Punisher Max #49 (no spoilers)

[Andrenavarro]

I'm still shaking. This issue's spectacular and ends this arc brilliantly, with an unexpected conclusion and one of the most sadisticly touching scenes I've ever seen. Ennis hits us in the guts, and avoids completely to follow the path we all expected him to, from everything we've been seeing in the previous parts. No, the story has a tougher ending, a realistic ending, and proceeds to it without any hesitation.

Jenny's request to Frank Castle was just heart-breaking. It's a moment of incredible humanity, especially from Frank, who throughout this issue lets his violent, inhuman side slip and even gets to the point of yelling a "No!!" at a certain moment. The resolution of the story with Budiansky also goes a slightly different way than we expected, and is also satisfying. I hope Budiansky comes back in the future, he's too good a character not to.

Lan Medina's art was way, way better in the first three issues, and now is just reasonable. His characters are expressive and well-drawn, but he overuses action lines to indicate intensity, and instead of, in a shootout, drawing the bullet traces, he draws the bullets in travel, what gives the scene a sense of bullet-time and throws realism out the window (in a certain panel, it looks like Jenny's dodging the bullets like Neo in The Matrix). Also, his lineart's more dirty, which doesn't look very good. And the last panel of the book is quite bad.

Raul Trevino, on the other hand, seems to have found his way: his coloring's excellent, with opressive, dark tones that match the mood of the story perfectly. Dan Brown's still better (the page in The Slavers #2 with Frank walking away from a room he shot to pieces is just amazingly colored), but Trevino delivers a great job. Let's hope he stays that way.

Brilliant, brilliant conclusion to YET another excellent story arc. Now comes #50, "Long, cold dark", with art by Howard Chaykin and featuring the return of Barracuda. I can't goddamn wait.

[lenorezann]

"Now comes #50, "Long, cold dark", with art by Howard Chaykin."

Please God , no! Howard Chaykin's art + Punisher Max = Unreadable.

Chaykin's art is totally unsuitable for this book's tone. Plus , the return of Barracuda? This might actually be the only Punisher Max arc that I end up skipping. The original Barracuda brought out the worst in Ennis. The Punisher haphazardly blowing up a boatload of stockholders? Without even knowing how many of them would have actually gone along with the plan to black out Florida? Without even knowing if any of them actually brought their FAMILIES to an informal gathering , a PARTY , between company execs? Ugg...

I wholeheartedly recommend every other arc in this series , Slavers , Mother Russia , Man of Stone , In The Beginning...even the somewhat less than stellar Kitchen Irish...but Barracuda was unreadable and I'm affraid Long Cold Dark is heading for the same place.

[Arsh]

Originally Posted by lenorezann

"Now comes #50, "Long, cold dark", with art by Howard Chaykin."

Please God , no! Howard Chaykin's art + Punisher Max = Unreadable.

Chaykin's art is totally unsuitable for this book's tone. Plus , the return of Barracuda? This might actually be the only Punisher Max arc that I end up skipping. The original Barracuda brought out the worst in Ennis. The Punisher haphazardly blowing up a boatload of stockholders? Without even knowing how many of them would have actually gone along with the plan to black out Florida? Without even knowing if any of them actually brought their FAMILIES to an informal gathering , a PARTY , between company execs? Ugg...

I wholeheartedly recommend every other arc in this series , Slavers , Mother Russia , Man of Stone , In The Beginning...even the somewhat less than stellar Kitchen Irish...but Barracuda was unreadable and I'm affraid Long Cold Dark is heading for the same place.

I will admit... the 'Barracuda' arc wasn't very good... though I do like the character himself.

However, 'Long, Cold Dark' does look to be a much more serious arc... and knowing that Ennis doesn't seem to be too fond of recurring antagonists, it's highly likely that Barracuda will meet his end by the conclusion of the arc. I mean, this is Frank Castle protecting the most innocent of the innocent... a young baby. Unless they go for a 'Shoot 'em Up' thing (the upcoming Clive Owen film), I think this will be a more serious arc than Barracuda or the Barracuda mini.

As for Chaykin's art... I'm not familiar with him. I only read a few comics regularly, with Punisher MAX being one of them. Though two pages from Punisher 50 with Chaykin's art have been posted online:

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/im...5113143242.jpg

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/im...5113144367.jpg

They don't look too bad... I don't mind them actually... though I don't get how Barracuda seems to have gotten his fingers back. I still look forward to 50... I got high hopes, and so far, Ennis hasn't disappointed me... even 'Barracuda' had its high points here and there... I loved the Castle vs. The Shark fight. As well, Tim Bradstreet stated on his Myspace that it was actually Ennis that came up with the idea for the cover of Punisher 50... he wanted to showcase Castle as a ticking time bomb... a foreshadow perhaps?

Oh, and Andrenavarro... I completely agree with your review... it was a pretty gut-wrenching end. I loved Lan Medina's art (with the exception of that very last panel). Though I hope Leandro Fernandez and Dan Brown come back eventually... maybe even LaRosa if he pencils an issue like he did The Cell. The story itself had a fantastic finale. We can see how everyone around Castle is affected, and how it continues to drive him. I loved it.

[Sunless]

That was powerful.

[Zaldy]

What a powerful ending to an amazingly well crafted storyline, as usual! A nice nod to the female punisher debacle of the 90s, with the only real resolution to a story of this gravity. I love how Ennis shows Castle's propensity to not just dish out the punishment, but take the weight of its burden upon himself as well.

While I love Criminal and 100 bullets, there is no book on the shelves like Punisher Max, and it irks me to no end that the title doesn't get the push it consistently deserves.

[Candid Rook]

Originally Posted by Arsh

I will admit... the 'Barracuda' arc wasn't very good... though I do like the character himself.

However, 'Long, Cold Dark' does look to be a much more serious arc... and knowing that Ennis doesn't seem to be too fond of recurring antagonists, it's highly likely that Barracuda will meet his end by the conclusion of the arc. I mean, this is Frank Castle protecting the most innocent of the innocent... a young baby. Unless they go for a 'Shoot 'em Up' thing (the upcoming Clive Owen film), I think this will be a more serious arc than Barracuda or the Barracuda mini.

As for Chaykin's art... I'm not familiar with him. I only read a few comics regularly, with Punisher MAX being one of them. Though two pages from Punisher 50 with Chaykin's art have been posted online:

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/im...5113143242.jpg

http://comicsmedia.ign.com/comics/im...5113144367.jpg

They don't look too bad... I don't mind them actually... though I don't get how Barracuda seems to have gotten his fingers back.

He hasn't. If I remember rightly it was the last three fingers on his right hand that were severed and you can't see them in the panel.

Howard Chaykins art on the Blade comic was not good. It doesn't look great from those two panels either but we shall see.

[Andrenavarro]

But good news if you don't like Chaykin, guys: Parlov will draw the other four issues, and his art is, in my opinion, excellent.

Oh, and Andrenavarro... I completely agree with your review...

Thanks!