A Descent into Dullness

The Punisher: The Slavers Written by Garth Ennis, Pencils by Leandro Fernandez, Inks by Scott Koblish, Colors by Dan Brown, Letters by Virtual Calligraphy's Randy Gentile

I give Ennis' current projects a lot of shit. Because they deserve it. Lately he's just coasting, mildly revamping old ideas and seemingly trying to out "shock" previous efforts. But his MAX run on The Punisher captured the character of Frank Castle so perfectly, Marvel honestly should have just retired it. Ennis and his various artists give a 50+ year old Punisher. One who has been killing criminals for decades, with a tally of the dead in the thousands. And you can see it in every line and scar on Frank's body. In the effecient and cold way he carries out his mission. But for this volume, these people, they spark something in Castle. Real hate...

"It was in that moment that I realized something. A dull, blurred feeling that I'd had since this whole mess began, all of a sudden crystal clear. It had been a long, long time since I hated anyone the way I hated them."

It starts with the Punisher preparing to kill yet another low-end drug dealer. But a crazed woman begging in the rain involves him in something much, much darker. A group of ex-military Baltic War vets. Ones that are traffic in women, stealing them off the streets in Eastern Europe and selling them into lives of enslaved prostitution. Before it all ends Frank will have drugged a man, cut him open and dragged out his intestines. All as a prelude to torturing him for information. He'll have beaten an unarmed woman to a pulp and thrown her out a high-story window. And he'll have covered a tied-up old man in gasoline and lit him on fire while videotaping it. And everyone one of those will be a good and righteous thing...

Ah, Garth Ennis, doing what he does best. Write stories about WWII. Ennis with a 3-part story on DC's Hans "Enemy Ace" Von Hammer, first on the Russian front, then flying jets during the final days of the Allied push into Germany. Plus a classic Robert Kanigher/Joe Kubert Enemy Ace story...

As always its good to see Ennis on something he actually enjoys writing, rather than watch him tell terrible Supers stories where he just shows how much he hates that genre...