In a single issue story, a man kills his family and Punisher then kills him. The guy, it turns out, is an old war buddy of Frank Castle.
The issue focuses almost entirely on the man, with Punisher appearing throughout but really not doing much of anything. It foreshadows Ennis’ next volume of Punisher, where his stories will focus mostly on bad guys and the crimes they commit, rather than on Punisher as a character.
B- for this story is absurd. One of the best punisher stories
It’s definitely a great story. I bumped up to a “B+”. All Ennis Punisher is far and away better than nearly all other Punishers.
I try to save “A” ratings for books that are both great reads and also that contribute to the 616 universe in some way–or for stories that I think truly are among the best of all time. I love this story, but it’s not even in my top 5 Ennis stories. Just off the top of my head, I’d put Slavers, Born, The End, Welcome Back Frank, and Valley Forge above this one. If I did research, I’d probably find more.
Since this isn’t even a 616 book, I’m not putting it higher.
But I love that you love it. All stories need to have fans, and we need to keep the print comic medium alive!
Honestly after explaining your reasoning I think that’s fair enough but I think there is a piece of context that is really missing from this review. This was written directly after 9/11 and was a respond to it. While a lot of the other Marvel comic really become almost jingoistic for a bit as a reaction to 9/11, that we have to all come together and embrace patriotism, this is the comic that stands out as a comic as a comic that says we can’t all come together and pretending that everything is going to be fine is a shallow interpretation.
As a side note, I’ve enjoyed reading your review and as someone who was born after the 90s, and has been trying to understand why 90’s Punisher is so looked down upon, this really puts the oversaturation into context
Thanks for reading!