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PUNISHER #5
"No Limits"
Highly Recommended (9/10)
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Marvel Comics/Marvel Knights imprint
Writer: Garth Ennis
Pencils: Steve Dillon
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Stuart Moore
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
Much to my surprise, Punisher #1-5 did not come off as tired in the wake of the somewhat creaky 12-issue Punisher
series by the same creative team. Instead, this was fresher than the series that
Ennis and Dillon originally turned in, a nice little action movie replete with
dark humor and much tighter pacing than the limited series. Given the subject
matter, I imagine this issue might not have seen print over at DC these days, so
I'm glad that Marvel went ahead with it, as Punisher's brutal method of dealing
with terrorists is actually somewhat cathartic. Especially when rendered in
vivid detail by Dillon and Palmiotti.
Ennis has always been known
for memorable bad guys, and he's given us a couple in this arc with the
buffoonish (and comedically hard-to-kill) Russian and the nasty, sinister
Colonel Kreigkopf. He's succeeded in making the latter a very nasty piece of
work with pure evil goals, and so there's some real satisfaction in seeing the
Punisher ruin his plans. Kreigkopf's certainty that he will win and that he
cannot be touched makes the Punisher's ability to handle his men so easily more
enjoyable.
Ennis has tapped into some of
the same things that Morrison did with Batman. The idea of a reasonably normal
man whose main power is a drive for justice (or vengeance) being able to do just
about anything is an attractive idea. The closing sequence in this issue, in
which we see just how capable the Punisher is and see him take on someone who is
far more powerful than he, is a great example of this, as well as opening up the
possibilities of the Punisher becoming a threat to more than just street
criminals.
In Ennis's hands, the
Punisher is an action hero along the lines of Schwarzenegger or Stallone,
morally uncomplicated and on the right side because the story tells us so. It's
simplistic and overly violent, but it's perfect escapist entertainment.
Dillon and Palmiotti do an
excellent job of translating this righteous and simplistic action into visual
style. Broken bones, bullet wounds and blood are all displayed in the pages,
done in a relatively sterile fashion which minimizes the empathy most feel for
people (even bad guys) but playing up the brutality and efficiency of the
violence all the same. They also play up both the Punisher and the Russian as
more than human, able to catch speeding planes or survive hails of gunfire.
I had previously considered The Punisher little more than dark comedy, but the balance has shifted somewhat in these last two issues into more of an action-comedy blend, and the result is a stronger story and something with more potential than I originally would have guessed. I still don't think this is as strong as Ennis's best work on Hellblazer, Preacher or Hitman, but it's better than I originally gave it
credit for.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
