely shocked to discover that we’ve not seen an issue of PunisherMAX since July.  I knew it’d been a while, October perhaps, but July? I think that’s a testament to how solid this book is.  Despite the fact that it picks up in the middle of an arc, there’s none of the detachment and disorientation you can feel from a series that’s shown up so late.  And that’s not because of any recap page or anything like that.  Rather, it’s due to Jason Aaron’s expert and gradual plotting and pacing.  Whatever the case, diving back into PunisherMAX with this issue feels like the series wasn’t late at all.  It’s quite the phenomenon.

Perhaps it’s fitting then that this return issue is one of the finest issues of Jason Aaron’s run thus far.  The focus is, of course, on Bullseye and, as always, Aaron’s Bullseye is absolute, psychotic gold.  His obsession with Frank is both unsettling and compelling and his nonchalant violence is stunning.  There’s a portion where he holds a monologue on Frank’s history while seemingly unconsciously brutalizing a gang of hoods that is all kinds of awesome.  Furthermore, that monologue is a great one.  It’s a fantastic contemplation of Frank’s history and a fascinating reading of the Punisher story, one that’s probably dogged at the minds of long-time Punisher MAX fans, particularly those of Garth Ennis’ run.  Bullseye’s epiphany that comes as a result is logical and hugely important.

Meanwhile, Frank himself is handled very well.  Aaron has been attempting to show a deterioration in Frank as he loses his boundaries and limitations, but nowhere has the rung more true than this month.  Here, we see that there are truly no depths to which Frank will sink in order to get the job done.  Truly, Aaron demonstrates that Frank is willing to become the monster that society hates and fears if that’s what he believes to be the best way to get the baddies.  His praying on society’s fear of terrorists and his use of chemical warfare are both hugely unsettling, even a little sickening.  In other words, it’s everything a Punisher MAX comic should be, a comic pushes the envelope of not only a comic’s content, but also the nature of its characters.

Punisher Max: Happy Ending #1 – Review

By: Peter Milligan (writer), Juan Jose Ryp (art), Morry Hollowell & Andres Mossa (colors) & Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: A middle-aged accountant takes a walk on the wild side.

What’s Good: This was an enjoyable done-in-one story of an accountant stuck in a dreary marriage.  After fighting with his wife, he goes for a walk to clear his head and remembers that a buddy had once given him a coupon to the Happy Ending massage parlor.  Against his better judgment, he goes in.  He’s nervous as hell because he’s never done that sort of thing before.  And as soon as he walks in, gunfire erupts and he ends up on the run with one of the, ahem, massage therapists.  The whole story from there is a fast-paced romp as the accountant gets pulled deeper into the intrigue and violence.  Very well done.

In fact, I’m going to go further and say how happy I am that Marvel will publish this sort of story.  As I’ll go into below, there isn’t much Punisher in this story, so this isn’t the sort of comic that helps to sell an action figure or that someone hopes could be spun into a movie.  It’s just a fun story that doesn’t have any ulterior motives and doesn’t require that the reader be familiar with 30 years of continuity to understand.

Punishermax #9 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: The Punisher comes face to face with Bullseye, who wants to see Frank in action.

What’s Good: This issue only cemented the fact that Jason Aaron’s Bullseye is my favourite take on the character in recent memory.  He’s simply hypnotic.

In his carefully orchestrated cat-and-mouse game with Frank Castle, the character comes across as brilliantly intelligent, in spite of his casual, off-the-cuff demeanor.  His sheer ruthlessness and complete lack of consideration for human life is also highlighted this issue, as he happily sends a group of men to their deaths just so that he can see the Punisher in action.

What comes as a result is an utterly bizarre sort of romance.  Bullseye is so connected to violence and murder that he seems to fall in love with Frank, and this only leads the issue down even more an even more disturbing track.  Apparently bloodshed and murder are what arouse Bullseye, and the only way he can consummate a relationship, or express his love, is to kill the target of his affections, in this case, Frank.  It’s a completely weird sort of love that suits the character to a tee and gives the Bullseye/Frank conflict a new layer.

Still, so much of what makes Bullseye so awesome this issue is how carefree he is and how completely comfortable he is with his own insanity.  In an awesome conversation he has with Fisk’s ousted wife this month, Bullseye reveals more about his psychology than we’ve ever seen before.  But what is most fascinating about the character is that he is shown to believe that his mindset, psychology, and development are completely natural, a set of logic and emotions that are shared by the rest of humanity.  To Bullseye, he’s just an average person, easy to relate to and understand.  It’s deftly played dialogue by Aaron that plays with your expectations and leaves you with a character that feels like he belongs to a different species.

I also cannot overstate how good Steve Dillon’s work is this month.  On the one hand, this is just another Dillon book and he doesn’t deviate from his style.  Where he excels this month, however, is in his work on Bullseye’s facial expressions, which is absolutely stunning.  I had forgotten that Dillon was capable of such subtlety.  Bullseye’s quick mood changes are amazing, but what most stuck with me were his dreamy expressions of glee and serenity.

Punishermax #8 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Bullseye attempts to relive the origin of the Punisher, Frank interrogates Fisk’s dirty cop, and the Kingpin has marital issues.

What’s Good: I think it’s become something of a concern among many readers how little the Punisher is actually in this comic, let alone developed.  That’s somewhat adjusted this month, with the focus being equally split between Bullseye, Frank, and the Kingpin.  What results is a beautifully structured issue with a perfect ending that brilliantly parallels all three characters.   It’s a clear testament to Aaron’s skill how the three very different characters are able to flow into each other like this.

I’d say Bullseye has the strongest outing, if only because Aaron’s creativity has allowed for one of the creepiest, yet physically unassuming, characters I’ve read in a while.  I don’t think I’ve ever imagined Bullseye as a family man and when he perversely kidnaps a family this month, it’s a skin-crawling good time.  He just seems so damned happy throughout the issue and I love how he converses with them and engages in family activities with them as though absolutely nothing is wrong, completing ignoring that they’re all bound, gagged, and crying.  It’s truly demented stuff.

Speaking of demented, we get another glorious torture scene from Aaron as the Punisher goes medieval on Fisk’s NYPD cronie.  This is the sort of scene that demonstrates the understanding Aaron has of the MAX imprint:  where most comics or films would turn the camera away, Aaron keeps it focused on the action just a little bit more and let’s us see more than we’d like. Aaron also continues to build Frank’s continuing decline, this time in morality.  In many way’s, his situation this month sort of seems Dark Reign-like:  in a world completely owned by the bad guys, he finds himself crossing his previously established moral lines.  Why not indulge himself and shoot a cop in vengeance when the whole police force belongs to Fisk?  When the world’s bonkers, it’s already bonkers inhabitants are liable to get a little bit nastier.

Punishermax #7 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Bullseye tries to become the man he’s hunting as he tightens the noose on Frank.

What’s Good: Jason Aaron really dives in head first this month in creating his own unique, MAX version of Bullseye and the character truly sings.   He’s completely manic and gleeful in his sadism.  There’s this childish joy that Bullseye takes in his grisly work that’s a lot of fun to read.  Yet, beneath it all lurks a cold, calculating animal.  Bullseye is a character who is mostly smiles, but that smile can disappear very quickly.  It’s hard to determine which side of Bullseye is more terrifying: the wacky psychopath or the ice cold, brutal murderer beneath.  Either way, he’s delightfully creepy.

One of the problems that I’ve had with this series is Aaron’s occasional fumbling with comedy.   This month, Aaron’s character work with Bullseye proves to be the perfect vehicle for the Punisher’s brand of black comedy without disrupting the books tone.  Instead of overly long gross-out sequences, it’s Bullseye’s dialogue that brings the laughs.  From the absurdity of his interrogation questions to his eccentric methods, Bullseye definitely elicits laughs.  Better still, it’s comedy that feels organic and spontaneous.

Though our time spent with Frank is more limited, Aaron again makes the most out of the character’s time with Dr. William Bayer.  The scene is rife with a sense of heavy tragedy which brings a clear focus on Frank’s deterioration.  Aaron also continues to intrigue with the suggestion that Frank’s original motivation for donning the infamous t-shirt has long since eroded into what is now an existential void.

Steve Dillon does really well with Bullseye.  Dillon makes the character look intimidating, despite his small stature.  Dillon also does a great job on Bullseye’s facial expressions.  Most of the time, Bullseye carries an expression of madcap good humor completely incongruous with his surroundings, but is able to turn on a dime to a more serious expression of violence and menace.  The quick shifts to this latter look make for a scary character.

Punishermax #6 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: We’re introduced to the Marvel MAX version of Bullseye, as he begins his hunt for Frank Castle.

What’s Good: This issue sees Jason Aaron’s continuity-free take on Bullseye and overall, it’s successful.  Aaron has a good handle on the character’s distinct voice, which is intelligent, detached, psychopathic, and mildly humorous.  Bullseye sounds oddly affable and never over the top.  It’s easy to write an intelligent serial killer like Bullseye in an over-the-top or scenery chewing sort of way, and I’m glad that Aaron steered clear from this route.  Bullseye seems more real because of this, but still colorful enough to make for a compelling villain.

The strongest portion of this issue, however, is a conversation between a wounded Frank Castle and his doctor, who happens to be an old friend from Vietnam.  It offers Aaron a chance to once again attempt to get into Frank’s head.  There are wonderful touches of rueful retrospective and references to Frank’s age that have proven before to be useful tools for writing the Punisher.  The conversation ends up feeling heavy and meaningful.  I enjoyed how Aaron explored Frank’s erasure of identity and humanity.  These are familiar themes for a Punisher comic and have been explored before, yet Aaron makes it all just emotionally significant and hard-bitten enough to make you forget that.

Steve Dillon’s art is, as usual, a perfect fit for the Punisher.   His action scene at the issue’s end is rife with desperation and tension, yet the entire book nonetheless carries that hint of light-hearted wackiness that inhabits all of Dillon’s work.  Everything looks good here and I enjoyed his take on Bullseye as well, from those devious, intelligent eyes to the little scars surrounding Bullseye’s infamous forehead scar, which were a really nice touch.

Punishermax #5 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: The Punisher and the Mennonite’s battle comes to its brutal end while Fisk and Rigoletto lock horns.

What’s Good: This may very well be the best issue of Jason Aaron’s Punishermax series thus far.  It gives you everything you could possibly want in a Punisher comic or a MAX comic.

As might be expected, the action is something too ugly and brutal to really be called “action” in the conventional sense.  The violence is absolutely unflinching and in a way, I respect Aaron for his willingness to live up to the MAX promise.  Horses are decimated and there are innards aplenty and a child meets a gruesome end.  In both cases, the bloodshed is shown to the reader upfront, without any cutaway.  After all, this is a MAX comic and any such thing would be an act of self-censorship.  Aaron does not shy away from any of it and Steve Dillon certainly obliges him.

A real star this month though is Aaron’s take on the classic Frank Castle monologues.  Those who have grumbled about the lack of focus on Frank should be satisfied this month, as Aaron’s textboxes fully encapsulate everything that is awesome about Castle.  We get that badass fanaticism and refusal to die, we get the gruesome, almost over-the-top descriptions of pain and injury, and we even get that sense of poignant personal tragedy integral to the character; essentially, Aaron touches upon every good thing that can be done with a Frank Castle monologue textbox.  Through them, Castle feels fully realized, with various aspects of his voice from the Ennis MAX days being visited.

And then there’s Fisk.  Aaron’s take on the villain is more unforgiving than ever, as he almost seems to chastise the reader for ever having sympathized or rooted for him.  There is a significant emotional shift, or self-realization, in this issue that is very well-done.  Fisk’s coldly and objectively calculated response to his son’s being held hostage is stunning, and his words of comfort to his grieving wife after the ordeal are absolutely chilling.  Much like Castle, Fisk also receives some great internal monologues this month, touching on his history while suggesting his ideals of fatherhood, valued up until this point, are a facade.  It’s stuff that’s as brutal and real as the physical violence on the page.

As a small point, I also really loved the ending of the brawl between the Punisher and the Mennonite.  The conclusion of the fight is just perfect in that the brutal acts of violence that lead to it are strangely metaphorical.  The Mennonite’s downfall in the fight parallels his downfall in life while the Punisher’s final weapon is essentially a physical manifestation of his own trauma.  It’s just so strange to see brief acts of over-the-top violence be so directly referential to points of emotion or character.

It also bears being mentioned that Steve Dillon does an amazing job on this issue given that the book is completely and utterly devoid of humor.  Usually Dillon seems a bit out of sorts without at least a little slapstick or crudeness, but he succeeds this month without either.

Punishermax #4 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: The Punisher goes head to head with the Mennonite and the Kingpin finally makes his move.

What’s Good: This book really has that R-rated action movie feel that’s pretty integral to a comic like Punishermax.  While the issue never comes close to approaching intellectual fare, it’s fun to watch and read in that blockbuster sort of way.

The bulk of the issue is an extended brawl between Frank and the Mennonite.  It’s beautifully paced and sequenced and has a fantastic flow to it, with one frame naturally and organically following the last.  It’s completely smooth, without any of the hiccupping that often occurs in lengthy fight scenes.  It’s also brutal and unforgiving, while also being fairly creative, visceral, and personal.  I think that a lot of that owes to Aaron steering clear from the over-the-top excess that Ennis often utilized, which ended up turning fight scenes into comedy.  By keeping it relatively realistic, Aaron ups the intensity.  Of course, a lot of this has to do with Steve Dillon, who brings his action chops along, without the goofy faces.

The Mennonite also really delivers, as Aaron really makes the most of the concept.  Leaving the character motivations behind this month, Aaron decides that the character will only use the weapons that his “religion allows.”  In other words, no guns or cars – just horses and a big mallet.  It’s really humorous stuff that colors the book and gives it its own unique personality.  It really livens things up and brings something special to the Mennonite character, enough that I hope to see him again soon.

Aaron also does well with the Frank Castle internal monologues, owning up to the tradition of using the textboxes to have Frank describe his gruesome injuries in detail.  It makes the fight scene that much more difficult to read and ups the desperation and brutality quotients exponentially.

Punishermax #3 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Wilson Fisk goes out to silence the one person who’s onto him, before finally going one on one with Frank Castle.

What’s Good: Three issues in, and this month is, more than anything, Aaron and Dillon testing the limits of the MAX imprint.  How much can they get away with?  A lot of this button-pushing comes from the character of Mamma Cesare, introduced in this issue.  Personally, I thought the old lady to be an absolute ball.  The ridiculous barrage of profanity that she produces pretty much continuously is simply unbelievable.  But really, it’s the horrible mental images I got from the many and varied gruesome acts she threatens which really had me laughing.  It’s just so completely over the top, and yet I can’t help but commend Aaron’s creativity.  All told, Mamma Cesare is just a wholly entertaining character who leaps off of the page.

Aaron also gives us a little more Castle this month, and it certainly pays off.  Those grizzled Punisher monologues that Ennis perfected return in a much bigger way, and they certainly make the book feel more “Punisher.”  It’s grim stuff, and that’s just as it should be.  Frank also gets in a tussle with Fisk, and it’s both thrilling and smile-inducing in a slapstick kind of way, with Castle flying head first through a door or nonchalantly breaking the neck of a faceless of goon.

But the thing that really piques my interest is a new, as yet nameless, character who Aaron introduces this month.  An Amish-styled farmer who doesn’t seem to share his community’s faith and appears to have something of a dark past.  He’s an interesting figure, sympathetic and menacing, at once searching for redemption, yet ultimately willing to return to his dark, old ways when the phone call comes.  The fact that this return seems to be perceived by the character as a kind of divine will is also very promising.  At the moment, the character is a big, menacing question mark of faith and shame with an ambiguous relationship with forgiveness, and I really like where this is going.

Punishermax #2 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: Wilson Fisk’s history is delved into as Operation: Kingpin is put into action.

What’s Good: While last month was a declaration of Garth Ennis, this month makes clear that Jason Aaron is interested in more than just emulation, as he brings the unforgiving grit found in Scalped to Punishermax.

That means an incredibly dark issue.  As this is largely due to its exploration of Fisk’s past, the change in tone between issues feels appropriate.  There’s really not a joke to be found this month, nor is there any Ennis-styled slapstick.  That said, while the pure fun quotient may take a slight hit due to that, it also elevates this month’s issue into something that is a more serious, weighty project.

This process also helps to create quite possibly the most terrifying Wilson Fisk we’ve ever seen.  Aaron’s Fisk is nothing short of an absolute psychopath.  His lack of conscience, mercy, or human feeling is deeply unsettling.  Fisk rigorously abides by and brutally enforces a rigid rule of self-preservation and satisfaction.  Beyond that though, he is beholden by no laws of decency or humanity.  Certainly, when Fisk embraces his wife and child at the end of this month’s issue, it feels very different from when he did so at the end of last month’s.

In painting such a character, Aaron really does push the Marvel envelope, and he does so in a manner totally different from Ennis.  While Ennis tested limits by writing outrageous acts, Aaron crosses boundaries through portraying acts and writing dialogue that is simply disturbing and mature in the truest sense.  Ennis had me flabbergasted, but Aaron actually made me uncomfortable.

On art, Steve Dillon serves up his usual fare, though he does do some surprisingly poignant work on his characters’ faces.  Dillon’s done a great job with Fisk so far, with expressions that are surprisingly subtle yet resonant and nuanced.

Punishermax #1 – Review

by Jason Aaron (writer), Steve Dillon (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Cory Petit (letters)

The Story: In a final desperate bid to stay alive, the mob creates a final scheme to kill the Punisher – Operation Kingpin.

What’s Good: How much do you like Garth Ennis?  Your answer will largely determine how much you like Aaron’s approach to Punishermax.

That being said, even for readers unfamiliar with Ennis’ work, this is far, far from a bad comic.  It’s got all the desperate scheming, outrageous gore, torture, and general nastiness that you’d expect from the Max line.  However, for those die-hard Ennis fans like myself, this book is a real treat, one part love-song and two parts nostalgia trip.

This book literally feels like it fell out of a time machine as Jason Aaron channels Ennis so effectively, you’d think it was the man himself.  In fact, Aaron starts the series off right with a scene that is outrageously gory.  So gory is this display that it borders on being slapstick.  Then, in a manner that is straight out of Ennis’ playbook, this grotesque sequence leads to a joke that is both ridiculous and uproarious.   It’s so appalling that it shouldn’t work, and yet it does for that very reason.  This humorous sequence alone shows that Jason Aaron knows how to work this series: it’s all about pushing those boundaries so far past the brink that one can only laugh and gape simultaneously.

The scene also reminds us that Wilson Fisk is a bad, bad man.  When I first heard Aaron’s decision to bring in an alternate-universe Kingpin, I was concerned.  However, I actually found myself enjoying the character.  He’s devious, imposing, and though he speaks little, every word he says counts.  Taking him out of the Marvel Universe also gives Aaron the freedom to explore the character in ways otherwise not possible.  Seeing Fisk fly under the radar or catching a glimpse of him as a family is uniquely enjoyable.

One also can’t downplay the impact of Steve Dillon.  Without him, this comic would not have been the rousing success that it is.  It’s thanks in no small part to his efforts that this book is the callback to the glory days that it is.  The man has not lost a step.  This is clearly the guy behind Preacher and he makes no attempt to disguise that fact.  Dillon’s performance can simply be described as one thing: giving the hardcore Punisher fan what he/she wants.  And of course, Aaron’s gory sight-gag would not be possible without Dillon, who’s probably got a doctorate in that sort of depravity by now.

What’s Not So Good: This book succeeds at establishing its world, but it comes at the cost of Frank Castle’s presence.  The Punisher just isn’t in this book as much as you might expect, what with half the issue being spent on a single conversation between the various mob bosses.  Frankly, you’d expect a first issue to see more Punisher-related awesomeness, but it never really comes outside of an admittedly gruesome torture scene.  Even when the Punisher does get some combat in, he’s relegated to shooting a few baddies in the background while the focus remains on Fisk.  I expected him to be a little more front and center, or get a bit more page-time than he did.

Honestly, I was just hoping for a little more excess and mass murder out of Frank.  Is that too much to ask?

Conclusion: Welcome back, Frank.

Grade: A-

-Alex Evans