The Punisher: Born (Punisher)

Rating:
Summary: WOW doesn't even begin to describe this book.
Review: Amazing story. Great art. Garth Ennis. Need I say more? A touching and great look into the mind of Frank Castle like only Garth Ennis can provide. The book also has really cool "special features" at the back including a storyline overview written by Garth Ennis, thoughts about the story by Darick Robertson, Vietnam photo references, page layouts, and character designs.

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Rating:
Summary: Ennis writes another crucial story for any Punisher fan
Review: An amazing look at how Frank Castle evolves from man to soldier of fortune during the Vietnam conflict.
Worth at least two readings for anyone that enjoys war stories or especially the Punisher

Rating:
Summary: Yeah , it's that good.
Review: Despite having heard good things about this, I waited until a week before the Punisher movie release to pick this up. I'm a tough critic so for me to give something 5 stars, it has to be special. This one is. I've been a fan of Ennis's work on the Punisher and think that its the best Marvel currently offers. And this is among the best of that lot. From all that I heard about this before reading, I must say that I expected to be shocked, floored and left with my jaw open. I was all of those things and one very unexpected thing. The end gave me the CREEPS! I totally did not see that coming. After you read it you will understand.
I place this alongside "Welcome Back Frank" as Ennis's finest moment on Punisher. But be warned. This is extremely graphic and made for adults that enjoy being shocked and disturbed. That's what Ennis does best.

Rating:
Summary: Good look at Punisher's time in Vietnam
Review: Ennis crafts a short (four issues or about 100 pages) examination of Frank Castle's time in Vietnam, cultimating in a particularly disastrous attack that only Frank survived. The carnage, while perhaps expected, certainly satisfies -- and the depiction of Frank's commanders as incompetents, while not uncommon in the Vietnam subgenre of war stories, resonates with the Punisher's attitudes.

Perhaps most interestingly, the story suggests that Frank accepted a kind of spirit into himself -- a spirit of killing -- and that he did so in Vietnam rather than after his family was killed.

Certainly worth having.

-- Julian Darius, Sequart.com (for the sophisticated study of comic books and graphic novels)

Rating:
Summary: WOW doesn't even begin to describe this book.
Review: I must admit that I always thought that Ennis' take on Marvel's most serious character(he's a serial killer for f*#&s sake,) was a bit cartoonish and over-the-top. Not here! This is definately the best Punisher story that I have ever read. It's not just an origin story but a character study and it has a lot to say about violence, both psychological and physical without ever glorifying it, as Ennis and other Tarantino-ites tend to do. This is a strong story, a heartbreaking story, and one that seems to have been made with the utmost care on the part of everyone involved. Don't get me wrong I like Garth Ennis as much as the next guy and I love Preacher, but this, this so far is his crowning achievemnet in my opinion. I can't wait to see how the whole MAX line pans out without all that wackiness. Peace, killers.

Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: I must admit that I always thought that Ennis' take on Marvel's most serious character(he's a serial killer for f*#&s sake,) was a bit cartoonish and over-the-top. Not here! This is definately the best Punisher story that I have ever read. It's not just an origin story but a character study and it has a lot to say about violence, both psychological and physical without ever glorifying it, as Ennis and other Tarantino-ites tend to do. This is a strong story, a heartbreaking story, and one that seems to have been made with the utmost care on the part of everyone involved. Don't get me wrong I like Garth Ennis as much as the next guy and I love Preacher, but this, this so far is his crowning achievemnet in my opinion. I can't wait to see how the whole MAX line pans out without all that wackiness. Peace, killers.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant, Ennis' best in years
Review: In the tradition of the smash hit Origin: The True Story of Wolverine, Punisher scribe Garth Ennis has crafted Born; telling the never before seen story of a pre-Punisher Frank Castle during his third tour of Vietnam. While Born may start out as average, it quickly evolves into one of the bloodiest, most shocking, and expertly written stories that has ever come from the pen of Garth Ennis. This is by far Ennis' best work since his acclaimed Preacher saga, and he is without a doubt the best writer to ever pen the Punisher. The art by Darick Robertson illustrates all the graphic and gritty detail as he and Ennis both strike gold again as they did earlier with the Fury mini-series. The twist ending will actually make you look at the character of the Punisher much differently than before, and the unexpected impact will leave your jaw on the floor. Born is nothing short of brilliant, and deserves to be in every comic fan's library, even if you aren't a fan of the super hero genre of comics.

Rating:
Summary: Heart of Darkness
Review: The war brings the worst in people. War is the failure of civilization. It is the fall of humanity's and the great inadequacy of the human mind. It is a regression to the basic simplicity of animals. It is the loss of the divine power in each and every one of us.

In Garth Ennis's rendition and retelling of what might have been the driving force of the Punisher. War is the main driving force that makes the character who he is and not a certain aspect of his life. The Punisher is born when his family is gunned down by the mob, but the character was truly born when he was in Vietnam, living through the horrors of death and survival. Ennis is able to bring that into mind that the death of Frank Castle's family simply triggers what he has always been, a hellbent, murdering soldier. An aftereffct of the war. A survivor.

The story is very well done and actually makes the character more believable. If your family were gunned down, would you just exact revenge or go on a rampage against each and every killer in the world? You would definitely have your revenge and call it quits, but if you've been at war and tasted death and killed. Only then, would you want to generalize and start killing all the murderers and drug traffickers.

Garth Ennis has grabbed the essence of the character and knows what makes him tick. He makes him more believable. And in the story, he does just that.

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Summary: The essential Punisher story.
Review: This disturbing, yet masterfully written and beautifully drawn comic book (or "graphic novel" for those in denial) chronicles Frank Castle during his third tour of Vietnam, which is before he even thought about declaring war on mobsters and calling himself the Punisher, and showcases how the violence and gore surrounding him didn't turn him into what he is today, but rather how the war he was willingly a part of released his true, warped sense of morality and justice all those years before his family was slaughtered in Central Park, which was thought to be the original event that gave birth to the Punisher. Castle searched within his mind for the answer to the question of what he truly is and over the span of the four chapters it is so incredibly interesting to see how Castle comes to understand -- and accept -- that he is a monster and that he was born with this murderous yearning.

A combination of beautiful art and powerful story, "Born" is without doubt the greatest mini-series of 2003. If you are a Punisher fan, you will forever cherish this as a part of your collection. If you are at least adept with the basic knowledge of the Punisher's history, you will find this mini-series as pure literary genius. Ladies and gentlemen, mini-series do not get much better than this.

Rating:
Summary: Not very familiar territory
Review: Ya know, it's about freakin'-a time Marvel moved the Punisher to their adult-themed Max imprint, 'which is what they did here with this TPB that collects a reasonably interesting Garth Ennis-penned Vietnam-era pre-origin story of the main man. While it features all the blood and guts, profanity, puking, and other, er, "mature content" that you'd come to expect from Mr. Ennis ("Preacher", anyone?), I found the whole inner-demon-cutting-the-hero-the-deal-of-a-lifetime-that-comes-with-a-high-price angle that gets Frank Castle started down the road to Punisherhood a bit too... well, supernatural is the best way I can put it. It just doesn't square with the main man's anal-retentively down-to-earth, no-nonsense persona. If you're looking for a parallel comparison, it's kinda like Madalyn Murray O'Hair momentarily believing in a higher power. I was also surprised by how relatively straight-laced this story was, considering Ennis' propensity for spinning some of the most bizarre and over-the-top bits of dark humor in the four-color medium. Other than these slight gripes, however, it was neat seeing a little Punisher Vietnam flashback, which Marvel hasn't done since they cancelled "The 'Nam" over a decade ago. Hopefully they'll do a few more pre-Punisher Vietnam flashback story arcs in the future, only without the whole spooky "inner voices" dealie.

'Late