Customer Reviews

Daredevil vs. Punisher: Means & Ends

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm not big on any team-ups or VS mini's from Marvel (just checkout the Wolverine/Punisher TPB, or rather don't), especially when it's anything involving the Punisher that doesn't feature the MAX imprint on the cover or Garth Ennis' name attached to it. However, writer/artist David Lapham's Daredevil VS the Punisher: Means & Ends is a surprisingly good take on both vigilantes and their opposing outlooks on the war on crime. Picking up from the events of Brian Michael Bendis' Daredevil run, Wilson Fisk AKA the Kingpin is gone, and Matt Murdock/Daredevil has declared himself the new Kingpin of the city. While he intends on dispensing justice the way he always has, the Punisher enters the game with his own plans of dispensing justice the way he always has, and Daredevil is in his sights, and vice versa. With a handful of villains and crooks in the mix, including the Jackal and Hammerhead, all with their own intentions; Lapham weaves a solid crime story taking place in the Marvel universe. Lapham, best known for his Stray Bullets series, is at his best here as he illustrates that the methods Daredevil and the Punsiher use to fight crime aren't necessarily right or wrong, and the line between the two becomes more blurred as this TPB reaches it's conclusion. Lapham's art is serviceable enough here, even though at some spots it looks too cartoony. Despite that though, Means & Ends is a surprisingly good take on the two title characters, and fans of both should give this a look.

Daredevil and the Punisher are too characters that have fought each other several times over the years. They not only physically fight, but fight over what Justice truly is. If its right for someone to take the law into their own hands or not. This book is a very good example of capturing causalities caught in battles, the thinking of both of these individuals and the art is very solid. While I do like this story I still think that Frank Miller handled this story better (The story I'm talking about is in Essential Punisher volume 2) but then again it is hard to fight Frank Miller when he's at the top of his game.

The current and separate Daredevil and Punisher comics are enjoying unparallel success and have established the personae and motive of both characters. Thus one comes into this book with this sort of expectations.

In this comic, the Punisher, given his more violent methodology always comes off as the cynical world-wise veteran of a thousand killings and Daredevil is depicted as the clinically staid (read that as boring) upholder of pseudo-vigilante justice, taking down villains but without killing them. Thus when squared-off in a direct confrontation, the Punisher's sense of unmitigated justice always appears to be more satisfying than the lukewarm approach of DD.
The storyline centres around one family threatened with a shakedown in Hell's Kitchen, DD's own backyard into which the Punisher has now ventured. The Punisher gets involved first by taking extreme measures on the gangsters and is taken to task by DD for doing so. The fight sequences remind one of territorial marking by dogs.

DD's perception of vigilantism is somewhat convoluted; that it is the Punisher who brought grief to the family by meting out rough justice and acting as icon for the impressionable young man. Since either form of vigilantism and interference would ultimately lead to grief for this family (unless you absolutely remove the problem), this final pronouncement appears ridiculous.

The drawings are too cartoony to convey any depth to the philisophical musings in this comic.

david lapham definitely intended this to be a punisher book, with less of an emphasis on daredevil. you can tell because all the punisher parts are in first person, where the captions are his thoughts, but daredevil's narrative captions are in the third person. each issue is basically a punisher comic, where daredevil shows up. punisher is effected by (and creates and drives) the plot, where daredevil just seems sort of stagnant. i thought this was a major flaw in the comic. it should have been equally balanced between the two characters, or it should have been called something else.

the story's overall good and pretty brutal. i liked the writing better than lapham's stray bullets (which was a little too sadistic for me) and the art is pretty stylish.

This was a really good crime comic that balanced both protaganist's point of view without painting either one as totally right or wrong. The problem with most of these Daredevil-Punisher team-ups is that either Daredevil is portrayed as hero of the piece or the Punisher. With this story, the "hero" is not clear cut, even after the tale is over.

The real strength of this book, despite the wall-to-wall action and crime intrigue, is the characterization. Both characters come off very driven and loyal to their personal moral compasses. Both believe their approach is right and the other's approach is helping criminals.

Well-done.

These "Vs." books usually stink big-time. The basic formula is usually: take two big name heroes and have them hate eachother in the beginning, then eventually team them up to fight a common enemy for a smash-bang finish. Not this time.

Daredevil and Punisher REALLY hate eachother for the whole book. They have strongly opposing ideas about justice that will never be resolved. David Lapham turns out a gritty, tension-filled story that will hold your interest from beginning to end. The artwork (by Lapham) has a dark noir feel to it, with more detail than his usually sparse style from his "Stray Bullets'" series. This book isn't nearly as violent or nihilistic as "SB," but the reader will still see Lapham's uniquely dark view of the world.

Don't miss this book!

I was looking forward to reading this as I really enjoy it when these 2 characters face off. They have such opposing views on justice that the conflict between the 2 is inherent. They are already naturally at odds without a story having to set that up which is great. And this book starts off with them going one on one after the first few pages. And if you are simlpy interested in seeing them going at each other without much else, this is the book for you. Personally, I need a story. And this book seems to start too many sub-plots that it doesn't finish. It takes a major turn in the plot about half way, and doesn't look back, which I felt was weird. As far as the art goes, it was OK, but I felt a little scattered. Which seems odd considering the artist and writer were one in the same.
Not claiming it was bad, but given what I know now, I might have passed on this for something I might have enjoyed better.