Essential Punisher (Punisher)

Rating:
Summary: Black and white and read all over!
Review: Hey, how in the world am I reading BAD reviews for one of the best "Essential" volumes Marvel has put out. We are talking about "The Punisher," folks. One of the reasons that this collection is so good and so "essential" is because it would cost you upwards of $500.00 to put together all of these issues in their original format. Plus you have the advantage of reading all of the first Punisher appearances in chronological order, and you don't have to track down obscure volumes from five or six different series to do it. Sure, the other "Essential" volumes are great with their twenty or so issues of continuity from one series, but this volume is cool because it pulls it all together for you. I hope Marvel does a few more character oriented books in this series (like Bullseye for instance).
And you can poo poo the art and the stories all you want, but the stories collected here are simply chock full of Bronze Age goodness. Some people have gotten a little too used to the Punisher being ripped from his Marvel Universe roots into a bizzaro "Preacher World" by a marginally talented creative team. If you like the current incarnation of the character running in comics, you may not like this book because it isn't full of exploding heads, hit men with breasts and all the other forms of shock jock stupidity that have devalued the character over the past few years. If, like me, you remember a time when the Punisher was a single-minded psychopath on a mission fit for a crusader (not to mention the baddest anti-hero on the block) rather than simply a sadistic jerk, you will probably enjoy this book as well.
The black and white reproduction in this volume is much better than some of the other "Essential" books. There aren't any pages that look like the copier was running out of toner. Some of the material is a reprint of a reprint (copied from Marvel Tales rather than the original Amazing Spider-Man story), but it still looks good. The writing ranges from standard 70's goofiness to the genius of Frank Miller, but every story is enjoyable in it own right. The art is solid in most of the volume with only a few issues looking genuinely bad (but what do you expect from Peter Parker, Spectacular Spider-Man). On the other hand, the Miller and Janson material as well as the Zeck and Beatty stuff looks great, even in a colorless format. This book is so worth the money, not only because it puts The Punisher into an historical perspective in comics, but because it is a throwback to the days when comics were still a little bit fun.
In order of appearance, this volume reprints: Amazing Spider-Man (ASM) #129 (1st appearance where he is duped by the Jackal into trying to kill Spider-Man); ASM #134 and 135 (vs. Tarantula); Giant Sized Spider-Man #4 (vs. Moses Magnum--later an X-Men villain); Marvel Preview #2 and Marvel Super Action #1 (both magazine sized soldier-of-fortune style anthology comics and some of the rarer material presented here); ASM #161 and 162 (1st appearance of the villain Jigsaw and also featuring Nightcrawler of the X-Men with a brief appearance by Wolverine); ASM #174 and 175 (vs. the Hitman); Captain America #241; ASM #201 and 202; ASM Annual #15 (by Denny O'Neil, Frank Miller and Klaus Janson; vs. Doctor Octopus and a milestone in the evolution of the Punisher character); Daredevil #182-184 (by Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller and Klaus Janson; #182 has been edited down to 8 pages, eliminating the non-Puniser part of the story; These issues were pushed back a year originally because the Comics Code Authority didn't like the strong drug issues raised in the story); Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #81-83 (vs. the Kingpin and featuring Cloak and Dagger-yippeee! The weakest material in the book); Finally the Punisher Mini-Series (sometimes referred to as "Circle of Blood") #1-5 (This is, for the most part, by Steven Grant, Mike Zeck and John Beatty and is the definitive Punisher story catapulting him into the limelight as one of Marvel's premiere characters; This is the mini-series that couldn't decide where to end as issues #1, 3 and 4 say it is a 4 issue mini-series and issues 2 and, obviously, 5 call it a 5 issue run with the last issue having a different creative team); Oh, yeah, there are a few pin-ups and a Who's Who entry as well.

Rating:
Summary: NOT a Punisher fan, but this book won me over!
Review: I've never been a fan of the Punisher. The main reason for that is that the more modern takes on the character just don't do much for me. He's unsympathetic, and the stories are like Quentin Tarentino's acid trips. Not my thing.

But little did I know that the Punisher used to be quite a bit more grounded! Yeah, he was always a bit over the edge, but not the total nutcase of today's comics.

Here, you'll find a hero who is definitely out of step with the rest of Marvel's heroes, but it's an honest disagreement on methods between good people. He takes a tougher stance, but he's not "worse than the villians", as he is these days. (That's notwithstanding a Bill Mantlo character assassination on him that takes place in this book, before quickly being undone by Steven Grant in the very next story).

These are good, solid Spidey stories from the Conway era, a classic McKenzie-Miller Daredevil tale, a decent Captain America story, two awesome Punisher magazine stories from the seventies drawn by Tony DeZuniga (a VERY underrated great), the entire five-issue Grant-Zeck (and company) Punisher miniseries that made him "hot" in the eighties....plus three very mediocre Peter Parker, Spectactular Spider-Man stories from the eighties that try unsuccessfully to ruin the character's popularity.

All in all, a VERY nice package of material that reads very well in black and white (the magazine stories were intended for that anyway). I'll never consider myself a Punisher "fan", but I did enjoy this book and I would definitely buy a "volume 2" that continued the mid-eighties reprints.

Rating:
Summary: THIS is "essential"?!?!
Review: I've never been all that big on Marvel's "Essential Collection" trade paperbacks. And this collection of early Punisher stories (featuring his first appearance in Spider-Man #129, his first couple of deluxe one-shot books, scads of guest-star appearances in Amazing Spider-Man, Daredevil, etc., and his first solo mini-series) is no exception.

Now don't get me wrong-- it's the format I dislike, not the stories. For starters, almost all of the artwork-- which was originally printed in color-- doesn't look nearly as good in black and white. Subtle shades, contrasts, and some finer details that were apparent in the single issues are now obscured in the black and white conversion, and a few of the more vital visual elements are harder to see or can't be perceived at all. Adding to the crappiness are a few pages that look like they came off a Xerox machine with a toner balance problem! Topping things off is paper stock whose quality is not much better than newsprint! Put it all together and the only thing you'll find "essential" about this book is for use as birdcage liner paper!

Needless to say, I strongly recommend you hunt down the original color versions of the stories contained within this collection. You'll pay a fair sight more for them than you would this load o' lameness, but at least you'll have 'em in the format they were meant to be seen and enjoyed!

'Late

Rating:
Summary: Not the best candidate for an Essential collection
Review: The Punisher is one of the more popular fan-favorite characters in the modern Marvel Universe. He has slowly worked his way from a first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man in the '70s to a well-received limited series in the '80s to an ongoing series in the '90s. Then "something weird happened". Then the weirdness was ignored and he was brought back as the Punisher we all know and love, more or less.

This Marvel Essentials collection contains the Punisher's appearances through his 1985 limited series - 25 comics in all. As these consist primarily of guest appearances in other titles, the quality of writing and art vary greatly. While there is a somewhat loose continuity (aided by his use of the "War Journal" narration), it can be seen that the Punisher was a character with great potential hampered by little creativity or skill on the parts of the various writers. It is not until his appearances in the grim-and-gritty '80s that he comes into his own, being put to good use in Daredevil #182-184 (by Frank Miller) and his limited series (by Grant and Zeck). That creates a problem, however, as that's only 7 issues of the 25 comics collected here. You would do better buying DAREDEVIL VISIONARIES: FRANK MILLER vols. 1-3 and the somewhat hard-to-find collected edition of the Punisher limited series.

Rating:
Summary: Essential and great
Review: Years ago, comics used good stories and just plain fun to keep readers interested. Foul language wasn't necessary, and the graphic depiction of a man's brains being splattered across the room was never considered. Those were the great days of comics, and the ones represented here.

When the Punisher first came out, he wasn't all about killing everyone and everything that moved. Yes, he killed from time to time, but he also used "mercy bullets" that would put an enemy to sleep rather than kill him. Some of the greatest moments of developing the Punisher's character are in this book. Showdowns with Spider-Man (several, with one involving Nightcrawler too), Captain America, and Daredevil are in here. Also, we see the Punisher's first great arch-villian, The Hitman (sort of an evil for-hire version of the Punisher). No, there is no foul language nor huge splatters of blood (and with it being in black-and-white, you couldn't tell anyway), but you get some great stories. From his introduction, to his eventual madness (later explained as drug-induced), this is nothing but fun. The collection ends with the Punisher's first mini-series, and it's a great one. We get to see how other prisoners feel as they see the killer walking among them.

Seldom do we get a treat like this one. Most "Essential" collections start with issue one of a character and go from there. Here we are treated to several guest shots in other mags, and it is a great picture. Yes, there are some weak stories (the one involving Cloak and Dagger could have used some touch up), but overall it's a good collection. Probably more enjoyable for the old-time comic fan rather than the ones raised on the uber-violence of today's stories, but good nonetheless. I look forward to the next volume. Highly recommended.