Customer Reviews

The Punisher Vol. 1: Welcome Back, Frank

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Welcome Back, Frank is an appropriate title for this edition. Garth Ennis restores The Punisher to his former greatness. No more spiritual redemption nonsense. No more hypnotic spells or amnesia to turn him into a madman. This epic depicts the essence of Frank Castle: an urban vigilante who kills evil men and women.

While Ennis does bring his black humour from DC's Hitman to The Punisher, he does not, however, use the heavy satirical kind of in-your-face dialogue found in Preacher. Ennis wastes no time with the reintroduction of The Punisher in this trade paperback. In a sadistic but basic fashion, Frank Castle sends the message throughout the criminal world that he is back and playing for keeps. Enough to even make the Sopranos and the Corleones tremble in their shoes!

To flesh out Frank Castle as a character would be a monumental waste of effort on behalf of the writer. The Punisher is one dimensional and that is all there is to him. Scripting him otherwise would transform him into a poor man's Dirty Harry or Paul Kersey (Death Wish). Instead, Ennis creates a supporting cast around The Punisher that consist of outcasts, losers and loners within his environment. He gets the reader to accept these social rejects' oddities and eccentricities since we have all come across a few of them in varying degrees. From Joan the mousy recluse, Detective Soap to The Elite, they all form part of an extension of Ennis' societal critiques and clever human insight.

However, the book is not about The Punisher integrating within his new neighbourhood or making new friends. This is a story where murder, mayhem and mutilation takes precedence over all. The fight scenes posses all the fast delivery of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill while the action contains the high octane intensity of a John Woo blockbuster film. Sporting against the likes of Ma Gnucci's mob as well as a psychotic Russian enforcer, Ennis' penchant for over-the-top violence makes for some memorable comic book moments. Castle makes them pay the price for dealing out human suffering that can only be described as Monty Python meets Snake Pliskin!

Handling the pencils is Ennis' long-time collaborator, Steve Dillon. Just as he does so perfectly well on Preacher, Dillon delivers visual that make dialogue and narration almost unnecessary. His clean, sturdy style and realistic renderings gives Ennis the leverage to use the characters' specific facial expressions to tell their story rather than clog up the panel with useless narration or word balloons a la Busiek to convey their state of mind.

Dillon effectively uses irregular panel designs that vary slightly in size that gives the script's momentum a cinematic flow. Credit also goes to inker Jimmy Palmiotti for making Dillon's art as stunning as it is. Palmiotti adds a depth to the pencils that once again reinforces his reputation as one of the best inkers in the industry.

The Punisher is a book to be enjoyed with a completely clear conscience. Excess violence, ironic humour and a slight dose of social commentary is what you will find with Welcome Back Frank.

...I have been an old Punisher, but I admit, not a big time fan. I knew his origins, his MO and what made the character tick. I had heard that he died and was then brought back to life when the Marvel Knights imprint first started. His comeback, however, was not just right. Angels? Divine guns coming out of his hands? I'd buy the guns from the hands bit, but actually having them be divine? This was not the character that made his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man 129 in February 1974. Though he still possessed the basic trait of the original, this Frank Castle lacked the attitude and drive of who he really was.

It didn't take long for him to grab his bearings though. Helmed by the creative team of Garth Ennis (who really is a cleverly insane British fellow) and Steve Dillon (a solemn artist that has a calm way to his art), the Punisher came back in a very strong sense of the manner. The great TPB collects, the hard to find, amazingly best-selling mini series that takes the Punisher back to his roots and truly establishes him to the status that he has achieved throughout the years in the Marvel Universe.

The TPB is a quick read of a grim story, that pits the Punisher against the Gnucci family headed by Ma Gnucci herself. The most appealing of the charcater of old was his weaponry. Chuck Dixon excelled in the use of real weapons and surveillance methods to knot things down. Garth is something else altogether. He just loves creating ways where Frank gets his way through the bad guys. These ways are so creatively horrid and unthinkable that they just leave you in awe and a little bit scared that a real person, in the form of Garth Ennis, that can think of such things is actually living among us. You actually admire Ennis's genius in that department. It was also commendable the way he tells us about the story and that the meaning of it is simply to entertain. Anyone who reads will definitely be entertained, no matter.

Garth takes us through a wild ride and just never lets go. It takes us through a page of the Punisher's life after his comeback from death, but doesn't indulge us too much with an origins storyline. Ennis shows us how people surrounding the Punisher react to his character. From the positive to the negative and what Frank actually does in both presenting situatiions. The last page of the TPB actually made me go "Whoah!!" It's so unexpected. It's so unbelieveable. It's just so punishable.

Now let's not forget the art. If the art was drawn by anyone else, I don't think the story would have been a success. I mean, house hold names like Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, or Marc Silvestri would have ruined the story if they had drawn the comic. What this story needed was the human touch, not a posey feel to it and Dillon is the right man for the job. His art is crisp and leaves you admiring it for a number of times. He really excels in creating facial expressions. Dillon works excellently with Ennis with scenes shift from one to another.

Both the story and the art cannot be just left behind after one read, you're going to have come back to it again and again. A Punisher movie should be thought of by Hollywood. Two crazy yahoos like Ennis and Dillon can provide the story and storyboard to guarantee the capture the essence of the character and make for a successful flick just like the miniseries and TPB were.

For a while, 'The Punisher' was a character in Marvel comics that really hit rock bottom with fans. In the 80's, the character had gained prominance with it's harsh, violent gun-toting look at vigilantism, but in the late 90's things weren't so good. Bounced from one boring, out-dated story to the next, Punisher was wasted.

That was until Marvel decided to reboot the series and allow the awesome team of writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon to helm a 12 issue mini-series. The two had worked on amazing titles like Hitman and the acclaimed Preacher series, and just as Marvel had hoped, brought the same magic to the pages of 'The Punisher'.

Collected in this trade paperback, this 12 issue story is a fun, exciting story that reminds fans why they so enjoyed the original Punisher stories to begin with.

This book is basically the pinnacle of Punisher. I'd say every single comic fan out there would enjoy this trade, it's just awesome. If you're a fan of Frank, you're gonna love this trade for capturing Frank's character perfectly. If you're a newbie to the Punisher, you'll love this too because it's a complete start over, you need no prior history of the Punisher whatsoever except for the fact that he kills criminals. It should be said for this book as well, it is recommended for more mature readers due to extreme violence.

This book starts off completely cut off from the Punisher history. Frank comes to New York and realizes that he has a lot of work to do, and "work" is exactly what he does. Most of the story in this book ties around the overall story of the Punisher trying to take down the Gnucci NY crime family. The Punisher sets up base in a cheap NY apartment that he basically fills with weapons. He also has three annoying as hell neighbors that make for some very cool scenes. The head of the Gnucci family Ma Gnucci is one of the most ruthless women in New York, and she's not happy with what Frank's doing to her family. She tries to track down and kill Frank but that's easier said then done, eventually she calls her most psychotic assassin named "The Russian" to fight Frank, resulting in one of my favorite comic book battles of all time. Meanwhile, there are some awesome sub-plots of two detectives working on busting Frank and the Gnuccis and three "wanna-be Punishers" that try to follow in his foot steps.

Needless to say the story is classic Punisher but it's done very well. The art is fine, if not a bit too generic for my liking. My favorite part about this book is basically how awesome the Punisher is. It's extremely realistic in the way that he doesn't gun down like 50 criminals at once, and they way he thinks seems just like the way a Vietnam vet that kills thugs would. In lots of ways, this book is worth it just for the memorable moments. The Russian vs. Punisher fight is one of the best in comic history, the three wanna be Punisher vigilantes all have memorable moments (as well as what happens to them), and one of the best of all is the Punisher, Ma Gnucci, and a bunch of thugs in an old zoo after dark. You can figure out what happens.

And now for the flaws of the book. There are no real outstanding flaws, just a few nit-picks that I have. Garth Ennis has given us some amazing Punisher stories, but I honestly think Steve Dillion couldn't give us as much in the art department. The art in this is by no means bad, it's just a bit too generic, I'd like to see a bit more style as opposed to the flat drawings of characters. My only other problem is Daredevil. Daredevil is my favorite hero, so when I saw him turn up in an amazing book like this, I was enthralled. Unfortunately, my expectations were not met, Garth Ennis is obviously not a DD fan because Frank basically hands DD's ass to him and turns him into a crying little girl. DD would never go down like he does in this book.

In closing, I'm telling you to buy this book. Punisher fans and non Punisher fans alike will love it. And if you thought the Punisher movie was awesome (like I did), then definitely pick this up due to it loosely being based on this trade.

I was somewhat enthused when I heard that Garth Ennis got the nod to write this new chapter in the life of my fave comic-book vigilante. I've enjoyed many of his previous works, and was hoping he'd do some great work on the revival of the Punisher. Fortunately, he didn't disappoint. Thanks in part to his scripts, he crafted an adventure that finally put Marvel's famed anti-hero back on top of the world of illustrated print. And if that wasn't enough, PREACHER & HELLBLAZER cohort Steve Dillon's also in on the action with the rendering!

This rejuvenated Punisher isn't quite as "Grim 'N Gritty" as you'll remember from his late 80's to mid-90's glory days, but the dark humor and strange moments more than make up for the lack of angst. There's several unbelievably bizarre situations (two of Punisher's kills in this collection are among the May 2001 Wizard magazine's list of comics' most absurd deaths), several off-the-wall supporting characters (an Ennis trademark), and death & destruction in spades. The violence is significantly toned down compared to PREACHER, HITMAN, or THE RIFLE BRIGADE. The really nasty stuff is implied more than actually shown- usually off-panel or in silhouette. I guess Marvel isn't quite ready to go "all-out" with this title like DC did with the recently-retired HITMAN. Oh well...

And of course, what would a Garth Ennis-penned epic be without the wacky supporting characters? Most of `em aren't quite as off-the-wall as Dogwelder or Arseface, but they're quite memorable none the less. There's the vigilante squad made up of Elite, a high society socialite; the low-rent-hero-of-the-downtrodden Mr. Payback; and the psycho ax-wielding Catholic priest The Holy. They get together and have aspirations of assisting New York's #1 vigilante anti-hero in his war on crime. The two police officers that make up the "Punisher Task Force" to track down our "hero" are the most pathetic and unfortunate examples of "New York's Finest".

Then there's Frank's neighbors at the apartment complex where he's hiding out. The morbidly obese Mister Bumpo is involved in one of the funniest comic-book fatalities since the death of Allfather D'Aronique in PREACHER. Then there's Spacker Dave, the guy who seems to spend all his time hanging out at the entrance to the apartment complex. His face is covered in all sorts of studs & rings from forehead to chin. Whenever Mr. Castle (under the pseudonym "Mister Smith") greets him with just "Dave", he calls out, "SPACKER Dave!" A close friend and myself actually annoyed a mutual buddy named Dave with the "SPACKER Dave!" war cry for several days in a row (yes, comic-book geeks really do this kinda stuff. Pretty pathetic, huh?). Needless to say, this real-life Dave doesn't hang with us much anymore...

But there are some truly dire & serious moments as well. The best of these is Frank putting Daredevil in a situation where he has no way to stop him except by killing him. Check it out to see how it all unfolds!

I now leave you with a totally useless and time-wasting activity: look for Ennis's & Dillon's tribute to "The Empire Strikes Back" somewhere in this collection. That should keep ya busy for several seconds...

'Late

The Nineties can pretty much be written off for Punisher fans. Frank Castle became a shadow of his former self and was no longer the deadly force of vengeance that struck readers as both horrifying and sympathetic at the same time. He had for all intents and purposes become that party guest who overstayed his welcome. A combination of woeful creative teams and overexposure condemned the Punisher to mediocrity and not even an intriguing new "angelic" take on the character through the Marvel Knight imprint could breathe new life in him. Then along came Ennis and Dillon, the creative duo responsible for the most inspired comic series of the 1990's - Preacher. They approached Frank Castle in a way never seen before. They composed a narrative filled with a combination of irony, parody, and tongue-in-cheek humor that still maintained enough of the psychotic killer and man on a mission elements that long-time readers remembered from Punisher stories from decades past. This unusual approach makes for the most entertaining Punisher read in a long time. The material is not as strong as Ennis' and Dillon's work on Preacher, and the story is a little longer than it needs to be, but the end result is a complete revitalization of Marvel's most famous vigilante. The chase sequence through the zoo is particularly inspired but as with the Preacher series, it's the characters that make the story. Ma Gnucchi, Detective Soap, The Russian, Mr. Bumpo, Spacker Dave, and the lovable Joan all make strong and lasting impressions. If you haven't checked out Frank Castle for a while then perhaps it's time to welcome an old friend back by picking up this book.

I actually saw the "Punisher" movie before I read this comic. Now that I have read this I realize the movie doesn't come close to doing this justice. The comic is approximately 500 times better than the movie. The comic is very fast-paced, with a wonderful dark sense of humor, and excellent narration. Some people complain that the stories are over-the-top, but that is the charm of "The Punisher". His constant fights with superheroes make for entertaining reads. This is a must read for fans of Ennis and Dillon or just anyone interested in having a good time.

What can I say about The Punisher that hasn't been said in comic coventions not only across America but but throughtout the World? From the time I picked up this book and started reading I was just caught up in the Punisher's world. It really gives insight not only as to his motives but just how much he values human life (with the exception of mobsters, hitmen,etc.) When I heard that a Punisher movie was in the making I remember being excited thinking how well the movie would be if they followed the Welcome Back Frank storyline. What the world witnessed however is how Hollywood takes the best things in life and poison everything they touch. The Punisher movie is a very loose translation of this book so if you're a real Punisher fan, just curious about the character, or seen the movie and collecting the book; make sure and pick this one up. It has to be one of the greatest graphic novels written in the new millenium

Welcome Back, Frank is a bone crunching, blood letting, teeth shattering thrill ride that hits you between the eyes with all the intensity of a sledgehammer.

This series marks Frank Castle's return to the `basics' of being the Punisher. For those fans lucky enough to miss the years that came before this one, let's just say that Frank had been lost in a whirlpool of hero hype and bad characterization during the 90's comic book boom.

But all that ended here with this series thanks to the Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion. Not only did they breathe fresh life into the Punisher, they introduced such delightful foils for him as Joan, Spacker Dave, Mr. Bumpo, and of course the Russian. The fight between Frank and the Russian alone is worth the cost of the book. That fight is just one example of how Ennis and Dillion remind us that Frank is a man, without powers. He can be hurt, and often is. The only thing that keeps him going is the rage and pain that gnaw his every nerve, every second of every day.

His is the series that the 2004 Punisher movie is based on. Do yourself a favor and add this book to your collection right away!

Frank Castle---The Punisher---is back. Expect heads to roll and limbs to fly apart. Literally. This graphic novel tells a twisted tale of the best possible ways to kill or maim people---with style, of course. Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon have accomplished one of the most impossible feats in comics today: They incorporated a "Tarantino-esque" pulp crime-fiction style in reviving a much ignored legendary comicbook anti-hero. So I won't say much here. Just buy this book and get severely whacked by this familiar loony-bin comicbook vigilante. Because the Punisher's gone back from the dead and is very much here to stay. Welcome back, Frank!