Punisher Epic Collection, Vol. 4: Return to Big Nothing

Punisher Epic Collection

by Steven Grant (Script), Mike Baron (Script), Mike Zeck (Art)

Don't call him Big Nothing! In an acclaimed graphic novel, the Punisher has a run-in with an old sergeant that takes him back to his Vietnam days — but now they're on opposite sides! Then a fed-up Frank Castle targets corporate corruption — with a nuclear submarine! But when super villains wreak havoc with "Acts of Vengeance," the Punisher takes on a very unfamiliar foe: Doctor Doom! Frank gives his confession, hears a murderer's sins and goes undercover to end a motorcycle gang's reign of terror — but he'll need a high-tech solution to battle the cyborg Reavers! Plus: Money launderers, drug pushers and a murderous secret society are punished in Frank's relentless war on crime!

Collects Punisher (1987) #26-34, Punisher Annual (1988) #3, Classic Punisher (1989) #1, Epic Graphic Novel: Punisher - Return to Big Nothing (1989), Marvel Graphic Novel: Punisher - Intruder (1989), Punisher: Kingdom Gone (1990).

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Crime, Fiction

480 pages, Paperback

First published July 20, 2021

About the author

Steven Grant is an American comic book writer best known for his 1985–1986 Marvel Comics mini-series The Punisher with artist Mike Zeck and for his creator-owned character Whisper.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_...

Reviews

[Jedi Master Nate Lightray · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I’m not a huge fan of The Punisher fighting actual super-villains, this had enough of the rogue-soldiers / mafia material to make up for how dumb it would be for Punisher to actually fight Dr. Doom. Chuck Dixon’s story is likely my favorite, and I actually am wanting the next volume, which is a good sign.

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not even fucking around when I say this volume contains a story about a military contractor who built a sub-par submarine that presents a danger to everyone on it(!!!!!!) Ripped from the future headlines!

Can we talk about this whole submarine disaster where a bunch of people died going down in a shitty submarine to look at the Titanic?

1. Nobody Is Asking You To Feel Bad
I've heard A TON of people who are like, "Whatever, they had $250k to blow on a submarine trip, I'm not weeping over their death or anything." Okay, yes, you don't need to be hit super hard by the death of a bunch of people you don't know and never heard of. But nobody asked you. Do you go through the obits every day and rank them on a scale of how sad you are? No? Because you're not a total monster? Ah, I see. I see.

2. Is $250K Really That Much?
I mean, sure, for me, it's a HUGE amount of money I would very much like to have. But is it so much that we're all into this "eat the rich" shit? If I found out one of my friends inherited $250k from a dead relative, possibly after spending the night in his haunted mansion, it wouldn't fundamentally change how I felt about that person. It's not "Make your own vanity space rocket" money, you know? Someone who has $250k to blow on a boat ride is certainly richer than I am, but I can't go by that standard. If I did, a good half of people would be rich fat cats because they owned a home or a vehicle that's not old enough to drink in a bar. "Wealthier than I am" isn't the same as "Super rich."

3. How Much Should They Have Known?
A lot of "They should've looked into this submarine before they got on it" going around as well. Which, if you've ever been on a zipline, subpar carnival ride, waterslide of almost any kind, c'mon, you're doing the same shit on a different monetary scale. Do you think going on a zipline is a safe thing to do? Is rafting without a helmet a safe thing to do? Is driving at excessive speed safe? How much research did you do before you got on that slingshot thing at the carnival in the mall parking lot? When you fly, do you select the airline with the best safety record and research the plane type you'll be on? Do you make a vehicle purchase based on safety? I mean, I get it, but at the same time, I think we all like to pretend we're smarter than the folks who got on that sub. Meanwhile, given the chance, you'd go parasailing in a heartbeat.

4. I Don't Think Wishing Death Upon Wealthy People Is A Good Moral Stance
Even if wealth is inherently evil, which some folks believe, I don't think I would be willing to go so far as to say that the penalty for wealth should be DEATH. Maybe we could just, you know, take some of the money? Like, through a yearly system where people contribute to the greater good, financially, which is made a little more fair and reasonable because it's not created and implemented BY THE SUPER WEALTHY? I don't know, that seems far-fetched, probably just best to implode everyone, eh? Either way, I just think it's unreasonable to say that someone who has money should just go ahead and die.

[Krzysztof Grabowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Być fanem postaci, a nie znać tego "składaka" to wstyd w czystej postaci, mamy tu bowiem klasyczne przygody Franka Castle, które dla całej reszty będą jednak tchnęły naftaliną. I to porządnie.

Tytułowy powrót do Wielkiego Nic to historia, która otwiera album i od razu ustanawia pewne ramy. Będzie cringe, który w różnym stężeniu utrzyma się do końca. Będą strzały, wybuchy, pożary i będą padały ofiary w ilościach hurtowych. Znana konwencja jednak nadal bawi.

Będzie też osobiście, bo w całą kabałę jest zamieszany przełożony Franka jeszcze z czasów bycia w Wietnamie. Tam się panowie wybitnie nie polubili. Kiedy indziej Frank zawalczy z korupcją poprzez kradzież okrętu podwodnego. Innym razem pędząc na motocyklu, stawi czoła rządom pewnego gangu motocyklistów.

Jeszcze gdzie indziej spotka się z Dr. Doomem, który zechce mu złożyć pewną propozycję albo stawi czoła żołnierzom-robotom, które mają sporo wspólnego z mutantami. Choć najwięcej emocji przyjdzie mu przeżyć, kiedy na miejscu jednej z kaźni odnajdzie małą dziewczynkę, którą trzeba będzie się zaopiekować.

Mój wywód nie kończy listy przygód Franka, bo całe tomiszcze liczy sobie prawie pięćset stron i nie jest to czas zupełnie stracony. Przeciwnie, to kolejny wehikuł czasu, który pokazuje jak kiedyś wyglądały komiksy. I jest to szpetne jak diabli. Mamy tu wielu artystów, więc i przekrój kresek będzie potężny. Niektóre ujdą, przy innych trzeba będzie się skupić, bo bywa ciemno, zwłaszcza pod koniec lektury.

Fajna lekcja historii, aczkolwiek osobiście jestem wielbicielem prac Ennisa, zwłaszcza serii Max. Tu miejscami historie z takiej, a nie innej konwencji, zwyczajnie nużyły. Niemniej Epic Collection w tym wydaniu to nadal towar wart nabycia.

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three Graphic Novels, nine ongoing issues and one annual, that is a lot of Punisher packed into a single volume. These Epic Collections are fantastic.

This volume collects Punisher material from 1989-1990 and apparently the character got popular at this point, given they released that many Punisher graphic novels during that period. Those three are the best part of this volume. The artwork is great and the template works quite well: Build up a despicable villain, have the Punisher shoot his way towards him in the typical 80s Action hero kind of way and have a final shootout with the villain. It's simple, but fun.

Now, the ongoing series is much more problematic. The writing is quite boring and the artwork is really low budget. The stories are ok. Sometimes the Punisher faces well known villains from the Marvel universe, which results to nothing, because they are not allowed to die. Other times, the Punisher faces and kills new characters, but they are quite uninteresting. These stories are simply forgettable, although the tussle with Doctor Doom was quite amusing.

I'm sure modern comics offer much better entertainment for this character, which is why I can't fully recommend this, but I did feel well entertained while reading this volume.

[Kris Deters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Late 80's Punisher sure does have a lot of late 80s in it. This is the first time I've read any Punisher, and it is fine. That art is solid, story telling is ok. Always fun to see the sliding scale of crime he is willing to kill over and how he seems to think once he's killed all the drug dealers, he's gonna have to move on to jaywalkers or some nonsense.

[Al Berry · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some great stories with top notch art, some poor stories with poor art, some bad stories with good art and some good stories with bad art, this collection runs the gamut, is really the weakest when it deals with other marvel characters, such as Doctor doom, thankfully that isn’t too much of the story.

[Paweł Zbrowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess it is weakest of collections so far. I would give it 2 stars but I like Zeck and Reinhold and Crankin was the first American comic I have ever read. Buy it if you are true Punisher fan only.

[Sam Goyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chuck Dixon’s graphic novel Punisher: Kingdom Come stands out as the best in this collection.