There's no denying it... when Ennis teams with Steve Dillon, his storytelling is more focused and compelling. The duo delivers another solid issue, shifting from black comedy to drama with a story that explores cops. Ennis pulls back the idealized veil that's been draped over the face of police officers since Sept.11, 2001, and he offers a balanced look at the darker side of law enforcement. And that dark side is the fact that cops are regular people, just as weak and subject to temptation and emotion as any one of us.
A pair of New York detectives beats the Punisher to the scene of a major drug deal, and the deadly vigilante observes them from the shadows. He gets the sense that one of them -- the younger of the two -- might be dirty, and he decides to investigate further. Meanwhile, the senior of the two detectives -- Pearse -- tries to warn his younger partner that he might be getting involved with people who will drag him down.
Dillon's realistic style is perfectly suited to telling the down-to-earth cop story that Ennis has crafted here. Emotion shines through on the characters' faces, and I like the little subtleties that set them apart. It's clear that Pearse is the elder of the two cops, but Dillon doesn't exaggerate it. Pearse isn't a grey-haired, wrinkled old cop on the verge of retirement, just a guy who's been around long enough to know how things really work. The colors are appropriately muted, adding to the downtrodden atmosphere.
Ennis makes it abundantly clear that he's shifted gears here, when he brings Detective Soap into the story. Soap is a spineless bungler... most of the time, but here, we see a different side of him. His rage at the Punisher's investigation of cops really drives home the point that this isn't just a run-of-the-mill operation for the vigilante. There will be consequences. But wisely, Ennis still manages to maintain Soap's comedic qualities in the midst of this grave script.
The critical contributions of everyday heroes -- police officers, firefighters and EMTs -- were recognized in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States more than a year ago, and the world tried to make up for the shame of ignoring those men and women for so long. But here, Ennis points out that automatically elevating these people to the status of "heroes" is just as unfortunate and even dangerous as ignoring their key roles in society. Ennis takes a look at some stains on a policeman's uniform, but the shine of the badge isn't completely ignored in the process.
If anything, this story is about the gap between perception and reality, and about the darker shades of grey.
