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trike 's review for:
The Punisher MAX, Vol. 1
by Garth Ennis
Warning: this is ultra-violent gutter noir focusing on the lowest of lowlifes. This is the dark underbelly of the world, as gritty as ground glass rubbed into road rash. If that's not your cup of tea, then you shouldn't be reading something called "The Punisher."
I just got this book yesterday and I burned through it in two sittings, one for each story arc. Forget that this is The Punisher, who is part of the Marvel Universe of superheroes, sorcerers and supervillains, these two stories are extremely violent modern noir tales that are expertly told, both in terms of the writing and the drawing.
I could name a dozen lesser writers and artists who should be pointed at this book as a lesson for how to tell a story. You need to have a variety of characters who are easily differentiated, not only in look but also speech and behavior. You need to mix it up in terms of angle, just like a good movie does: long shots, medium shots, close-ups, reveals. There are a couple times when the storytelling prowess of author Garth Ennis and artists Lewis Larosa and Leandro Fernandez make the sotry all the more powerful through the choices they make. At its best, this book is every bit as good as the superb graphic novel [b:100 Bullets |94510|100 Bullets, Vol. 1 First Shot, Last Call|Brian Azzarello|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327888942s/94510.jpg|2647240].
There is a printing error in the middle of the second story, where the word balloons from one page are printed onto the art of the following page, but I didn't feel like there was anything important missing from the story.
I just got this book yesterday and I burned through it in two sittings, one for each story arc. Forget that this is The Punisher, who is part of the Marvel Universe of superheroes, sorcerers and supervillains, these two stories are extremely violent modern noir tales that are expertly told, both in terms of the writing and the drawing.
I could name a dozen lesser writers and artists who should be pointed at this book as a lesson for how to tell a story. You need to have a variety of characters who are easily differentiated, not only in look but also speech and behavior. You need to mix it up in terms of angle, just like a good movie does: long shots, medium shots, close-ups, reveals. There are a couple times when the storytelling prowess of author Garth Ennis and artists Lewis Larosa and Leandro Fernandez make the sotry all the more powerful through the choices they make. At its best, this book is every bit as good as the superb graphic novel [b:100 Bullets |94510|100 Bullets, Vol. 1 First Shot, Last Call|Brian Azzarello|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327888942s/94510.jpg|2647240].
There is a printing error in the middle of the second story, where the word balloons from one page are printed onto the art of the following page, but I didn't feel like there was anything important missing from the story.