Ennis + JRJR + Punisher MAX =

[Missy]

From Newsarama:

"Before I get back to Spidey and after I finish Hulk (or at the same time, maybe), I get to draw the Punisher! I also get to work with Garth Ennis and Axel Alonso."

[Dread]

just when i was going to drop it...

[drqshadow]

just when i was going to drop it...

Really? Man, I've been loving almost every arc of Punisher MAX. The Barracuda story was great.

[Dread]

just when i was going to drop it...

Really? Man, I've been loving almost every arc of Punisher MAX. The Barracuda story was great.

I agree. Only they seem to be nothing but more of the same. Ennis is repeating himself over and over with a nastier villain each time. He's repeating a winning formula but he's still repeating. The human trafficking, the pissing on the corpses of the Castles, Barracuda...when will he actually fight Hitler, Stalin and Satan?

[drqshadow]

I agree. Only they seem to be nothing but more of the same. Ennis is repeating himself over and over with a nastier villain each time. He's repeating a winning formula but he's still repeating.

I'll admit that there are a lot of recurring themes, but I wouldn't quite go so far as to say each story is a repeat of the last. It's an action book, so you're pretty much required to have a gunfight every issue, but I think the underlying themes are fairly varied. You had the rescue and escape mission of the Russian missle silo story, the corporate espionage and constant back-stabbing of the Barracuda arc, the war against public perception in the crooked cop tale... the end result is typically the same (Frank emerges victorious by slaughtering everything in sight) but I've enjoyed the stories quite a bit.

And it's head and shoulders above the slop Ennis was shoveling out near the end of the MK Punisher series. Man, was that stuff bad.

[Dread]

And it's head and shoulders above the slop Ennis was shoveling out near the end of the MK Punisher series. Man, was that stuff bad.

You make some good points and that last one is the truest of them all! I think that was Ennis being upset at having Hitman cancelled at DC and venting through the Punisher. Garbage. The first 12 or so issues were pure gold though.

I just don't know. I think the Mature title is getting old to me. I like a Punisher with some visual and literary limits.

[Missy]

Hitman wasn't cancelled. Like Preacher and Boys (Ennis' current project) it was slated to be a finite series.

The reason Ennis' later MK Punisher work (mostly) sucked is because Garth hates superheroes, and he didn't like having to incorporate them into his Punisher stories. So he made the heroes look like assholes, which hurt the overall product.

[Dread]

I really thought there was some bitterness over the ending of Hitman?

[Missy]

Maybe there was, but it was only meant to run for 60 issues / five years.

[Dread]

it only went like 40 issues right?

Edit: never mind. I thought it was cancelled in the 40s.

[drqshadow]

The reason Ennis' later MK Punisher work (mostly) sucked is because Garth hates superheroes, and he didn't like having to incorporate them into his Punisher stories. So he made the heroes look like assholes, which hurt the overall product.

Heh, you don't have to tell me twice that he doesn't like superheroes... I just read the first issue of "The Boys."

I can only partially agree with that assessment of why the later issues of MK Punisher sucked, though. Even the issues without superheroes, like the underground sewer zombie whateverthefuck monsters story, were just crap. I think he was more tired of the idea of having to work within the confines of a non-Vertigo work environment, but had made a commitment to the character, so he shat out whatever came to mind.

But the issues with Wolverine and Daredevil were wholly insulting, too...