“From First to Last” reprints three Punisher Max one-shots, all written by Garth Ennis.
First, 2004’s: The End. Ennis teams up with the always incredible Richard Corben to tell “The End,” which is the last Punisher story.
It puts him in prison, but in a post-nuclear war dystopian future where the justice system uses Punisher’s imprisonment as a way to control the prison population, sending inmates there to be killed by Frank.
When he learns that there is a way to repopulate the world, using the inmates, he has a predictable reaction:
The End is a post-apocalyptic tale, but what it is really about is how nothing, even the end of the world, will end Frank Castle’s need for vengeance. For obvious reasons, it’s third in the bound volume, but I ‘m reviewing these in order of year of publication because that’s consistent with my overall site.
Second: 2005’s one-shot The Cell, which also shows Punisher going to prison–this time, on purpose. So he can get at the mobsters responsible for his family’s slaying.
The Tyger was last, published in 2006. It’s about big Pun’s childhood.
It explores Ennis’ idea, which he began in “Born,” that Frank Castle was always the way he is: His family’s slaying was more of an outward excuse than a cause. More of a rationalization than a rationale. Becoming Punisher was his destiny.
Wondering if you’ll update the ranking Punisher Max Arc rankings to include Punisher the platoon, Punisher: Soviet and Get Fury. I know they were released later, but they feel like they belong on an Ennis Punisher Max ranking list, especially because Punisher Platoon, and Get Fury completely recontextualizes Frank as a character