Punisher MAX - The Slavers #1

[history79]

Written by Garth Ennis, Art by Leandro Fernandez


7 pages of 22

Comments

[beardedjellybean]

This is probably the darkest and in my opinion one of the the best Punisher stories that Ennis wrote. By the end you don't feel at all bad at how brutally Frank kills said men.

[glprime]

It's when he heads up to the top of that building, to take on the legitimate business-side, and that executive that brags about her "shatter proof glass." And he just picks her up and throws her into. Over. And over. And over. And we just see it from the outside as the glass gets more and more red. Yep.

[punisher007]

And I think that he's extra motivated in this case, given what happened to his family.

[quatoria]

Wow. I got a shiver in those final panels, as it panned down to the skull. I could picture the set of his jaw, grinding his teeth harder and harder as he heard whatever awful story she was relating. Damn.

[nyadnar17]

I did too. Even after all these years I got a shiver.

[lascoden]

Times like this, I wonder if criminals have like an inherent "Punisher-sense". Like, they just *know* something really bad is going to happen to them soon. I certainly hope they do.

[thatnickguy]

Man, I keep hoping Marvel would recollect both of Ennis' runs (Marvel Knights and MAX) in some new, complete collections. I think I only ever read the first storyarc or two of the MAX series. Shame, because this is fantastic.

[zechs80]

They did at least for MAX. Marvel released four HC's that have Ennis's complete MAX run (along with his Barracuda mini). Own the first two myself, but haven't gotten the later two. But I will.

[tigerkaya]

Now this is the Punisher at his best. He always seems to work better in the down to earth gritty elements and less of the "Be all end all of superheroes cliche."

[donnblake]

I'm struck by what separates Frank from a lot of the Marvel heroes- it's not just the killing thing, other characters kill without having the same vibe. It's that, fundamentally, Frank cares more about the criminals than the victims of the crime.

[glprime]

Well said.

[espanolbot]

Ennis is at his best when he writes crime and war stories, with Punisher Max being largely a combination of the two. But while Hitman managed to combine both with superhero stories with some success (the breadth of different types of superhero stories in the 1990s meant that there was room for Ennis' style without it clashing), the Boy kind of shuffles around for the most part.