Каратель MAX. Полное собрание. Том 3

The Punisher MAX: The Complete Collection

by Garth Ennis, Goran Parlov (Illustrator), Leandro Fernández (Illustrator)

Новый сборник классических сюжетов про Карателя от Гарта Энниса

С 2003 по 2008 сценарист Гарт Эннис работал с одними из лучших художников в индустрии - и выпустил незабываемую серию комиксов о Карателе. Перед вами истории, изменившие мир Фрэнка Касла навсегда.
В "Барракуде" Каратель отправляется в Майами, с целью положить конец злодеяниям группы корпоративных рейдеров. Вместо этого он встречает человека по имени Барракуда - чудовище с неутолимой жаждой крови и соответствующим чувством юмора. Вы никогда не видели никого, похожего на него. Вы никогда его не забудете.
В бесплодных степях Афганистана, поглотивших целые армии, Фрэнк Касл встречается со своим заклятым врагом - генералом Николаем Захаровым, также известным как

Человек-кремень. Они не остановятся, пока кто-то из них не умрёт. В деле также замешан предатель из ЦРУ Ролинс - самый грязный секретный агент. Отправишься на войну в Афганистан… и умрут все.

"Вдоводел" знакомит нас с пятью вдовами мафиозных шишек, решивших сделать то, что не удалось даже их мужьям: убить Карателя. Но они не единственные дамы, жаждущие мести. Брак с преступником в конце концов заставит тебя совершать немыслимые вещи - однако прошлое возвращается с недоброй улыбкой.

В сборник вошли комиксы "Каратель" #31-49 сценариста Гарта Энниса и художников Горана Парлова, Леандро Фернандеса и Лана Медины.

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

456 pages, Hardcover

Published November 1, 2023

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

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the Punisher in all his glory, written by the kind of writer who (I think) truly gets this character.



Now, having said that? I'm not actually a big Punisher fan.
Even after reading this.
Maybe especially after reading this.



This a guy that sold his soul a long time ago.
He does what he does simply because that's who he is, and there's an underlying sigh of relief that he's on the 'side of angles'. Otherwise, you'd be seriously worried about what the hell he was up to at night. He's not a good man who is out to avenge his family. He's a man who was just waiting for an excuse to set the world on fire.
And Garth Ennis shows you exactly how hot he can make that fire burn.

I'd definitely recommend Ennis' run for anyone looking for some solid Punisher stuff.
Two thumbs up for fans of Frank Castle.

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Covers the Barracuda story arcs and the 'The Punisher MAX, Vol. 7: Man of Stone', where the Zakharov, O'Brien, Rawlins arc comes to an apt conclusion. Garth Ennis deftly captures the true nature of Frank 'The Punisher' Castle in his growing closeness to O'Brien. It could be argued that his portrayal of Afro-American gangsters is extremely one dimensional; overall it's still a great read though. 9 out of 12

I read the comic books Punisher MAX #31-42 and Barracuda #1-5, as I'm reading in continuity order.

[James DeSantis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jesus the amount of craziness in this volume is nearly unmatched. This is Garth with freedom to say and do whatever the fuck he wants.

The first story stars Barracuda, a crazy hitman who decides to take a job from the rich mob family to fucking destroy the Punisher. The tale starts with Punisher taking out scum and saving one guy who was getting raped by multiple other guys. Of course this isn't a safe save as this guy betrays the Punisher and in comes Barracuda, one of the most insane, over the top, hilarious villains I've ever seen in a Marvel comic. I got to say, this arc was super fun, dumb as shit at times, but Barracuda is a awesome villain and brutal, able to go one on one with the Punisher was great.

The next arc is more serious where Frank goes to stop basically a warmonger who he didn't finish off before. This also leads to old friends, lots of betrayals, and some actual sad deaths. All of this worked and the ending to the arc was pretty good. A little long but good.

The final arc is about widows of all the people Frank murdered throughout the years. They want revenge. But when Frank gets a unlikely companion to help him finish off the woman it's this lady who becomes the new Punisher for a short time. Brutal, fucked up, and a super downer of a ending,t his arc was great and also dealt with racism in a different way than expected.

Overall, some great stuff all around. I was into pretty much all three arcs. Very different tones but they somehow all worked. Super Ennis can get wordy but least it's almost always entertaining. A 4.5 out of 5.

[Shaun Stanley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punisher: The Complete Collection Vol. 3 collects issues 31-49 of the Marvel Comics series written by Garth Ennis with art by Goran Parlov, Leandro Fernandez, and Lan Medina.

Like the two previous volumes, this collection contains three complete story arcs. In the first, Punisher travels to Miami in order to bring down a corrupt energy company and goes one-on-one with the mercenary known as Barracuda. In the second arc The Punisher returns to Afghanistan and reignites his feud with the former Soviet General Nikolai “Man of Stone” Zakharov and traitorous former CIA Agent Rawlins. In the third and final arc a group of mobster widows join forces to take out the Punisher after he murdered their husbands.

The Barracuda story arc has felt the most Garth Ennis-like as the titular mercenary is extremely crude and over-the-top violent. The second volume was my least favorite storyline wise as I just don’t care as much about soldier Frank Castle, but I did like some of the character interactions. I most enjoyed the Mobster widow storyline which was a lot of fun. The book continues to be a well written, drawn, and overall a very complete book.

[Malum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic volume of Punisher Max. The highlight of This volume is the villains. Forget your average comic book baddie; some of the bad guys in here are absolutely terrifying.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

And the hits keep on coming!


O'Brien is back, literally with a vengeance.

I'm still really enjoying these twisted tales, particularly Ennis' extra sordid take on the Enron scandal on the early aughts and also Frank being stalked by the aggrieved widows of various of the crime figures he dispatched in previous arcs. Points deducted for the sheer ludicrousness with which he travels not just the Greater New York area but also flies commercial down to Miami and even Afghanistan during the U.S. occupation? For a solo act operation it seems there's not a single logistical difficulty Castle cannot overcome between panels, it was a bit much.


Real Housewives of Dead Mobsters Presents...

That gripe aside it was enthralling to see the merciless slaughter of some truly despicable humans.
Whether Soviet war criminals, child pornographers or white collar crooks playing fast and loose with people's lives no one is safe from Frank's never-ending mission and the reader's catharsis if the richer for it. The series 100% has me hooked now, can't wait to see what unspeakable depravity gets Punished next.

[RG · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection. Ennis has created some fun story arcs. He goes up against Barracuda which is his equal in many ways. We revisit his past with the issues against the Russians in the 2nd. And lastly the widows from his 'punishments ' develop a scheme of revenge. Great gory action scenes and cool writing.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvel struck real gold with this Punisher Max series by Garth Ennis and this third collection continues the awesome! Like many have said before, Ennis is THE definitive writer on The Punisher. How do you write consistently engaging stories featuring a main character who is a man of few words, and by nature, keeps all the emotion inside? Ennis had the clever answer to that: have the Punisher NOT be the main character. While he's still definitely in the forefront, each story is usually less about Frank Castle himself and more about the colorful supporting characters that populate the stories and bump into Frank along the way. And most of these characters are really memorable.



In the first story, "Barracuda," Frank (and the reader) meet a new monstrous foe that is truly stronger than Frank in physical ability, endurance, and willpower. The titular character is a violent force to be reckoned with and seeing Frank go up against him is tense. It's also interesting seeing Frank trying to handle battling a white-collar corporation instead of inner-city gangsters, and how he deals with the inherent difficulties.

Then the second story, "Man of Stone," is a sequel of sorts and brings closure to a few different story arcs that we've seen from Book 2, but especially "Mother Russia." I would definitely suggest reading Book 2 before this story. This is a good arc with a bunch of great characters, but it pales in comparison to the next story.

Now, "Widowmaker" has a clever concept that lent to great storytelling. In it, we follow a group of mob widows who team up to get revenge on the deaths of their husbands by taking out the Punisher. Through this grisly story, we explore the damage that vengeance can have on the psyche, how the Punisher's violence affects other people, and the question of whether he really is doing any good. It has a bunch of twists and a devastating, powerful ending that I didn't see coming. It's just as good, if not better than "The Slavers," and might be the best Punisher story I've read so far.

The Punisher Max books are mean, sorrowful, graphically violent books that some might even find offensive, so they're not for everyone at all. But I will always argue that they are also thoughtful and well-plotted, and most importantly, does it all with surprising depth.

[Tara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating Breakdown:
Barracuda: 3 stars
Man of Stone: 4 stars
Widowmaker: 3.5 stars

[Tristan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My earlier review of Garth Ennis' Punisher Max run.

[Judah Radd · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s official.

This is the best comic book series I’ve ever read.

Holy shit.

The first story is a blast. Compared to the other stories, it’s good natured, lighthearted fun. Frank takes on the 1%. There are sharks involved. And lots of blood.

The second story provided some resolution to the “Mother Russia” tale in Vol 2. It tugged at the heart strings, and enriches Frank as a character. As an Afghanistan combat veteran myself, I appreciated how much research Ennis did in regards to military operations, strategy, equipment and culture. He seems to understand Afghanistan.

The third story? Holy fuck. Holy fucking sweet baby Jesus. This one is the money maker. I don’t even know where to begin. It would be a crime to give away any specifics, but just know that this is some fucking comic book magic right here.

These stories are all brilliant on their own, but they also function well as essential components of a larger, expertly crafted narrative, and they flow very well together. What we are getting is a cohesive portrait of a complex and fascinating, fully fleshed character.

Frank Castle, the Punisher, is justice incarnate. He’s every revenge fantasy wrapped into one unstoppable man. He is what we’ve all dreamed of being, in varying degrees, at various points in our lives.

People get fucked. We all get fucked. The world fucks us. Hard, sometimes. There’s a Punisher in all of us, wishing we could fuck it right back.

Ennis, the goddam genius he is, delivers that justice on a motherfucking platter.

[Nate]

“Barracuda” is quite different from the preceding MAX arcs. Here, Ennis writes a bombastic, over-the-top romp that’s more in line with the humorous Marvel Knights stuff. Coming off “The Slavers,” I can understand why he went this direction. Here’s the story: Frank heads to Miami to stop a corporation from shutting down Florida’s power supply to raise its stock. Learning of Frank’s involvement, the corp sticks Barracuda on him, a fun-loving, ruthless gangster-for-hire. Barracuda steals every scene he’s in; I usually like Ennis’ outlandish villains, and this guy’s no exception. I was less thrilled with the predictable corporate plot, though. As it stands, this is my least favorite story in the series so far, but I still had a blast reading it and was never bored. It's to Ennis' credit that he can so naturally write pitch black noir and funny crime capers in the same series.

Several threads from previous stories are tied up in “Man of Stone.” Frank, Rawlins, and O’Brien find themselves in Afghanistan for different reasons surrounding the Russian general from “Mother Russia.” As this series often plunges into on real-world conflicts, it was only a matter of time before Ennis brought the Punisher to Afghanistan. The story clips along at a fast pace with some twists and typically fantastic action. We even get a glimpse of Frank’s human side. But my favorite scene is the conversation between Yorkie and Frank in the final issue, where Yorkie explains what he tells people about Frank and why he’s done with war. Ennis excels at writing conversations like this. Elsewhere, Leandro Fernandez remains my favorite artist for this series.

There’s always a question of what happens to the families of the Punisher’s victims (c’mon though, how often do you really think about it?). “Widowmaker” offers an answer not implausible: five wives of dead mobsters band together to start their own Punisher kill squad, coming up with a plan that seems to be going well until one of their sisters shows up. Said sister’s husband also got Punished, but he was an abusive psycho set up by the wives, so she wants to help Frank kill them. Part of what makes this story so compelling is how it contrasts Frank with two people - the sister, Jenny, and a detective close to breaking - who similarly disfavor the limits of the law. “It’s too much, all the sadness, all the death, it’s too much for anyone to carry with them. Anyone but you,” Jenny tells Frank. As this story makes abundantly clear, she's right.

[Manoj · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third collection in Ennis': Barracuda, Man of Stone, Widowmaker. I probably won't go into as much details here as I have with my other reviews of The Punisher MAX collection by Ennis.

Barracuda was a great story and pitted Castle against the big mean brute known as Barracuda. Physically outmatching in Castle in spectacular fashion, he makes for a great antagonist. Only shortcoming of this story is that there is no personal aspect of the story that gives a more emotional insight into Frank Castle/The Punisher – so it feels a bit more functional than the stories that have come before. A good read nonetheless.

Man of Stone and the Widowmaker are where this collection has some great moments, with certain past characters making a return in Castle's crosshairs and life. Man of Stone shows that if Frank even attempts to open himself emotionally to someone else – even for a brief moment – it's always a bad thing. That anyone who he comes into contact with, will suffer the same fate as that of his family. But that even in death, he can offer some comfort to those who he opens himself up to. Widowmaker goes further and really drives home an important point about Castle as The Punisher. In contrast to his Marvel cohorts, Castle is truly unique and stands completely apart: he has no iron suit, magic hammer, doesn't turn green, isn't a super-enhanced super-soldier, or has intergalactic friends whom he saves the world with. Amongst the countless bullets fired and triggers pulled by Frank against those who perpetrate evil, not everyone can do what he can: kill with no mercy. The ultimately tragic power that Frank has, is that he can live with this. It's a bittersweet and tragic realisation, but one that is told very well.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a turn this takes after volumes 1 and 2. Gone are the (spare and simple) moments that make you think, discarded for more traditional comic book adventures and slaughter. It's still fun to read if you like action, but that's about it.

The previously nuanced General Zakharov is now a cartoon of an evil Russian, with none of his moody reflections on when enough violence is enough. His climactic action scene feels like Ennis couldn't be bothered to borrow enough from Rambo 3 to be exciting.

Ennis's caricatures of black people veer from eye-rolling (see the "shooting a gun sideways" scene in a previous volume) to just offensive. The speech patterns, the behaviors... it's all played out and feels racist rather than misguided. At the very least like some kind of wrongheaded Tarantino-esque ethnic fetish. Barracuda isn't interesting enough as even a conventional comic book opponent to make this work. The positive depiction of Detective Budiansky isn't enough to redeem it.

The unobtrusive reflection and commentary by Castle becomes a sudden proliferation of expository speech bubbles which provide a quasi-noir detective narrative accompanying the action. It feels like watching the theatrical release of Blade Runner if you saw the final cut first. It is entertaining and informative at times, but detracts from the quality and impact of the story as a whole. One of the major plot arcs uses the tired frame of showing the hero at the end of the action, then thinking "gee, I guess it all started when..." The British-isms are perhaps more annoying than in previous volumes, because the diminished narrative strength doesn't merit cutting Ennis as much slack. No, the Punisher would not "hire" a car (he would "rent" it), and I really doubt he would have made the switch to the metric system. The story sometimes jumps scenes and locations from page to page in a way that feels almost accidentally disjointed. There are more visual depictions of mechanically impossible firearms.

This may not be a universal issue, but the copy I read featured a number of strangely "out of focus" pages. They were randomly placed and usually just a little fuzzy, though in a few places it was hard to make out dialogue.

An entertaining and violent romp, but a letdown from volumes 1 and 2.

[Kyle Sachs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heavy as a Stone

Not just senseless gore and violence. There is a depth to these stories that brings consequences to light. Loss, betrayal, and regret run rampant. Ultimately, redemption comes to the forefront, but at what price?

[Starlight Kid · Rating 2 out of 5]

One really good story Barracuda where Punisher is against a pretty decent villain for him but the rest is straight forward boring stuff.

Weakest Volume in series so far.

[Rolando Marono · Rating 5 out of 5]

De todo lo que he leído de Garth Ennis, Punisher MAX es definitivamente lo mejor. No hay duda. En esta serie Ennis es violento pero mesurado, cruel pero directo, la violencia no se siente exagerada, es lo que es y al mismo tiempo mezcla un sentimiento de vacío y una depresión clara en las narraciones de primera persona de Punisher. La narrativa y los diálogos están bien pensados y vemos facetas del personaje interesantes. Ennis se siente en control, auténtico pero mesurado no demasiado dramático.
De los tres tomos que he leído de esta colección, este es sin duda mi favorito. Y el tomo dos con la historia de los esclavistas me gustó mucho, pero en este tomo, de los tres arcos que tiene, los tres me gustaron bastante y los últimos dos se me hicieron simplemente brillantes.
Este volumen trae 19 números, el primer arco se llama Barracuda y es una historia común de Punisher lidiando con algunos mafiosillos. Lo interesante es el villano, Barracuda, aunque unidimensional es realmente malvado y rudo como Punisher y verlos enfrentarse es verdaderamente entretenido. De los tres fue el que menos me gustó y pensaba que era el que más me iba a gustar. El villano de Barracuda es interesante pero lamentablemente es muy unidimensional. Sólo es un tipo asqueroso que le gusta la violencia demasiado, si Ennis le hubiera dado un trasfondo de tragedia como al Punisher por ejemplo hubiera sido interesante, pero bueno, más adelante nos da una dosis de eso así que no hay nada de que preocuparse realmente.
El segundo arco me gustó más. Este tomo funciona como una continuación de lo que vimos en el tomo uno me parece, con la aventura de Punisher y Fury en Rusia. Vemos algunos personajes regresar como Rawlins y O'brien. En este tomo Punisher antagoniza a un comandante ruso que está en África, Zhakarov, este personaje corre con el apodo Man of stone (hombre de piedra) y aunque en los primeros números de la historia lo ves siendo rudo, cuando te revelan por qué se ganó ese apodo, me quedé sin palabras. Una historia retorcida y cruel que sin duda sólo puede salir de la mente de Ennis. Esta historia me gustó mucho porque en su esencia, es un cuento de guerra y ese género es el que mejor cuenta Ennis y se nota. También me gustó como construye al personaje con su relación con O'brien. Es muy importante que Ennis construya al personaje más allá de un pistolero vengativo porque ir por esa línea nos deja un personaje uni dimensional y aunque la tragedia de su familia sirve para darle dimensiones, si sólo nos cuenta historias de venganza y sólo lo vemos disparando, no llegaremos lejos. Es importante ver al personaje sentir empatía y aquí lo vemos.
La cereza del pastel es la tercera historia "Widowmaker". Wow. Ya había escuchado que era buena pero no esperaba esto. La premisa es simple, las viudas de algunos de los mafiosos que Punisher eliminó en los tomos anteriores, se unen para matar a Punisher. Con lo que no contaban es que con que había una viuda más suelta. La historia me gustó mucho porque explora varias facetas de Punisher. Por un lado Ennis explora lo que podría pasar si un policía sufre una tragedia y se siente inspirado por Punisher. Eso es narrado bellamente en esta historia y vemos a un policía, al principio de la historia, preguntarse si se está volviendo un Punisher; para que al final del tomo le haga la pregunta directamente el Punisher. Increíble. Y por otro lado vemos a Punisher encontrar a quizá su alma gemela, una persona que ha sufrido tanto como el y que decide hacer lo mismo que él con su sufrimiento. Las últimas páginas de esta historia son bellas y desgarradoras. Con este arco, Ennis nos da nuevas facetas de su personaje que sería sin duda muy bueno que se exploraran en los siguientes tomos.
Si quieres leer algo oscuro que no tiene mucho que ver con el universo Marvel, Punisher MAX sin duda es una serie entretenida e interesante y este tomo es mucho más que eso.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this volume four stars because of the strength of the stories collected. Garth Ennis does have an insight into this character that adds depth and perspective that is rarely seen in a vigilante story. This is best seen throughout the three stories as he confronts a psycho-killer who - like him knows no boundaries or mercy - before flying to a war-torn Afghanistan to take on a Russian General who is known for murdering whole villages before ending with the best tale concerning a group of his victim's widows who decide to become vigilantes themselves and take out Frank Castle. All these stories are well written with solid characters and believable stories. Each one has villains that will leave an impression. And though The Punisher sometimes takes a backseat to the events around him the writing adds new dimensions to his character and mission. My biggest question from this book is, 'When does doing the right thing turn the good guy bad?' Frank Castle may be cleaning up the streets of New York, but his methods leave a lot to be desired.

This is an excellent book but it failed to get five stars because of one problem I had. I have seen all this before. There were some positive changes in this book. How the final justice was executed was imaginative and new, involving sharks, M.O.A.B. bombs, and a lady Punisher but it still seems the same. The Punisher confronts them head-on, bullets fly and many bad guys die. Though the writer thought up new ways of doing this the tactics and results were still the same. How long can The Punisher confront drug dealers and gangsters in New York alleyways before he repeats himself? Also, the fact that Castle flew in and out of Afghanistan undetected by any Government agency is stretching plausibility to the limits. Still, these stories are all good with the right dose of sex and violence to keep me reading about Frank Castles exploits.

[Christian Oliverio · Rating 3 out of 5]

We continue the MAX Ennis run with another collection of three stories. Again, one is phenomenal, another is terrible, and the last is ok.

Barracuda: This story introduces Frank's most brutal enemy, the titular Barracuda. Surprisingly, this guy is the only good part of the story, which isn't saying a lot. Barracuda's introduction is discovering the prostitute he just slept with ODed, then casually tosses her over his boat. Plus he is written with extremely negative black stereotypes. Now, this racistly written highly violent and sexual character is the BEST one in the story (aside from Frank who doesn't hardly do anything), I need not tell you how terrible everyone else is. Thankfully, Frank does brutally kill everyone else which was very satisfying. That being said, I would rather not talk about this any further.

Man of Stone: Zakharov is back, baby! Another great military focused Punisher story that wraps up a few loose ends (if you know what I mean). Great character work. Great military tactics and espionage on display. After reading Barracuda, this was a such a breath of fresh air. Plus after the highly sexualized everyone of the last story, it was also pleasant to read a story were O'Brian isn't horny for Frank the entire time and actually gets some great character development.

Widowmaker: This has a pretty solid premise of the widows of Frank's victims uniting to kill him. It was a pretty solid story with a great third party antagonist. Plus, I loved Detective Budiansky who acted as a great foil to Frank, despite them only sharing one scene together. Budiansky had great character development and I really want to see more of him in future stories. Despite all this awesomeness, Frank is hardly in it and the mysterious redhead acts more like the Punisher than the man himself. Plus there is some weird sex stuff that will likely make you uncomfortable.

[Zoë Birss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting ideas and premises with great potential mostly range in execution between basically competent and offensively bad.

Barracuda:
Of the Punisher Max series, this was the first story I've read where Frank Castle targets white businessmen instead of gangsters who happen to be persons of colour. It was a welcome change to show that Castle can battle white collar crime like blue collar crime. Barracuda was a formidable villain. The violence against the principle female character was pretty gross, though, as was the depiction of her as a sex addict, being the only female. Those details brought down a solid three star book to two for me.
Two Stars

Man of Stone:
This story puts Frank Castle in a war zone, where his character always makes the most sense. The Punisher doesn't really belong next to super humans in tights who fight aliens. But he is completely believable in combat. So, this makes for a straight ahead, believable war graphic novel, if not one that gives any particular insight into or growth for the eponymous character. More sexist treatment of a female character mars the story, though it is very mild compared to other arcs in the series.
Three Stars

Widowmaker:
Garth Ennis is kind of sick, I think. This could have been so good. I think I know what he was going for. It had elements I liked. But in the end the exploitation tone just ruined it. It's gross. I'm going to need to take a break from this series for a while. Maybe forever.
One Star

March 2018

[kami · Rating 4 out of 5]

again, not entirely sure why is takes me sooo long to read the punisher volumes but ANYWAYS

the first two storylines were cool, castle taking down corporate crime in #MIAMI and reuniting with o'brien to take down rawlins and the russian war criminals in afghanistan. these issues really fleshed out reoccuring villains and introduced new ones, and im glad we get to see these bad guys get taken down

now, the 3rd and final storyline, widowmakers, is by far my favorite and most interesting storyline from punisher so far. the idea of having widows from franks victims come together and try taking him down is sooo cool, and having a copycat with actual incentive and drive also is amazing. probably one of my more favorite female depictions in punisher, i feel like ennis always finds a way to sexualize the whole "bad ass white woman" trope.

the depictions of black people throughout the series is also so one dimensional; they're either stereotypical gangsters or stereotypical "educated" black cop who HAS to wear glasses to show that difference. i dont know, i wish we actually got a storyline ft black characters that arent black and white.

widowmaker itself is 5/5. the rest of the stories bump it down to a 4

[ComicBookCult Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book feels like Garth Ennis becoming an unstoppable juggernaut. I feel like he’s been given complete creative freedom with Frank Castle, go wherever he wants, do whatever he wants with no red tape usually seen in modern/canonical comics. There is no “you can’t do this because it’ll affect X and Y” he does what he wants and it works. Frank as usual is going through the mill and making the world a better place one dead villain at a time. What I enjoy about this book and the previous volumes in the run is, Frank isn’t taking on Magneto or Red Skull, he’s taking on gangsters and sex traffickers, villains of our world, as if he’s been dropped in our world, our New York and he’s making the world a better place by paining himself the killer, the murderer. His sacrifice is expanded upon here and fleshed further with the Widowmaker arc which was my favourite from this book. The art is great, the story is dark, twisted and sometimes humorous. Great stuff.

[Λευτέρης Αναγνωστόπουλος · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leave it to Garth to make something as disturbing as this so awesome. The Punisher is the definition of an anti-hero and he's barely a likeable character, but at the same time he's so complex and that complexity makes him great. He reminds me of Sisyphus and the boulder with his personal mission to rid the world of the scum but it doesn't matter how many he kills, the boulder will roll down in the end. Well, I guess that could be said for many heroes/anti-heroes with their vendettas and missions against corruption, but I believe it applies more to Frank Castle than (let's say) Batman. Batman is a dark hero but still has hope for the world and many times he tries to help the criminals or his rogues' gallery. But Frank doesn't care for rehabilitation and that's what makes the comparison to Sisyphus strong. He has one track mind and only uses one method; the bullet.

[Rumi Bossche · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have said it before, and will say it again, Garth Ennis is born to write Frank Castle comics, this third collection contains 3 trades, Barracuda about a ruthless badguy almost as bad as the Punisher himself, The Man Of Stone about a old russian general and nemesis of Frank Castle, and Widowmaker about 5 maffia widows who want to kill the Punisher for killing their husbands. The Man of Stone was my favorite, Barracuda was so B movie i loved it . Widowmaker was my least favorite. Also the second collection was a little better but still 4 stars.

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Garth Ennis was probably put on this Earth to write the Punisher. This book collects three storylines and all of them are really well done. While all three are ultra-violent, graphic tales they all offer up different sides to the Punisher. The beauty of Ennis' Frank Castle is that he's not just a shoot 'em dummy like many writers seem to portray. The art by all three artists is very good. Overall, a really good, hard-hitting collection.

[I. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still very much enjoy Ennis doing the series but it’s occasionally just too juvenile(?). The dialogue is peppered with mf’er, suck this and suck that, c***, f**, etc and it’s just so wannabe edgy that it becomes laughable. The arcs overall are fine, and the art is decent when the punisher isn’t drawn like a mountain of muscle, but I can feel the quality slipping. Will still continue on but not sure for how much longer.

[Mhorg · Rating 5 out of 5]

More excellence

Ennis and his bullpen of artists strike again. From the barracuda to the man of stone, to the former mafia wife who wants revenge, another great run by the best punisher writer of them all.

[Remi Monophaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Barracuda: average but enjoyable... More sexual content
Man of stone : good story but poor graphic
Widowmaker : this is totally very good... Perhaps one of the best so far (With the slavers). Deep scenario also

[Clint the Cool Guy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow

Pretty great stuff, but MAN is it brutal! Not for the faint of heart to read. This is some super gruesome, violent stuff. Sometimes sickeningly violent. It's not called "Punisher Max" for nothing. Read at your own risk.

[Cyrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another very enjoyable book in the series so far. Frank Castle in action never fails to keep me entertained, and the things he does has me questioning his humanity and moral code constantly -- he even questions it himself sometimes.