I'm one sick puppy.
Super-heroes drew me into comics. The adventure, the colorful costumes, the fantasy... it was bright and fun, just what the doctor ordered (literally... I was in the hospital recovering from a bad broken arm when I was introduced to comics). I'm in my 30s now, and I still enjoy th brightness and fantasy of super-heroes, but I look for more from my entertainment and reading material these days. Sometimes, I like to indulge a different side of my psyche, the one where the ugly ideas and dark fascination lies. Garth Ennis writes to that part of our brains, exploring the monstrous side of human nature. The Cell is completely over the top, but it's executed well, both conceptually and visually.
In the unberbelly of Ryker's Island Prison, five men sit in a cell, living in comparative luxury. Yes, the prison has a warden, but these five mobsters are the ones who really run the show. They're untouchable. Every prisoner and guard is too scared to do anything about what they demand, and though their movements are restricted, their power is as far-reaching as ever. And The Punisher has decided to kill them. The only way to do that is to become a prisoner himself, and he's quickly targeted for termination by just about every man in the prison. The question is: why would the Punisher go to such lengths to reach five killers when there are so many mor4e out on the street, out where the vigilante would be far safer?
LaRosa's line art is immersed in Koblish's inks and Trevino's dark colors, and the effect works quite well. The prison looks filthy; the Punisher looks as though he's wading through a world of sewage. And given the violence and cruelty -- on the part of both protagonist and antagonists alike -- that's figuratively what he's doing. The colors add an unnatural, eerie quality to the art that enhances the tension. The truly brutal and horrific visuals are reserved for the final scene, and it reinforces the climactic nature of the sequence.
Most of us sit in our own little corners of the world, feeling secure about our safety, about how bad things happen to someone else elsewhere. I like to be reminded from time to time of the chaos, hatred and violence that lurks outside in the world. Sure, the violence here and the Punisher's level of control is over the top, pretty unbelievable, but it remains in the realm of the possible. Ennis's script even makes it all seem plausible. Seeing the immense horrors that lurk in the world beyond my own is actually kind of comforting, in a bizarre way.
Throughout the comic, the reader is left wondering why the Punisher would take on what is essentially a suicide mission. Sure, the five men in the cell deserve to die, but there are so many others who are just as corrupt or worse. The reader's led to believe it's a flaw in logic that s/he basically has to ignore, and that's what makes the revelations at the end of the story so powerful. 9/10
