Graphic Novel Review – Garth Ennis – The Punisher – In The Beginning

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2011 – Marvel – Spoiler alerts Frank (The Punisher) Castle is Marvel’s most violent anti-hero. He is a Mad Max / Death Wish style vigilante, cold-bloodedly murdering his way through drug dealers and mafia gangsters after seeing his family slaughtered in an assassination attempt on himself. Though human, Castle often takes on superheroes and villains but this story just deals with his mortal, non-super-powered antagonists. After his brutal murder of the guests at a 100 year old mafia don’s birthday feast, including the birthday boy, Castle in hunted by the mob in a quest for counter revenue, but he is captured instead by a one-time ally who ties Castle up and invites him to go after a bigger target, the then still living Osama Bin Laden. Castle knows the mission is an illegal operation which in itself must be funded by drug trafficking to avoid official funding channels. As it looks as if his old friend must now kill him, the mob find and attack the centre where Castle is being interrogated and in the carnage, he escapes. His old friend and now a betrayer is mortally wounded and Castle finishes him off but Ennis brilliantly leaves it ambiguous as to whether it is an act of mercy or an act of embittered revenge. Many Punisher stories are of little consequence or genuine moral concern but this is a real exception. Arthur Chappell