Punisher, Vol. 2: Dead End

Punisher by Rick Remender

by Rick Remender, Tan Eng Huat (Illustrator)

SC, TPB, in cello, New, Written by RICK REMENDER. Art by TAN ENG HUAT and JASON PEARSON. Cover by JASON PEARSON. Published in April of 2010, Softcover, 168 pages, full color. Parental Advisory Cover price $16.99.

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Action, Crime

152 pages, Paperback

First published December 30, 2009

About the author

Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Los Angeles, California. He is the writer/co-creator of many independent comic books like Black Science, Deadly Class, LOW, Fear Agent and Seven to Eternity. Previously, he wrote The Punisher, Uncanny X-Force, Captain America and Uncanny Avengers for Marvel Comics.

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

2026 - Bumped it up a notch cause it's really fun to see how Frank will outmaneuvers so many villains. But the art made it sometimes hard to tell who is who.

2020 Review - This was meh.

Basically Frank fights a whole shit load of villains but unlike the last volume where I felt scared for Frank when he went against the Sentry, I never feared for him here. It's just average fights with a crappy version of the Hood. Remender is a extremely talented writer but this is overall weak. Even the art is just okay.

[David Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so crazy about this collection. With neither the art nor story. But a free read from Comixology Unlimited so what the heck. Thought Marvel was a little too cavalier on the whole bringing villains back from the dead. Made it seem like an easy thing to do. In other stories bringing dead bodies back to life should be a BIG deal. Kind of out of the Punisher's ball park.

[Logan Polk · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wish I enjoyed it more, Remender’s run started so good…

[practically parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read comics mainly for character studies or things of the sort. I don’t mind the Punisher, but I’m not a fan, I was reading this for the resurrected villains because 2000s Grant Morrison ruined me. So from that perspective was this worth reading. I don’t know, if you like the Punisher I guess. The girls from the Grapplers are like really weird now for no good reason. Firebrand just suffered a total character assassination by having like three lines, I mean like his character would have been totally fine with biting capitalism to the ground, that was his whole thing. The fact that he felt the need to call the meeting in the first place is kinda weird as he was like basically retired anyway, but like so we’re a lot of the other 17 and like half of them had no right being their and Bird-man from the Ani-men was there for some reason, like IDK, but that’s not a flaw of this book, well the Firebrand thing is, but anyway. So Human Fly is cool, his new powers make sense *cough* Hijacker Backpack *cough* and the hole mental illness side both had president and was interesting. So like in all not bad, but not a must read by any means.

[Vittorio Rainone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decente, questo Punisher. Il primo ciclo meglio del secondo (merito principalmente dei buoni disegni di Opena). Soprattutto il primo ciclo sembra un minimo più ragionato, anche se sostanzialmente è tutto uno spara spara iperveloce. Quando Ennis guidava la testata, c'era il giusto grado di mattanza ragionata e si capiva tutto senza cercare dettagli nelle ombre della pagina (merito anche di Dillon, quando era alla parte grafica). Qui nel primo numero, nonostante lo stile schizzato di Opena, la situazione rimane piuttosto sotto controllo. Poi però ci si mettono vagonate di supercriminali e NESSUN supereroe in supporto a Castle, e qui iniziano i dubbi: come può un misero uomo avere la minima chance non solo contro un'orda di mezze tacche potenziate, ma soprattutto contro il solo Hood? Perché non un faccia a faccia immediato? Boh. Vabeh. Insomma: la seconda parte (disegni compresi) manda un po' in vacca tutto.

[Terry Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The opening volume of Remender's run was exciting and flashy. All action setpieces and OTT warfare.

Why then is the following volume so tepid and dull?

Is it the lackluster art? The pencils that are so rushed with characters that look misshapen and lopsided at times?

Are the antagonists uninspired? A cavalcade of empty costumes that mean nothing and offer no real threat?

Or is it the packing of the story? One that veers away from breakneck fun, and feels more like an excitable, wide-eyed prepubescent's frantic re-telling of a genuinely interesting story?

Whatever it may have been, I left somewhat disappointed. Here's hoping that it improves.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Hood has been asked by Osborn to get rid of the Punisher. To do this he resurrects quite a lot of old bad guys to kill him. An interesting story, with a decent concept. A bit more character and plot driven than the last volume, the plot wasn't just an excuse for violence. An ok read.

[D. R. Churner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I won't deny that it has a few highlights, but ultimately the story goes off the rails and I lost focus and skipped til the end. The annual is just irredeemable, horrific artwork. Where do they dig up these artists?

[Alessandro Gioia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is a bit over the place.
While locations, bodies and colours are fine, faces are just bad.

The story is mediocre at best.
The hood resurrected a lot of villains that I least I did not know and that I did not care about. Frank has to deal with this since they are hunting him down.

The stakes are not high at all.
I don't think the Hood was a great villain to begin with and so a group of D list villains is not going to make it better. I finished yesterday and I cannot name a single one of those villains... enough said.

This was bad and I hope future volumes save this run.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The artwork was okay. The storyline wasn't great and was pretty basic. I'd say pass on this one unless you're really big into The Punisher.

[Brannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the weakest entry in Remender’s Punisher run. The art wasn’t my cup of tea. I was also expecting more of an emotional punch with his family being brought back from the dead but it was weak.

[Alexandre · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really not good story. 1/10 star at best .

[Litter Bug · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was not as good as the first five issues.

[Hilmi Isa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Novel grafik Punisher: Dead End ini mengandungi 2 buah episod yang berlainan di dalam satu buku. Pertama,empat siri episod mini (yang juga dipanggil 'Dead End'),isu 6 hingga 10 (seperti yang terdapat di dalam versi komik asal) dan sebuah episod yang bertajuk 'Remote Control' (seperti yang terdapat di dalam komik Marvel Punisher: Annual). Kedua-dua episod menampilkan pasukan penerbitan yang berbeza antara satu sama lain.
Di dalam Dead End,Punisher,atau nama sebenarnya Frank Castle,terpaksa berhadapan dengan beberapa orang 'villain'yang sebenarnya telah mati. Namun,seorang 'supervillain' yang bernama Hood telah membangkitkan mereka daripada alam kubur. Mereka diberikan nyawa yang baru untuk memburu dan membunuh Punisher. Atas ganjaran berbuat demikian,mereka akan diberikan nyawa kedua yang kekal. Dapatkah Punisher menumpaskan mereka semua? Manakala,di dalam Remote Control,Punisher memburu 2 orang 'villain' yang melakukan pembunuhan di sebuah hospital dengan memanipulasi pemikiran mangsa-mangsa mereka. Punisher menyiasat pembunuhan ini dan berjaya mengesan 2 penjenayah itu. Namun,Spiderman hadir menghalang Punisher kerana menyangkakan Punisher ingin membunuh 2 orang yang tidak bersalah. Apakah yang akan terjadi seterusnya?
Seperti Batman,saya juga bukanlah peminat tegar Punisher. Namun,pada pendapat saya,jika anda peminat Punisher,buku ini pasti akan menarik perhatian anda. Jalan ceritanya menarik,terutamanya di dalam Dead End. Tambah menarik,di dalam Dead End juga,pelukisnya merupakan orang Malaysia yang bernama Tan Eng Huat!
Walau pun demikian,gaya lukisan untuk kedua-dua tidak menarik perhatian saya. Bukanlah saya mengatakan lukisan mereka buruk. Cuma,lukisan mereka tidak menepati 'selera' saya. Mungkin orang lain mempunyai pendapat yang berbeza pula. Apapun,novel grafik ini saya sarankan kepada mereka yang meminati watak anti-hero Punisher ini. Sebagai bonus,terdapat beberapa 'artwork' dan pengenalan ringkas watak-watak musuh Punisher di dalam episod Dead End di bahagian akhir muka surat.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to revise my initial rating of 1 star and move it up to 4 stars after re-reading it months later. At first the art styles of Huat & Pearson did not really gel with me, and in the case of the Punisher Annual I'd found Remender's script to lean too much towards an attempt at comedy and that had put me off.

But hey - good news! I got over all that and I realised that it's actually a pretty good book and that it keeps the tone (and the level of quality) with the rest of Remender's run, even if the art takes some getting used to.

The resurrected villains were supposed to be lame (at least in their original incarnation), but the way they were updated makes them quite fearful (although it should be noted that some of their costumes still look pretty ridiculous - but I guess it's intended).

I'm glad I gave this book a second chance.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absolutely weird art style on parade here - cannot wrap my head around how distorted people's faces & expressions are.

In reading this out of order with continuity - both the Dark Avengers/HAMMER storyline (which I've long since finished), and the rest of Remender's run on Punisher (which I *thought* I read correctly, but somehow skipped this one). So it's a little odd to put the story in context - trying to piece together what Frank has *not* been through or learned [if anything], trying to create a sense of foreboding and shock at the events I know are coming (and which are pretty horrible).

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out that this volume has many of the same flaws as Remender's previous take on the Punisher. It's got a nice premise, with The Red Hood resurrecting Scourge's victims, but then it turns into a long, pointless fight. The art is also surprisingly muddy and murky.

There's a nice ending to issue #10 and the annual is a bit better than the rest, but it's not enough to save the volume from being mediocre.

[Dmitry Yakovenko · Rating 2 out of 5]

Отвратительное продолжение, просто ужасное! А ведь первый том (Punisher: Dark Regin) был довольно неплохим. Что же мы видим в этом томе? Ужасный рисунок. Есть. Отвратительный сюжет. Есть. Ужасно смазанный финал. Есть. Не рекомендую это читать, ВООБЩЕ.

[Sonic · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one got some Punishing reviews here, but I dug it. Ignoring some of the far-fetchedness of it, I enjoyed the amount of action as well as the weirdness of the art.
I wish I had known about the villain glossary in the back as I did not recognize any of these bad-guys.

[Davy · Rating 3 out of 5]

After the Dark Reign tie-in, Frank Castle still has the Hood and some of his villains after him. The story is not so good as Dark Reign, but there's a lot of action and at the end the Punisher shows he's the toughest "superhero" of them all.

[Gavin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ugh, what a disappointment. Artist just doesn't fit, dialogue goes from solid to cliche, and there's just violence for violence, trying to,outdo itself. The Hood wasn't nearly as interesting here. Shameful waste.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some dark stuff here and the scene were Frank Castle meets his resurrected family, albeit briefly, is tough to swallow. The writing and art continue to excel this book, though the Spider-Man issue was wasted potential.

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugly art, ugly story--I stopped reading about halfway through. Some of the worst Punisher stuff I've ever read.

[Seizure Romero · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

[Ryan Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a little too much on the disturbing, graphic violence front, but this was still a fun concept.

[Matt Sabonis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how wonderfully, dismally dark this ends. I mean...things happen that, once you absorb them, are utterly horrifying. Just great stuff.

[David · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Just God-awful. Don't ever read this.

[Devin Bruce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last read: December 21, 2013.

[Timo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was just wrong. Nothing else good in it but some nice art.
But everything else was just wrong. Keep Punisher out of superhero world.