Customer Reviews

The Punisher Vol. 3: Business as Usual

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

 

 

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!

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.

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.

Covering Marvel Knights Punisher issues #13-18, Punisher: Business as Usual is one of the strongest offerings from the series of Punisher novels. Ennis is at the height of his scripting power on this series.

#13 and #14 chronicles Punisher on an unlikely mission of mercy to rescue a hostage in South America. For those of you that are rolling your eyes and groaning, this isn't a return to Punisher's War Journal days. This is a crazy Ennis thrill ride filled with twists, turns, and improbabilities.

#15 is the tale of a reporter willing to do whatever it takes to get the story, even if that's making a deal with the devil, or handcuffing himself to the Punisher to see what Frank does on a typical night. With Detective Soap's life in the balance, the Punisher must decide what is good and what is evil...

#16 and #17 are what this series if all about. The Mob, Wolverine, midgets, and a series of unfortunate events. I don't want to give too much away, but please, read these two issues at least a couple of times. The second time, pay attention to the facial expressions. Robertson does a brilliant job that has to be seen to be believed!

In #18 Ennis spotlights his home territory of Ireland, sending the Punisher across the pond. Here we see what `pointless' violence really is.

The bottom line is if you are a fan of Punisher, Wolverine, Ennis, or Robertson, then please take the time and money to get this book. You won't be sorry!

This collected edition of The Punisher by Garth Ennis see's Frank Castle go up against his most hated enemy - the Mob. In a series of short, connected stories we see Frank go to South America for a hostage recovery; a night on the town with a relentless reporter, intent on writing Frank's story; an encounter with the midget mafia and everybody's favourite adamantium Canuck; and a visit to Belfast, post Good Friday agreement.

I was surprised to find this volume as I thought Ennis has written the MAX series, along with a series of one shots - I didn't realise he did the series proper! And why are 9 out of the 10 books out of print?! This was book was the funniest Punisher book I've read yet. It's very dark humour but if you're a fan of Ennis and the Punisher you'll laugh, especially at the Wolverine cross-over and showdown. The things Frank does to Logan...

Long time collaborators Steve Dillon and Darrick Robertson illustrate all the stories and do a damn fine job throughout. Dillon is the artist to draw Frank just as Ennis is the author to write Frank.

If you've enjoyed Ennis' work on The Punisher MAX series, the decision to pick this up is a no-brainer. Excellent writing, great stories, excellent artwork, I recommend this highly and will keep an eagle eye out for the other books in the series. Hopefully Marvel will reprint them soon.

This book marks the 3rd collection of Ennis' run as writer of the Punisher's renaissance under the Marvel Knights banner.
After the initial 12 part first volume, an amazingly fun run, pulp as hell and dark at heart, the series had somewhat left me down, as the second collection went into way too bizarre grounds to be put into the same category of excellence as the first one. This one, though, is another step in the right direction, as well as the beginning of Ennis' total repel of traditional superheroes.
One one hand we have the opening two parter and the concluding single issue story, with unparalleled artist Steve Dillon, grounding the Punisher a bit more in "realistic" pulp crime territory. Still bizarre, still over the top, but without openly fantastic elements. The former is the tale of the Punisher's rescue of a kidnapped mafia don, apparently to get him to stop an all-out New York mafia war... But what the Punisher ultimately has in mind may not be what you expect at all! The latter self-contained issue is a violent, morbid story about the eternal low-key civil war in Ulster, its degeneration into turf war, its loss of any pretence of being about politics and not ere hate. Brilliant, classic Ennis work.
In-between are: A self-contained story of a journalist blackmailing the Punisher into riding along with him to get a story... and receiving far more than he thought he would! A 2-parter about, huh, mafia soldiers being mysteriously kidnapped after having their legs cut off... with a motor-mouthed self-talking Wolverine picking up their trail ending up fighting the Punisher, and basically making himself ridiculous while getting his ass constantly kicked by the Punisher. An entertaining little senseless tale, but a bit too bizarre again an too unfair side, as far as satyrs go. I imagine Ennis was enjoying a bit too much free reign, which he used to vent some frustration towards the dominant genre of US comics and, most of all, its general trademark bad writing. Not enough to put off comic geeks, though, and quite enough to win non-comic fans over, while reminding them exactly that superheroes are merely the flashy, baroque façade of the comics world, but that there's so much more underneath. I am actually looking forward to the hunt for the rest of this series' collections once again!

... The book is worth cover price just to see Frank park the steamroller on top of Wolverine, the most overrated, overexposed, unconvincing "tough-guy" in all comics. Not to mention the bonus of having "the old canuucklehead" shot in the face, and walk around for most of the story with his adamantium skull hanging out in the open. For X-haters, this tale is an instant classic. The irony of all this is that by the late eighties, I felt just as annoyed by the Punisher himself as I am today by Wolverine and his Clint Eastwood posturing.

The issues collected here are much better than the ones found in the previous volume, Army of One, as we see former Preacher and Hellblazer scribe Garth Ennis get a little bit more comfortable as he throws us some of the bizarre and insanely dark humor that he is known for. There's much to admire, from a reporter handcuffing himself to Frank to get a story, to Frank taking a trip to Ireland; but the real highlight is the two issue arc in which the overly too popular X-Men member Wolverine gets his claw popping arse handed to him. Darick Robertson (who struck gold with Ennis on the Fury and Born mini-series) supplies the pencils on those two issues, and his art is just plain awesome. The only problem with Business as Usual is the constraints of the PG+ rating don't allow Ennis to get into the over the top bloodbath that he writes so meticulously, but other than that, this is one of the best Marvel Knights Punisher volumes available.

The continuing saga of Marvel's toughest anti-hero is as strong as ever, but this particular collection isn't quite as good as the previous two.

The first story alone warrants the 3 star rating...it is really good. The Punisher heads to South America to rescue a kidnapped mob leader and bring him back to New York, which will hopefully prevent a full-scale mob war between the families. Full of the trademark grit and dark humor associated with the previous Punisher stories, this is probably the best story in this particular volume. And poor Detective Soap manages to get himself into yet another scandalous situation...delivering some hilarious comic relief.

The next story features a 'team-up' between Punisher and Wolverine...and its hardly a team-up at all, more along the lines of a hilarious beatdown on Wolverine! This is the most bizarre but funny Punisher story yet, and is just a little bit too silly to be taken seriously. I wasn't particularly fond of the overall story but I'll look past it, since Punisher's 'mistreatment' of Wolverine had me laughing hard enough to go red in the face. Wolverine's trademark temper and the Punisher's no-holds barred approach to things make for an entertaining read, but it is the overall silliness of the plot that drags the actual story itself down.

The final story finds the Punisher heading to Northern Ireland to combat terrorism, based on a tip-off he received from an old friend in British Intel. Redeeming the rather dull Pun/Wolvie story before it, this is an intriguing and serious look at the reality of terrorism in Northern Ireland, and as usual is full of the trademark humor and gritty, dark attitude of the Punisher. Definitely a good read.

Overall this was a great volume, its just the writing in the crossover that really drags it down. It could've been so much better. Nevertheless, I wouldn't say I don't like this volume, i'm just rather disappointed in it. Perhaps the next time will be better.

I never really got into the Punisher comics, and Wolverine was cool so I got this and laught threw the Graphic Novel. I mean first some stupid reporter wantes a story for the Punisher, hand coughs himself to the Punisher gets shot, runs some guy over, and falls in to a woodchipper,for a stupid story.Then the Punisher faces off with Wolverine. Wolverine get shot in the face,his antimanium skull hanging out, shot in the balls, and driven over with a steam roller.Thanks to the Punisher.You should diffently get this fr your collation