Customer Reviews

Punisher MAX Vol. 3: Mother Russia

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was new to the punisher series...having bought the last episode of up is down and black is white i was a little curious about the title, so on my trip to the bookstore i picked up mother russia and bought it. It was an amazing read...garth ennis was born to write this book. Filled with action, humor...and in a weird way sentimentality...ennis's ideas sometimes feel recycled from preacher though...and its not altogether bad...but a little more would go a long way

the art was excellent....baithwraite's punisher seemed aggressive even in panels where there was no action...like a caged animal waiting to strike....there was a certain beauty to it, a certain grit to the faces and expressions...perhaps he is the best artist for this title after dillon. cant wait for more

An awesome action thriller in comic book format. I love Garth's take on the Punisher and Nick Fury. Dougie Braithwaite's artwork is top notch. The characters and diaglogue that Garth comes up with are priceless ("Oh sh**. He brought the Mongolian."). I've ordered all of the other Garth Ennis Punisher volumes after reading Mother Russia (can't wait to read the next!)

This book departs from Frank Castle's anti-Mafia Jihad. Here, US super-spy Nick Fury recruits the Punisher to infiltrate a Russian ICBM silo to recover a very important package. The dark, cynical take on US intelligence and military command is well done, especially in this era of Bu$h lies about WMD, Iraq-9/11-Al Qaeda links.

Artist Dougie Brathwaite's work is a bit too sketchy for my tastes. The Punisher character is best rendered in a realistic Steve Dillon fashion or a moody, noirish Tim Bradstreet version. The art isn't bad, it's just not very good.

But the story is well paced and plotted with a killer twist at the end. Read it, you'll like it.

I don't want to give away the plot of this book, but The Punisher's mission in this one is a little different than in most. The story definitely won't disappoint you. Ennis' style is just as good as in any of his other books.

This third storyarc in Preacher creator Garth Ennis' relaunch of the MAX (mature audiences) themed Punisher series finds our favorite criminal killing vigilante on a suicide mission in Russia. Taking a request from Nick Fury, Frank must infiltrate a Russian nuclear silo in an attempt to obtain a deadly virus. Soon enough, Frank's up to his neck in Russian killers, and he finds himself playing the role of surrogate protective father to a young girl who's life hangs in the balance. Mother Russia isn't the typical Punisher story you'd expect from Ennis as Frank is fighting with more at stake than just his personal vendettas, and by the end of it all things are far from ending happily. Ennis' storytelling is top notch as usual, particularly his characterization of Nick Fury, which was evident on his Fury mini-series a few years back (which is more than worth your time as well), while Hulk artist Dougie Brathwaite provides solid pencil work. All in all, Mother Russia is yet another excellent chapter in the Punisher MAX series and definitely worth picking up, but just wait until the next Punisher arc, entitled Up is Down and Black is White, which may be indeed the finest Punisher story ever written.

A girl with a deadly virus in her blood which could be used by the Russians to wipe out the Western world is being held in an underground nuclear silo and it's up to the Punisher to go in, get the girl, and get out.

Garth Ennis has come up with an excellent, action-packed story for Castle to get involved in. The book ticks over nicely and the scenes speed up as things go from bad to worse and Castle is backed into a corner.

It's a gripping read with plenty of bloodshed, some cool action including a souped-up ninja hobbit. The artwork is good and Dougie Braithwaite brings the gore and chaos to life for the reader.

An excellent continuation of this brilliant series, and one of the best Punisher books out there. Garth Ennis scores again.

In this third installment of the Punisher Max series. Ennis shows again why only he knows how to write the Punisher. The plot now moves out of gangland and into the realms of geopolitics. Another brilliant piece of writing coupled with great drawings by Braithwaite. Ennis really knows how to pick his artists.

Like all good things Garth Ennis's run on the Punisher finally came to an end. Garth breathed new life into a character that has often been treated unkindly by other writers who have worked on the title. Thanks to Mr. Ennis the Punisher has returned to the forefront of the Marvel franchise. So I wanted to review my favorite story arc from his groundbreaking run in the MAX series.
The arc collected in this volume is a team-up of sorts. Nick Fury enters the Punisher's universe and sends him on a mission deep inside Russia. Essentially this ends up turning into Frank Castle as Rambo. Frank Castle winds up going against a large force of Russian soldiers including the Spetznaz. Eventually he locates the package and has a brutal (very very brutal) fight with a martial arts expert. This arc highlights everything that makes the Punisher such a great character, and Nick Fury's involvement really enriches the story.

Buyer Beware: This ain't your daddy's comic book! This is a max title so it is very very violent and contains heavy language.

Great art hampered by a story that is an odd fit for The Punisher. Now not to say that the story was bad, but it just didn't fit the Punisher mold for me. The characters in the story were great though. I truly love the Russian General. The part about the Punisher killing Russian soldiers bothered me a bit. Not too sure how the Punisher would feel about that. Worth a read but not one that I will read until the covers fall off.

Garth Ennis is back with the follow-up story arc after the good but partially flawed and comical Kitchen Irish. To get the reader to understand the premise of the story, various references from movies like Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Mission Impossible II and Soldier of Fortune 2. Why? This is because this story has plot devices (McGuffins) like:

1) A girl injected with virus (RE:A)
2) Virus search and destroy (SOF2, MI2)

The story here is at its best as par of In The Beginning. Here we get to see more of Frank's psyche, his emotions, his feelings for the girl for the first time for more than 25 years. And eventually we get to see the exciting action moments in the story itself. Another element that viewers were shown were the inner workings of the U.S Military whereby its methods were much to the disgust of Nick Fury.

Mother Russia includes the MAX version of Nick Fury here. He has more of the very crucial supporting role and he plays more of the political side rather than the usual commando stuff he's used to. We too get to see much of the Russian opposite, Zakharov - a man that fellow subordinates feared off and he in the end has much of a sense of respect for Frank, particularly his pushing antics.

Even though Dougie Braithwaite is new to the series, his art is one of the best in the series. Well detailed and well colored -muted as to give the harsh and violent feeling. However, what was missing in his art is that there are moments in the story that was missed out and was not depicted / illustrated here.

As mentioned, even though the story is well crafted, there some setbacks that makes this story fell short than In The Beginning. In here, there were several moments wasted that Nick Fury should be given too. Even though he talks but he didn't show enough presence to the story. Another one would be the weak Rawlins and the terrorist splinter subplot - arguably the weakest in the story. Nonetheless, the Rawlins subplot is crucial and it will be featured prominently in the next story arc: Up Is Down and Black Is White.

If you really want something that is as good as In The Beginning, just read it, there are some unforgettable moments in there that you might want to read over and over again.

[From my friend Melvin, in Malaysia]