Superhero Media: The Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis

When asked what the best Punisher comics to start out on are, I answer The Punisher MAX run by Garth Ennis with no hesitation. Across sixty issues, Ennis tells several of the best Punisher stories ever written inside the absolute best Punisher story ever written. Whilst I'm usually against comics and superheroes being excessively violent, in The Punisher MAX the gore and murder punctuate the story, and are rarely gratuitous. From a simple beginning, tying up some loose ends of canon and introducing the tone, Frank soon finds himself embroiled in international intrigues, sex trafficking and even a government coverup. The series climaxes with the story "Valley Forge, Valley Forge", which discusses the Vietnam War as is demonstrates the contention that the conflict was the start of the American military turning into a for-profit corporation. That's some pretty full-on content for a comic book about a guy who shoots people real good.

Due to being an adult comic of a cult character, the art is sadly not consistent in The Punisher Max, but most of it is great, especially the covers done by Tim Bradstreet, who my older readers may recongnise from his work with the White Wolf World of Darkness books in the 1990s. The Frank Castle we are shown is the same Vietnam Veteran that first menaced Spider-Man, but thirty plus years on, he is a slab of scar tissue and muscle, driven on by unending rage and nihilistic focus. In the closing story, "Valley Forge, Valley Forge", a team of Delta Force are unable to capture Frank, and when the question of how a man twice their age can keep out of their grasp, the response is "He never goes off duty. That's the difference." The concept, well executed, is that Frank Castle has just kept waging his one-man war on crime for decades, becoming something less than human in the process, to the point that he feels unequipped to even relate to other human beings.

If you've heard of any stories in this series, it is probably "The Slavers", in which Frank takes on a people smuggling ring that forces women into prostitution against their will. It is a powerful story, with no real happy ending and lots of extreme content, so can be a challenge to read, but is well worth it. Obviously the story elements of sexual assault can be triggering, and there is also talk of the Serbian genocides, so discretion is advised, even in the context of the already Adult MAX imprint. I own all ten Trade Paperback volumes of this series, and there are several methods of reading it all, it really is a must for any serious Punisher fan, or comic reader who wants to see Frank at his best. Whenever I asked what an adaptation of The Punisher should look like, it's this series; grim, violent, nihilistic, but never heroic. A Greek tragedy with a huge bullet count. Seriously, just adapt "The Slavers" or "Up Is Down and Black Is White" for the big screen.