The Punisher Vol. 3: Business as Usual [Paperback]

Garth Ennis (Author), Steve Dillon (Author), Darick Robertson (Author), Nelson (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Marvel Comics (February 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785110143
• ISBN-13: 978-0785110149
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,166,177 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Darick Robertson is an American artist best known for his work as a comic book illustrator. Highly prolific, Robertson has illustrated hundreds of comics in his twenty plus years in the industry. His body of work ranges from science fiction characters of his own creation to headlining on renowned classic characters from Marvel and DC Comics. Robertson is best known as the co-creator and illustrator of the biting satires TRANSMETROPOLITAN and THE BOYS.

In January of 2010 he wrote and illustrated CONAN: THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN for Dark Horse Comics.

Darick currently lives in California with his wife and two children. When he's not drawing comics, which is almost all the time, he creates custom action figures, writes music, sings and plays guitar.

Original art for sale can be found at tinyurl.com/DarickR

* Special thanks to Joey and Sara at ComicVine for the interview video contained in this profile.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best of both worlds..., August 24, 2004

By 

Sloopydrew (USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

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This review is from: The Punisher Vol. 3: Business as Usual (Paperback)

This is the first book where you can tell Garth Ennis is feeling like his old self again and is confident enough to introduce the bizarre writing style that made him famous with Hellblazer and Preacher to the world of The Punisher. The storytelling is leaps and bounds above what was found in "Welcome Back, Frank" and "Army of One." From the offbeat tale of the reporter determined to get his story to the shockingly violent and absolutely hysterical crossover with Wolverine; this book fuses the two sides of Garth Ennis and has enough to please fans of his earlier work with fans of The Punisher. It really is the best of both worlds, but Garth is just gettin' started!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Punisher As A Road-Runner Cartoon, August 15, 2005

By 

Edmund Lau Kok Ming (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Punisher Vol. 3: Business as Usual (Paperback)

Garth Ennis, the genius responsible for "Parents-Need-Guidance" books like "Preacher", "Hellblazer" and "Just A Pilgrim" is back and this time he's working on the book that he was born to write - Marvel Comics' "Punisher". He's responsible for bringing the character back to greatness with his "Welcome Back, Frank" arc and immediately Marvel put him on the regular series. The first story from the regular series is collected in the "Army of One" paperback and this book, "Business As Usual" is the second collection from that same run.

This story collects three stories:
[1] Punisher rescues Don Casino, a godfather, from South America so that he can call a meeting in New York with the other dons. That way, he can wipe them all out in the same place.
[2] An overzealous reporter handcuffs himself to the Punisher to get the "scoop" on him. Needless to say, the results ain't pretty!
[3] Punisher fights Wolverine and an army of "Mini-Mes"

Garth's "Punisher" is constantly frowned upon by the literati of the comics world for its ultra-violence. In my opinion, anybody who thinks that this book is too violent should get his/her brains examined! The violence in this book is akin to that of "Tom & Jerry" cartoons or "Road Runner". It's meant to be over-the-top and funny. My problem with Ennis' "Punisher" is not the violence. After all, you're reading a book called "Punisher" - not "Betty and Veronica"! My problem is that Ennis seemed to be a little too flippant in his writing at times. While the pacing, the attitude, the humour, the freakish characters, etc. are all top-notch, something is still missing from the title (especially for us old fogies who grew up with the Steven Grant version of the character). I think the angst is no longer there. And after a while, the mindless violence and toilet-humour can get a little tired. Fortunately, Ennis realized this also and gave us "BORN", which led to his far-superior "Punisher" run on Marvel MAX presently.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little more of the Preacher side of Ennis., November 29, 2005

By 

Not the Face (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Punisher Vol. 3: Business as Usual (Paperback)

Bisiness as Usual is the third volume in the Marvel Knights Punisher series. Nice work but not as good as the last 2 volumes of this series. Garth Ennis unleashes a little more of the Preacher side of him, especially in the story arc in which Frank Castle aka Punisher, teams-up with Wolverine, the plot is a bit more bizzare. But I think that Ennis just might be trying a little too hard on being bizzare, I think he should just let it flow, writing bizzare and amazing stories is in his blood.

This TPB consists of 4 story arcs, the first is about the Punisher taking on a mission to rescue a mob boss. Why? Even since this boss was kidnapped, the mob have been turning on itself, and the innocents that may be killed when the mobsters have their war is what made Frank take this mission. Then an insane journalist looking for "the exclusive" handcuffs himself to the Punisher to get a story on him. Next, the team-up of the Punisher and Wolverine fighting an army of midgets trying to take over the New York underworld. This story arc is a bit more bizzare than the previous Punisher stories written by Ennis. That bizzarness that you find in Ennis's works is usually what I like about him, but in Punisher, his bizzarness just doesn't work as well as it did for Preacher to me. Dark humor, violence, and a little bit of his trademark bizzarness is the best for Punisher, along with an interesting cast of supporting characters. The best book to find all these qualities is Welcome Back, Frank also written by Ennis, and pencilled by Steve Dillon. Anyways, the last story brings Frank to Garth Ennis's home in Belfast, Ireland, where Frank comes face to face with the terrorism and useless violence in Ireland.

The art for the most part is pretty good, although I'd like Steve Dillon to pencil all of the stories instead of just a couple. I think Dillon's style is the best for Punisher, there's just no one that can draw Punisher as well as he does.

So, the book is worth your money if you're a dedicated Ennis or Punisher fan, but if you're not, or if you are looking for work like the stuff from Welcome Back, Frank, you might not enjoy this too much.