Customer Reviews

Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe

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

 

 

I have to say that even for a Comic Book story this stretches reality. I mean I'm a fan of the Punisher but the guy would get creamed by one above average hero not to mention a whole universe full of them but in this lavish tale he manages to somehow do it. I know that this is suppose to be just a fun story but I really didn't have that much fun reading it. Instead it just kind of came across as the Punisher being a gary stu sort of character. It's decent enough but far from the best Punisher story ever told (like some people claim)

The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it certainly was helpful in settling a number of debates, such as how would Frank Castle -- who has no super-powers to speak of -- possibly be able to stand up against the likes of Wolverine, Spider-man and the Hulk? The answer was he would use the greatest power at his own disposal: his mind. In TPKTMU, he simply outhinks his opponents, often allowing them to walk into their own demise with his carefully laid traps. Perhaps the most satisfying of these was how he dealt with the Hulk, a character who no less a writer than Peter David claimed the Punisher would stand no chance against. The assertion sparked a micro-debate among Punisher fans, which this book helped put to rest. The way in which the Punisher deals with the Hulk is brilliant in its simplicity.
If you are a punisher fan, or a Marvel fan in general, this book is highly recommended

Well what can i say? This (what if) story , written by garth ennis a good five years before he wrote the glorious welcome back frank (punisher) maxi series, which of course made the punisher a seller again, shows all the early hall marks of ennis'es approche to the character in terms of his attitude towards super heroes.
But enough of that s**t, on to the story , and what a cracker it is! The punishers family gets killed in this alternate universe not by mobsters but accidently by super heroes (x men ) so he proceeds to start to wipe out all super heroes , with the help of a group of rich backers he does just that, and i do mean wipe out everybody..... of course it is great fun watching the pun man wipe out the likes of the hulk (done very sneakly!) doc doom, kingpin, and of course wolverine with the likes of pistols, electric fuse boxs, and atomic bombs !!!
The only thing that stops this from beeing a 5 star book, is that the trade mark humour of ennis is not evident here, which, features so much in his later work on the punisher, but still a great read all in all !!!!!

This is great one-shot were the punisher kills the Marvel super heroes and villians. Great for any comicbook collection and just a fun read.

If you love it when somebody blows a whole in self-righteous superheroes; then this is your book. This is
one the few times I will rant and rave and praise Garth Ennis . This is probably one of ,if not his best piece of work. What is disappointing is he was not given enough pages or big enough book to really explore and explain the story well : so the story is a bit rushed and compressed. Never the less one of my favorite punisher books.

Garth Ennis: purveyor of gratuitous violence, or Nostradamus of comics? This is the rare case where I'll go with the latter option. In the early '90s, the comic industry was riding at its highest. Speculators and publishers had been feeding off of each other in a continuous cycle, crazy amounts of money were exchanging hands in various company expansions, and it seemed that the sky was the limit - with Marvel Comics right out in front. Onto this scene in 1995 came writer Garth Ennis with a script for a one-shot comic in the style of "What If?": THE PUNISHER KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. With art by the criminally underrated Doug Braithwaite, the story featured Frank Castle slaying hero and villain alike in the Marvel Universe. His reason for doing so in this alternate timeline should come as no shock to those familiar with the character's origin. Rather than simply running around Manhattan shooting everyone, the Punisher eliminates them in some creative and gruesome ways. This book got almost no recognition upon its release and faded into obscurity until 2000, when Ennis, whose fame had since grown substantially with Preacher, arrived at Marvel for a wildly popular stint with an ongoing Punisher series. Since then, the secondary market value of the original printing of Ennis' first work on the character has skyrocketed, and it's been reprinted numerous times. Unfortunately, Nick Percival's original cover featuring the Punisher atop a mountain of spandex-clad bodies has been replaced with a particularly ugly and bland cover by regular series artist Steve Dillon. Oh well, you can't win `em all... I should be thankful it was even reprinted.

So in true Ennis fashion, this book is a showcase of violence, but it's something more than that. What makes me regard it so highly, aside from Braithwaite's amazing art, is how Ennis almost seems to be foreshadowing the looming collapse of the industry in 1996; in particular, Marvel's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Marvel's biggest characters drop like flies under the Punisher's barrage of gunfire, knives, tasers, and even nukes, and I found myself cheering him on. It's like Frank is calling to collect for all the excesses of the previous 5 years, and no one is safe. I'm surprised he didn't pay a visit to Ron Perelman while he was at it.