Каратель. Том 4. Верх — это низ, а черное — это белое

The Punisher (2004) (Collected Editions)

by Garth Ennis, Leandro Fernández (Illustrator)

Один из самых противоречивых авторов комиксов направляет одного из самых противоречивых персонажей по новому пути – и маршрут выбирает только он сам!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Crime, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Ennis began his comic-writing career in 1989 with the series Troubled Souls. Appearing in the short-lived but critically-acclaimed British anthology Crisis and illustrated by McCrea, it told the story of a young, apolitical Protestant man caught up by fate in the violence of the Irish 'Troubles'. It spawned a sequel, For a Few Troubles More, a broad Belfast-based comedy featuring two supporting characters from Troubled Souls, Dougie and Ivor, who would later get their own American comics series, Dicks, from Caliber in 1997, and several follow-ups from Avatar.

Another series for Crisis was True Faith, a religious satire inspired by his schooldays, this time drawn by Warren Pleece. Ennis shortly after began to write for Crisis' parent publication, 2000 AD. He quickly graduated on to the title's flagship character, Judge Dredd, taking over from original creator John Wagner for a period of several years.

Ennis' first work on an American comic came in 1991 when he took over DC Comics's horror title Hellblazer, which he wrote until 1994, and for which he currently holds the title for most issues written. Steve Dillon became the regular artist during the second half of Ennis's run.

Ennis' landmark work to date is the 66-issue epic Preacher, which he co-created with artist Steve Dillon. Running from 1995 to 2000, it was a tale of a preacher with supernatural powers, searching (literally) for God who has abandoned his creation.

While Preacher was running, Ennis began a series set in the DC universe called Hitman. Despite being lower profile than Preacher, Hitman ran for 60 issues (plus specials) from 1996 to 2001, veering wildly from violent action to humour to an examination of male friendship under fire.

Other comic projects Ennis wrote during this time period include Goddess, Bloody Mary, Unknown Soldier, and Pride & Joy, all for DC/Vertigo, as well as origin stories for The Darkness for Image Comics and Shadowman for Valiant Comics.

After the end of Hitman, Ennis was lured to Marvel Comics with the promise from Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada that he could write The Punisher as long as he cared to. Instead of largely comical tone of these issues, he decided to make a much more serious series, re-launched under Marvel's MAX imprint.

In 2001 he briefly returned to UK comics to write the epic Helter Skelter for Judge Dredd.

Other comics Ennis has written include War Story (with various artists) for DC; The Pro for Image Comics; The Authority for Wildstorm; Just a Pilgrim for Black Bull Press, and 303, Chronicles of Wormwood (a six issue mini-series about the Antichrist), and a western comic book, Streets of Glory for Avatar Press.

In 2008 Ennis ended his five-year run on Punisher MAX to debut a new Marvel title, War Is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

In June 2008, at Wizard World, Philadelphia, Ennis announced several new projects, including a metaseries of war comics called Battlefields from Dynamite made up of mini-series including Night Witches, Dear Billy and Tankies, another Chronicles of Wormwood mini-series and Crossed both at Avatar, a six-issue miniseries about Butcher (from The Boys) and a Punisher project reuniting him with artist Steve Dillon (subsequently specified to be a weekly mini-series entitled Punisher: War Zone, to be released concurrently with the film of the same name).

Taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garth_Ennis

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Did a lot of damage last year. The Mob at old man Cesare's birthday party. Then the Westies. Then Leon Rastovich's Russians. Now and again, some **** pops up and tries to fill the vacuum . . . and I remind them why it pays to be afraid." -- a shotgun-wielding Frank 'The Punisher' Castle

Up is Down and Black is White is one nasty and nihilistic little graphic novel featuring the notable antiheroic vigilante (celebrating his 50th anniversary at Marvel this year, BTW). It is said that a story is only as good as its villain, and this one has a truly reprehensible bad guy responsible for kicking the twisted plot into motion. Nicky Cavella, a psychotic scion to an organized crime family and wannabe godfather, decides to exhume the graves of The Punisher's wife and children to lure him into the open for assassination purposes. (Cavella then hopes to be christened as the new head of the various Mob families for such an audacious act.) Of course things go sideways, and The Punisher receives some unexpected assistance from an unlikely source when wounded in action. It is a harshly violent tale - that 'explicit content' label is entirely justified - but there is an exhilaration with the depiction of some hard-core and fiercely unrepentant criminals receiving some rough justice.

[Lukas Sumper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally, this is more in line with what I expected of ennis.. we see some of Frank's vulnerable side and him having to rely on others which is nice for a change. The story is going back to being more personal with familiar characters and the art is as good as always, just now with the added depth of the story telling this became a good (albeit weird) read.

Maybe this is going somewhere interesting. 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Score: 4.33 out of 5
Grade: 87% (A) | Awesome

This book hits the ground running, but now the tables have turned – Frank is the target and Nicky Cavella is the slightly disturbed man gunning for him. Although the story contains some awesome characters and a spectacular beginning, it becomes a little disjointed towards the end and doesn’t quite stick the landing. But nonetheless, there is still tons of bloody good fun to be had with this one. Here is my review of The Punisher MAX Vol. 4: Up is Down and Black is White:





The Good:

We finally get a solid sense of continuity in this series with the return of a few interesting characters. Who else do I start with other than Nicky Cavella. This man’s upbringing certainly wasn’t normal by any stretch of the imagination. Unpredictable, crazy and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, he is easily one of Ennis’ best villains yet and one of my favourites. And don’t even get me started on Auntie Mo (crazy old hag)! You begin to sympathize with Cavella despite all of his wild antics.





This book had fantastic supporting characters including O’Brien and Pittsy’s sister, Teresa. Both these women were not to be messed with unless you wanted a serious ass kickin’! Pittsy’s sister is basically a female version of Pittsy (from volume 1) and I thought it was hilarious. She’s a tough and mean women, but every once in a while, she wants Nicky to slip her the beef. As for O’Brien, at first I wasn’t totally sold on her, but as the book progressed, I became more and more invested in seeing her come out on top.





I also really enjoyed the art in this one. As I continue reading on, the art in this series keeps on getting better and better. Most notably, the panels with Frank are amazing! There are certain sequences of panels that capture his brute demeanor and it’s marvelous to stare at.





This book happens to be quite funny too. Rather than the one-liner jokes that we’re used to, it’s nice to see these characters (which Ennis has done a fantastic job building) thrown into awkward/humorous situations. To some degree, they’re normal humans like you or I, but it’s just hilarious to see how they react to certain things.





The Bad:

Although I loved the character of Nicky Cavella, his final tilt with the Punisher was resolved too quickly which I felt cheated on. I think it was a case of me really liking the character, despite the character not really doing much – besides stirring the pot, and oh boy does he! I also loved the way his story ended. Word to the wise – never make things personal with Frank Castle.





Something that bothered me to a small degree was how the story unfolded. The first chunk of the book is amazing! It lays down the groundwork for a truly spectacular read. However, with such a strong beginning, the subsequent chapters of the story weren’t able to maintain the high level of consistency. The pacing of the book felt slightly off at times especially when it began to juggle all the characters’ stories.





Conclusion:

Overall, the story was great and the characters were awesome. I feel like some characters were underutilized and the story dwindled down towards the end, but I still had a great time with this. Although I’m just a few books deep on Ennis’ run, I haven’t felt any Punisher fatigue. This series has been a lot of fun so far and I owe it to the character development. If you’re looking for a violent, vulgar and well-written comic, this series is definitely for you. Don’t believe me? Just look at how happy Frank is below! That’s him on a good day…

[Sam Quixote · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mobster who thinks he can take down the Punisher does the unthinkable - digs up Frank Castle's wife and kids and urinates on them while being filmed. The footage is aired on TV and the rampage begins...

Garth Ennis does a good job of telling the story of this mobster and his sleazy and blood-soaked rise. I was interested throughout with the number of psychotic individuals in this criminal underworld and liked that Ennis focuses on building up character in the bad guys giving them more dimensions than simply being cast as "baddie" and have Castle kill them. Castle's bloody rampage is also well done, Leandro Fernandez does amazing work pencilling each panel beautifully.

The only thing that I questioned was why would a news channel feature footage of dug-up skeletons and a mobster urinating on them? And why wouldn't any police arrest the mobster for this?

Anyway, it's a gripping read as Castle kills his way to the wise guy and punishes him. Pure grisly action fun, it's another brilliant book in Ennis' Punisher series.

[Murat Dural · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marmara Çizgi'den çıkan, Garth Ennis'in yazdığı, Lenadro Fernandez'in çizdiği, Egemen Görçek'in dilimize kazandırdığı "Punisher; Düzler Tersler, Siyahlar Beyazlar" yine soluk soluğa, kan nehrine dönüşen bir hikaye anlatıyor bize. Frank Castle'ı saklandığı yerden çıkarmak için akılalmaz bir girişim ve normal sonuçları diyelim. Açıkcası eserin finalini çok beğenmedim ama sonuçta o bir Punisher cildi. İyi okumalar.

[Ignacio · Rating 2 out of 5]

Buffffffffff. Esto lo escribían Mike Baron y Chuck Dixon hace 30 años en dos números, sin tantas alharacas, parabienes, ni chorradas ennisianas y más sentido en la acción. Es cierto que el dibujo a veces no acompañaba. Pero otras aparecía un Portacio, un Texeira o un Romita Jr. Muy pobre.

[Steven Montano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nick Cavella is back.

One of the most psychotic mobsters The Punisher ever faced has returned for revenge, and in the process he manages to worm his way into Frank Castle's head better than anyone's ever done before.

"Up Is Down & Black Is White", quite frankly, is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, this is where we start to see more of Ennis' Punisher universe taking shape, as events and characters from a combination of different storylines (specifically both villains and supporting cast from "In The Beginning" and "Mother Russia") begin to influence the overreaching story arc, and the way in which Frank interacts with and/or eliminates those characters is extremely entertaining.

We also get an even clearer understanding of Frank's drive and madness. Suffice it to say the man isn't well. As Micro insinuated in "In The Beginning", Frank has likely always been this way, and the combination of his time in Vietnam and losing his family were all that was needed to unleash the muderous beast that had been hidden inside of him.

That being said, the plot for this storyline tends to waver, and often seems unsure of where it's going. After a terrific set-up events seem to happen "just because", and the wrap-up, while satisfying on a visceral level, felt like an overly quick way to conclude what started as a fairly nuanced and complicated story. But, as I said in my review of "Kitchen Irish", even a "bad" Ennis Punisher story is still a good one. 3 1/2 stars (rounded to 4 for Goodreads purposes).

[Kris Kaleta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely, brutally brilliant. What a comics!

Frank is, by far, my favourite comic character of all time. He is the most tragic one as well. Seeking revenge he'll never have, trying to find his piece in punishment. He can't though, which is shown in #22. He tries to close his eyes but the only thing he sees is burnin', murderin' and slayin', blood all over the world and his family sayin' 'We are still dead, Frank'.
'That's what I get for resting my eyes' he says.
Nothing summarize The Punisher better.

Phenomenal series. Just re-read it after 10 or so years and I'm just amazed with everything: the plot, characters, drawing. One of the best Punisher's out there, folks!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

These just get better and better. What kind of deal with the devil did Ennis make in order to write so well??

[Javier Muñoz · Rating 4 out of 5]

En este arco argumental Ennis recupera personajes que ya aparecieron en el primer volumen de punisher MAX (marvel saga el castigador 2). El capo de la mafia Nicky Cavella quiere hacerse con el control de todas las familias de la mafia de nueva york tras el vacío creado por la masacre que llevó el castigador en la fiesta de cumpleaños de Massimo Cesare (marvel saga el castigador 2). Para cumplir su objetivo quiere dar un golpe de efecto asesinando al castigador, lo cual le serviría también de venganza, así que su primer paso consistirá en profanar la tumba de la familia de Frank Castle para que este enloquezca y cometa un error en su búsqueda de venganza.

Para mi no es de las mejores historias de Ennis en su etapa en el castigador, pero tiene mucha acción y me gusta bastante el dibujo de Leandro Fernández.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the Beginning
Kitchen Irish
Mother Russia

Nicky Cavella is back in town and he's got a plan. A way to get at the Punisher. To make him hurt. To make him scream. And when he drop's his guard, he'll die. Except Frank isn't playing by Nicky's rules. He's gonna go on the warpath....

So for me, this was a return to form after the minor goofiness of Mother Russia. It's Frank back in his natural element, except this time we have an old foe returning for some revenge. So lets go over some old stuff. Fernandez is back on board as artist and like before his work is good. Good colouring, good use of lighting and shadow with distinct looking characters all around. Some of the old characters return and they actually look better in this art style, particularly Roth and Rawlins. The one part I'd say where the art falls down is the depiction of Cavella. In 'In the Beginning' Cavella was drawn to look like Andy Garcia around 40 years old. But here, he's looks like he's in his twenties with slicked back hair and a spindly little body. The first time I read this arc, I was legitimately confused about who I was looking at.

The plotline is pretty decent with the bulk of the arc being something of a character study of both Frank and Cavella as we read on to an eventual showdown. We given moments from each of their lives that help define who they are, where they're going and their major flaws and probably downfalls. The style of definition is also distinct, with many of Frank's internal monologues referencing his deepest fears, flaws and even a dream sequence which is actually quite terrifying to behold. Meanwhile Cavella's backstory is fleshed out through flashback daydreams and overall they're told quite well and equally as terrifying and horrible to behold, although in a different way.

Since the characters are the focus of the story this time, Ennis does a good job of digging into the psyches of both Frank and Cavella and we come away with some very terrifying ideas. A lesser writer would look at a character like Cavella and try to limpwrist a tragic backstory to him, try and humanize him in a way to make him come across as sympathetic. But Ennis has little time for that shit. Cavella is a horrible scumbag and while one event in his youth was a horrible thing to happen TO him, the rest of his life demonstrates that he is nothing but a degenerate cowardly monster.
Frank meanwhile is given a lot of characterization about his violent streak and what defines him and it's quotes like this that make me shit my pants:

There’s a dream I have from time to time and in the dream, I don't stop. I kill the soldiers and the hitmen, the extortionists and racketeers, the dark old fucks who send them out to fight. I hold the trigger down until they’re all gone — but I don’t stop. The innocents are watching, just like always; the slack-jawed thousands, gazing at the beast. My family lay red and shredded in the grass. I face the crowd and bring the weapon to my shoulder. "If my world ends," I tell them, "so does yours." The recoil starts and I wake up. It’s just a dream, I always tell myself. "It’s just a dream. It’s just a dream.

The rest of the characters are decently written with some of the returning characters getting a lot more screentime and a lot more depth. Rawlins was just a CIA operative in Mother Russia, but here we realize what an absolute snake he is and what he's capable of. It also helps that he's been drawn a lot more distinctly this time around. Kathryn O'Brien also makes a return performance and here we see her true colours. She's a lot more than a piece of eye candy and gives some of the more introspective moments in the arc. She's aware of the shitty fucked-up life she lives, she's aware that it isn't the way people live but she lives it anyway. Up is down, Black is White indeed.

Overall, Up is Down, Black is White is a solid story, with good well fleshed-out characters and some truly nasty setpieces that do a good job of characterizing and even humanizing some of the characters, even if its just in small ways.

Up next, we have the darkest of the series, The Slavers.

[Derek Patz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Small time mob boss Nicky Cavella wants payback against Frank Castle. He sees an opportunity to desecrate the grave of his wife and kids. Castle goes into a rage while still being the methodic crime killer that he is. Ennis creates a topsy-turvy world where up is down and black is white.

Up is Down is a lot more violent than Barracuda with more screwed up characters. Ennis writes violence into his stories without defacing the story itself. Up is down is also a lot more graphic then Barracuda with subjects of incest and sexual assault. Punisher fans will love this comic and it is Frank castle at his best. I mean worst.

I do feel that Barracuda was a better story and Ennis put a lot more effort into character development, The only flaw in Up is down is that it is one giant bloodbath with a wise ass gangster who got in way over his head. It was hard to give a Punisher comic 3 stars but I couldn't give it any higher.

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[Rodrigo Tello · Rating 5 out of 5]

La justicia del Castigador es cruel pero necesaria, y nadie puede escapar. Cuando el gángster italiano Nicky Cavella comete una afrenta personal contra Frank Castle, ni en sus más brutales pesadillas puede imaginar la cruzada sangrienta que teñirá de sesos y tripas las calles de Nueva York...

[Luke Sims-Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Know whats rare in a Punisher comic? Not just recurring characters, but recurring bad guys! Nicky Cavella from the first volume is back and he's dug up Frank's family and pissed on all the bones.

What follows is a dark rampage as the Punisher just goes fricken mental. It's gruesome shit, you kinda wanna root for Frank, but Ennis makes it hard and thats good writing.

Some other characters come back, Roth and O'Brien from volume 1 and Rawlins from Mother Russia. Feels really cool to have long form storytelling in a series where thats really hard to pull off. Ennis also creates men so vile, you want them dead and we learn a lot about Nicky Cavella. More than I'd ever want to. I'd say this is the best volume of Max Punisher yet, but the book gets better.

Leandro Fernandez from Kitchen Irish is back on art duties! I love his Punisher and i like his version of some of the recurring characters better than Mr LaRosa. Leandro just fits right in, everything is gritty and dark, but not too dark. The art is clear and crisp and i loved it. Recommended.

[Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even discounting the amazing work of tying together previous story-lines, this is probably one of the all-time great Punisher stories just because of how artfully crafted the character work is. The Punisher doesn't have the luxury of recurring characters all that often, so that definitely is a key component of why this story works, but Ennis could have populated it with new faces and the arc would still have managed to sing. It is dirty, disgusting, spits on taboos and exemplifies the nature of the genre in all the right ways.

[Octavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enorme. Necesito más!!

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gangster Nicky Cavella chooses a unique way to try and unite the NYC mob under his rule - by digging up the remains of Frank Castle's family and using them to ignite a war against a common foe. Cavella's unorthodox tactic gets results - but not the ones he expects. Finally, someone figures out how to put the screws to Frank by using his deceased family - where was this before?

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely the darkest, bleakest and most truly fucked up narrative arc in the series thus far, but...I really liked it. Ennis does something different with this one. It delved a little more in the psychological depths of Frank.

[The Geeky Viking · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 4th volume in the Garth Ennis' classic Punisher Max run is another grand slam. Terrific story and characters combined with fantastic artwork. One of the best reinvention of a character since Alan Moore's classic run on Swamp Thing.

[Luis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Algunas cosas deberían ser sagradas.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Po globalnej stawce o jaką walczono w poprzednim tomie, nadszedł czas na zwolnienie tempa i powrotu na stare śmieci. Ale czy tak do końca?

Powraca znany nam z pierwszego tomu Nicky Cavella. Nie jest to jedyny powrót, bowiem nieco dalej zahaczymy o Rotha i O'Brian, którzy pomagali w pierwszym tomie agencji rządowej w pochwyceniu i zwerbowaniu Franka dla własnych celów. Zwłaszcza ta druga ma tu więcej miejsca na rozwój charakteru. Kobieta najpierw ucieknie z zakładu karnego, a potem będzie w pewnym momencie w bardzo bliskich relacjach z Frankiem.

Zaczyna się od trzęsienia ziemi. Cavella jako jedyny przeżył atak Punishera, zyskując w oczach pozostałych mafiozów, ale nie na tyle, by stać się nowym donem. Świr wie, że dopóki żyje Castle, dopóty cały interes, jakim ma zarządzać, nigdy nie będzie bezpieczny. Dlatego też postanawia go wywabić i zlikwidować... Poprzez prowokację polegającą na wykopaniu kości zamordowanej rodziny Punishera i publicznym oddaniem na nie moczu. Frank nie pozostaje bierny. W furii zaczyna się masowa wyrzynka nowojorskich przestępców.

Jednocześnie wymiar sprawiedliwości w formie generałów z poprzedniego tomu, wysyła za Frankiem pewnego agenta, który okazuje się być byłym O'Brian, a jednocześnie "dobrze" zna Cavellę. Krąg się zacieśnia. Spirala przemocy zaczyna zbierać krwawe żniwo. Tylko po co? Po raz pierwszy raz zadałem sobie te pytanie na tle całej serii MAX. Jest tu też dużo groteskowej wręcz seksualności, zwłaszcza w kawałku historii poświęconej życiu Nicky'iego. Cała ta cioteczka Mo, towarzysząca mu Teresa, siostra Pittsy'iego(tak, tego psychola z jedynki). To wyraziste charaktery, ale moim zdaniem historia jest już przegięta do granic, tak że szew fabularny zaraz pęknie.

Bo jakoś nie chce mi się wierzyć, że Cavella był już takim psycholem od małego, że pokusił się o zamordowanie własnej matki i rodzeństwa. Ojca z racji tego kim był jeszcze bym zrozumiał, ale matkę? W ogóle dużo tu momentów, gdzie autor poleciał na skróty, szczególnie pod koniec tomu. Scena w sypialni, gdzie do akcji wkracza Teresa, pochwycenie i egzekucja pokręconego mafiozy, wątek tajniaka z wyłupanym okiem. I ten nadmiar golizny. Wcześniej nie było jej prawie wcale, a tu miałem wrażenie, że autor chciał nadrobić powstałe braki, choć jak pokazał na przestrzeni trzech dotychczasowych, nie było to potrzebne.

Stale i niezmiennie Punisher zabijać przestępców będzie. I wygląda do tego naprawdę dobrze, choć na początku kreska pana Leandro Fernándeza mnie nie zachwyciła, to już przy scenach akcji wszystko zaczęło ponownie grać jak należy. I taki jest nowy Punisher. Nadal na wszech miar godny polecenia, choć nie bez wad, które tym razem nie mogły przejść bez psioczenia.

[Paul S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

2-3 stars.
Pissed off psycho pisses off other psycho who in turn really pisses off the already pissed off psycho. The really pissed off pissed off psycho then goes on a cool but short pissed off rampage until he can try and exact his revenge on the psycho.
Impressive art and good writing. The best scenes were the ones without any action and full of dialogue. Some great scenes of slaughter. Some classic Ennis grotesques. The villain had a fleshed out motive and horrifying backstory that I appreciated.
But the story... meh, it was ok. I can't exactly pin down why I didn't like the story much. Maybe I just didn't feel like reading an action movie last night. Each time I try, I tell myself, 'well that is just a typical action genre trope so what's my problem? You respect tropes and cliches.' The pacing was too quick in order to facilitate jumping from gore to gore to gore. The most insightful bit was the ever valuable enigmatic tried and true lesson that revenge doesn't pay.
I suppose I expected as much and signed up for it. I couldn't put it down though so I suppose that says something.

[Zare · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aiming to destabilize (heh!) Punisher and send him on the rampage, mobsters desecrate the grave of Castle's family. This of course triggers the Punisher but in a way that mobster did not anticipate.

Punisher is shown pretty good here. Man that feels like is in a very bad dream but still more than willing to proceed with his vendetta against the organized crime. Art is excellent and scenes of carnage left in wake of Punishers actions is truly stuff of nightmares.

What put me off a bit is the way characters speak - besides Castle they all curse and seem generally incapable of completing a single sentence without uttering some curse or other. It just seems exaggerated and as such it kinda ruins it for me (and I am not stranger to cursing mind you :)). They just seem unprofessional and kind of a .... ridiculous.

Recommended to fans of action comics and of course Punisher.

[Ale · Rating 3 out of 5]

El quinto tomo de la saga no sorprende, pero cumple. Ennis vuelve a tener algunos momentos estelares, sobre todo en los diálogos más reflexivos, colocados en puntos clave de la historia. También reaparece esa idea sugerente de que quizá Frank desearía estas matanzas incluso si su familia siguiera con vida, un planteamiento interesante desde el punto de vista de la profundidad del personaje.

Sin embargo, la mayor parte del tomo se pierde en escenas innecesarias y en personajes bastante prescindibles. Los villanos resultan simples, poco originales, y eso le resta peso narrativo a la amenaza que supuestamente representan para el protagonista.

Reseña tras reseña, con esta saga siempre acabo llegando a la misma conclusión: entretenido, con destellos puntuales, pero lejos de revolucionar nada dentro del género.

[Alejandro López Capilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Junto con el primer volumen, de lo mejorcito hasta el momento. Muy, muy bueno.
Un único arco argumental en el que se nos presenta una historia muy negra, cruda y violenta plena de acción y totalmente absorbente.
Con un malo malísimo de esos que molan tanto: pues no va el tipo y profana, grabándolo para después emitirlo, los restos de la mujer e hijos de Frank. Pero chaval, ¿estás atontao o qué? Jejeje, pobre infeliz no sabe la que se le viene encima.
Me ha molao también el personaje femenino, O’Brien. Tela de cañera. Memorables las escenas en las duchas de la cárcel con las típicas matonas. Ojalá aparezca en más números.
El arte del dibujante argentino Leandro Fernández, muy bueno. Y los entintados, guapos.
En suma, uno de esos cómics por los que uno se aficiona a esto.
.

[Iva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Знаєте... вони наче і не стараються. Нарікати на подібне в Marvel то дурня, але разом із тим.
Так, сюжети "банди тижня" злились у глобалку, в той час як арт став нестабільним. Частково надмірна жесть дуже навіть доставляла, а частково - була вимучена та непотрібна. Punisher - реалістично-жорстока історія, ось що хочеться бачити, ось чому в МАХ намагаються не вводити супергероїв та чому художнику й сценаристу Preacher`a тут нічого робити.
Саме злиття сюжетів у глобалку вийшло слабким через те, що на початку в нас жбурляли персонажів цілими жменями, а відрізнялись вони ж у тому арті хіба що іменами. Зараз же арт змінюється, імена вже забуто, от і маємо.
Сподіваюсь, що далі - краще.

[Deat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like that at the end Frank feels peace knowing this psychopath is going to suffocate on his own shit over the course of 2 days.
At first you’re like “oh that’s psychotic” and then you remember that this guy deserves even more of a punishment.
I also like how at the end it’s this poetic death but Punisher has no clue about the guy’s connection to the New York woods and doesn’t care.
I love the punisher.

[Tomáš Drako · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mafiánik Nicky Cavellasi myslí, že je niečo viac. Myslí si ževie kde zasiahnuť Punishera tak, aby ho to čo najviac zabolelo. Rozhodne sa znesvetiť hrob Frankovej rodiny.
Toto je štandartná Ennisovská Punisher knižka. samá streľba, násile, mŕtvy mafiáni...veľa mŕtvych mafiánov. Ako je to stále zábavné.

[Pavel Pravda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punisher je zpátky z dovolené v Rusku a mafián Clavella se ho rozhodl vyprovokovat. A rozpoutá se peklo... Nová zápletka, stejný průběh i konec. Krev je všude a čtenář je spokojen. Nepřináší to nic nového, je to stále to samé dokola, ale já jsem se bavil. A to je asi to hlavní. Jsem rád, že se vrátila O'Brienová. Já jsem věděl, že ta ženská má potenciál.

[Milan Pohl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Po velmi dobré Matičce Rusi kvalitativní propad. Punisher se prostě opět mlátí s gangstery, s tím jediným rozdílem, že tentokrát je to pro něj poněkud osobnější, a on je tudíž poněkud naštvanější. Jinak úplně to samé, co už tu bylo několikrát...