Following on the heels of Garth Ennis story arc in The Punisher, Tieri offers up his own take on a Wolverine/Punisher showdown. Ennis's version favored his title character, of course, and it was a rather low-brow take on both characters. Here, of course, Wolverine comes out on top, and Tieri manages to top Ennis as well... when it comes to petty, sophomoric storytelling. this gratuitous battle of the buttheads starts off as rather boring, and ends on a non-sensical, rude note that leaves a bad taste in the reader's mouth.
The Punisher is ticked that Wolverine set up Johnny Delacavva as a mob boss in place of a younger, inept punk, and he's sought the feral mutant out to teach him a lesson. But Wolverine is plenty ticked off himself, still miffed at the gun-toting vigilante's treatment during their last encounter. A mall serves as their battleground as the two killers go toe-to-toe in an all-out fight to the finish.
The Dodsons' art here is a little more cartoony than what we've come to expect from them, but it suits the Road Runner-Wile E. Coyote tone of the plot. I'm reminded of Mike (Fantastic Four) Wieringo's style here, rather than the Adam Hughes riff that the Dodsons' work usually elicits. Given my lack of interest in the non-plot, there's really not much visually that grabs me here either. The cover -- presented in a more detailed, darker style -- doesn't convey the empty, flip tone of the interiors well at all either.
Ennis's story about Wolverine and the Punisher getting mixed up in a gang war spearheaded by little people was far from the most sophisticated of plots, but at least it was a plot. Here, there's really no plot to speak of. Tieri offers up an excuse for the fight, but in the end, the Punisher comes off as something of a moron, blaming Wolverine for a non-offence.
The main point of Ennis's story was to spoof Wolverine, poke fun at the vairous cliches that have arisen around the character over the decades. He wasn't subtle, but the satire was there. Here, Tieri resorts to what is essentially junior-high name-calling. Remember that ever-witty, eighth-grade retort, "Oh yeah, well you're gay!"? Well, that's what Tieri's script here essentially amount to, especially the supposed climactic reveal that makes no sense in any context, even just within this story.
