Customer Reviews

Punisher MAX Vol. 10: Valley Forge, Valley Forge (v. 10)

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Valley Forge, Valley Forge offers an intimate look at Frank Castle's relationship with the military. Corrupt generals who sent Barracuda after the Punisher in a previous story line now seek to hunt him with special ops soldiers, who they know Castle won't kill, having been a soldier and followed orders. The generals mistakenly think this will give the soldiers an advantage over Castle.

At the heart of the story is an investigation of the way that various aspects of the military interact with each other. The corrupt generals are at the top, the competent commanders are the ones taking orders and not giving them, and the soldiers are pawns in a game of greed and power. We get a close look at Colonel Howe, a Vietnam vet who leads the Delta unit that is sent after Castle. Howe is sober, competent and motivated through his ideals. But he learns some important lessons as to just where he stands in the military and what his superiors think of him. I would've been interested to get more insight into the soldiers who actually go after Castle. They are most like the Punisher in that they are experienced soldiers, who take orders and know their job better than anyone else. They may be a few experiences short of becoming Punisher's themselves.

The dynamics of the command structure are highlighted by the insertion of excerpts from a fictitious Vietnam book called "Valley Forge, Valley Forge: The Slaughter of A Marine Garrison and the Birth of the Punisher." These text based portions of the graphic novel tell the story of a catastrophic battle only Frank Castle survived. A story Ennis himself covered in the Punisher Born title:Punisher MAX: Born The book is written by a brother of a soldier that died at Valley Forge and as the title suggests investigates the roots of Punisher's actions. The story of the battle is told through a series of interviews with witnesses and family members of those who died in the battle.

The illustration by Goran Parlov is of the same spare, no-nonsense drawing that has been used in previous issues of Punisher. Parlov gets the details across with an accuracy and competence that is laudable in it's near transparency. One doesn't notice the drawings, but they convey the action in frame after frame in a style that owes more to film noir than Jack Kirby. It is unflinching in its depictions of violent battles and therefore often very graphic. Not for the faint of heart.

In the final story line of his run on the Punisher, Ennis restates the case that he has been making throughout. Frank Castle is the both the foot soldier and general of his very own war on crime. He is motivated by a dark force, one born in Vietnam. The Punisher is the fallout of a war that never should have happened, a war that was a crime against humanity, brought on by power hungry warmongers who care nothing for human life. And with out really mentioning recent wars and leaders, Ennis makes it clear that corruption is ubiquitous in the Punisher's world, from the lowest street gang, to the highest offices of the land. Though he is an unrepentant murderer, the Punisher remains uncorrupted, uncompromising and unstoppable. Does that make him a hero?

I've followed the max print since Born, and now it has all rapped together to complete the greatest punisher arc ever created. I feel that ennis really entices the story line and makes an awesome portrayal of the marvel vigilante. In this issue, Frank Castle is being hunted by some crooked top government officials. They're convinced that he has information that could incriminate them all for things that happened in previous issues. So first they sent Barracuda, well that didnt work, so now they sent a squad of special forces to take him down, "alive". Theres alot of vietnam references dating back to the Born issue, which helps to manifest the ending of this issue. The artwork of Parlov is not my favorite of the series, i woulda much rathered fernandez or larosa, but i guess beggers cant be choosers, its still a good read. Its a shame that ennis is ending his run on the series, the punisher will never be the same. He has resurrected the punisher from the dead, I only hope that this portrayal of the punisher will continue on. The Max series is not technically finished but for me it is, ennis paints the picture and i dont think there will be better.

No other writer has gotten The Punisher like Garth Ennis. Since making the move from Marvel Knights to Marvel's adult-themed MAX imprint, Ennis has had a nearly flawless run on a series that took Marvel's criminal killing vigilante in an ultra-gritty, realistic direction that pulled no punches. With Valley Forge, Valley Forge; Ennis' long run writing The Punisher comes to a close, a run that I for one had wished would never end. Well, you know what they say about "all good things" and such, and while Valley Forge, Valley Forge isn't as perfect a read as many of Ennis' previous Punisher MAX storyarcs, it ties everything together that Ennis has set up over the years, as Frank Castle learns just who was behind tipping off Barracuda in Long Cold Dark, and it is an enemy that this time around Frank may not be able to take down. With ties to his pre-Punisher days in Vietnam, this promises an outcome that will definitely not be pretty. While Valley Forge, Valley Forge is certainly engaging and page-turning, its one big flaw happens to be in the pacing. During the chapters of this TPB pop up segments of a book written by the brother of one of the main characters of Ennis' Punisher: Born mini-series. While this does end up playing a semi-important role in the proceedings here, this breaks up the pacing, and simply takes too much away from what's going on. This may not be such a big flaw for others, but for a die-hard fan of Ennis' Punisher run, this hurts the book more than helps it. Goran Parlov is on board once again as the artist, and his work seems more tighter here than on Long Cold Dark. All in all, it's sad to see Ennis leave The Punisher, but he goes out firing, and leaves a legacy as being the sole writer to really get what the character and the world Frank Castle lives in is truly all about.

Garth Ennis' triumphant 60 issue run on The Punisher MAX finishes with this final volume "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" in the only way it can - referencing the Vietnam war and in a hail of bullets.

The storyline that began in Vol 3 - Mother Russia, and has reared it's head every now and then such as in Vol 6 - Barracuda and Vol 9 - Long Cold Dark, is concluded here and sees this elite and corrupt group of US Generals decide to play to Frank's weakness of not harming police or army by sending a Delta Force team in to take down Frank.

This book differs from the others in that it has sections where Ennis writes prose on the Vietnam experience and peoples' experiences with Valley Forge and a young Captain Frank Castle. If prose isn't your thing when you're reading a comic book, I suggest reading "Punisher: Born" before reading this book as it's a brilliant comic book that fits in neatly between Vol 9 and Vol 10 and basically renders the prose in Vol 10 in comic book form. Even if you read the prose I recommend "Punisher: Born" because it gives the reader more background and ideas on how Frank Castle became the Punisher.

A lot of the prose sections focuses on US military history, in particular the corruption up top and how wars make businessmen rich, and how ordinary men are thrown into hellish situations and how entire countries are shaped by conflicts, in this case Vietnam. Ennis also references the current military efforts in the Middle East and eloquently gives voice to the suffering and brutality of war.

"Valley Forge" is a fine ending to an extraordinary series and may be Ennis' best work. I've enjoyed every book in the series and others written before and after by Ennis including "Welcome Back, Frank", "Punisher: Born" and "The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci" and can say that Ennis has done wonders for this character, transforming him from a 2-dimensional cut-out to a fully formed, fascinating real person, one of the most interesting characters in the Marvel Universe.

"Valley Forge" rounds it out the series nicely, addressing a resolution to the main storyline of this series as well as the larger storyline of the legacy of the Vietnam War. Anyone looking for a fine comics series full of righteous violence and action galore could not do better than to check out this series, I cannot recommend it more. Frank Castle, what a legend.

This is actually a damned good conspiracy plot, worthy of any typical Hollywood budget movie. A group of corrupt generals have banded together to do away with the Punisher. They employ the services of a special forces colonel and his team to do the job. What they don't know is that this colonel has a history with the Punisher and is actually subverting their agenda to assist the Punisher - starring Morgan Freeman as Colonel Howe, etc etc.

All the interplay of big corporation deal-making and wheeling are there, spiced up with appropriate coarse language. What slows this plot down is the fictitious text based on the file on Colonel Howe which slowly inserts info on his relationship to the Punisher. Connection is made by one mole Captain Geller who tries to warn the generals. But the reader knows this fact long ago. Hence there really is no suspense or final twist. In other words, the ending was obvious because it was inevitable that a "friendly" Morgan Freeman character would assist the Punisher.

I think that Goran Parlov's artwork nicely complements this issue.

This book just wasn't on the same level as the others. I actually thought i had bought the wrong book. The action is gone, the story structure has changed. Had this been the first book in the series, I'm not certain that i would have bought the rest. I think this is the last in the line, and it leaves a very sour taste in my mouth. But no need to read the reviews, if your at ten, like myself, you are going to buy this, and read it anyway. Just a word of caution. be ready to read a really great series next, so that it will seem that much better compared to this. That or study a history book.

Magnificent. As another reviewer said, the greatest story arc in the history of the Punisher. If you are at all interested, please start from the beginning and appreciate the full genius of Ennis's storytelling. I am sorry to see this end.

the beging volumes for ennis were the best. this one kind of fizzles out. but hey, i had to check it out. its not a collection without this one.