Punisher Max #12
Punisher Max #12
Story by Jason Aaron
Art by Steve Dillon
Colors by Matt Hollingsworth
Cover by Dave Johnson
Publisher: MARVEL COMICS
Price: $3.99
Its not a new idea or an innovative idea: drop The Punisher into prison. Mayhem ensues. Weve seen it before as recently as 2006 in Ed Brubakers opening story arc on Daredevil, when both The Punisher and Daredevil ended up in prison together.
And while it may not be a new idea or an innovative idea, I still get really excited when I see that its going to happen because its an idea that can lead so many fun and, well, twisted, places.
At the end of the Punisher Max #11, Bullseye and The Punisher finally came together and fought their epic fight. At the end, they both lay broken and bloodied, ready to get carted off by the police. Nine times out of ten, in this scenario, the hero of the story finds a way to escape from the police so that his war on crime can continue unabated. Not this time. Franks in jail.
Being The Punisher and being in prison is so much worse than being a cop and being in prison. Sure, you both are seen as the enemy and youre both responsible for putting people into that prison, but its worse with The Punisher. Chances are that in addition to putting you in a position for the cops to cart you off to jail, The Punisher killed and/or brutalized you and your friends and possibly your family. The hate isnt just professional, its also personal.
Normally, having a prison full of vicious criminals hting you would not be a problem for Frank Castle. Hed just fashion a bunch of weapons from whatever was handy around his cell and go to town on anyone dumb enough to try to take him on. The problem this time is that the fight with Bullseye left him laid up in the prison hospital, three out of four limbs broken or in traction. Hes a sitting duck.

Or is he?
The wonderful thing about Punisher Max #12, and the reason why I loved it so much and made it the Pick of the Week, is that there is very little actual violence in it. Its a very psychological issue running across two tracks.
First, we have Frank Castle, The Punisher, laying in that prison hospital bed. Not only his he physically broken from the fight with Bullseye, but mentally as well. Bullseye figured him out completely and whispered something into Franks ear about the day Franks family was killed that cut Frank to his core. And now Frank is in turmoil. He knows that he is a target for just about every inmate in that prison, he knows that his physical ability to defend himself is diminished by about 90%, and he knows its just a matter of time. As he lays there in bed he wonders if perhaps death is welcome. He thinks back to his time at the end of Vietnam, when he was in an army hospital and wonders if maybe hes been chasing death ever since. He wrestles with the idea of defending himself in his broken state or letting the inevitable happen at the end of a prison made shiv.
The Punishers inner monologue was all very good and interesting but what made it fantastic was the juxtaposition to what was going on outside the prison hospital.
The second story in this issue focuses on the inmates trying to work up the courage to try to kill The Punisher. The first group arrives all raring to go. Theyve paid off the guards, theyre armed, and theyre pumping themselves up with stories of what The Punisher did to their friends. But wait. Hes just... laying there. This should be easy, right? But what if its a trap? What if hes faking? I saw him take out 12 guys single-handled once. Hold on a second, lets think this through. And while the first group is debating, a second group arrives. Perfect! Hey, were good here, why dont you guys go on ahead! No, no, you guys were here first.
And on and on.
While laying there in traction and in emotional turmoil, the mere specter of The Punisher, and the violence that he is capable of, has paralyzed six hardcore inmates into inaction.
It was that juxtaposition of serious introspection and laugh out loud comedy that made Punisher Max #12 so good and really showed off the range of talents that writer Jason Aaron possesses. If you know him only from Scalped (and if youre not reading that, boy, I dunno) then the fact that Jason Aaron is one of the funniest guys in comics will probably come as a surprise. Hes known best or his gritty, hardcore, and violence-filled stories, but every once in a while he works the funny bone to spectacular results. In a series like Punisher Max all of his talents are well suited. I never really got into Punisher comics for very long because I often felt like they were repetitive and unrelentingly dour. But the tone of Punisher Max is different. Its extremely violent, yes, but on occasion the violence skirts to the edge of humor. And its also straight up funny, which works as a nice balancing tonic to the grim world that The Punisher inhabits. What Im saying is that Jason Aaron is doing a fine job running in that tonal world that Garth Ennis originally created for this book.
I would be remiss if I didnt mention the art team of Steve Dillon and Matt Hollingsworth. Lots of people knock Dillons work for not having dynamic layouts and for having a limited number of facial models for his characters. I dont subscribe to these complaints. Dillon is one of the best storytellers around and hes going to go down as one of the all time great comic book artists. He has that unique ability to make the over-the-top violence both shocking and funny, depending on what the story needs. The last time that I read The Punisher with any sort of regularity it was when Ennis and Dillon were running the book and I cant imagine it looking any other way.
One more thing needs mentioning and thats the cover by Dave Johnson. I dont often talk abut the covers in these reviews, and if Im bring honest, most comic book covers dont even register with me these days, but this one made me stop and notice it. Its stark and brutal and tells you all you need to know about whats going on in this comic in one simple image.
Delving into the psychology of Frank Castle is always a dicey prospect. And since this is part one of a story called Frank I can only assume thats what well be doing. I dont know that we want to know too much about what goes on in that head of his. Like Wolverine, the less known about The Punisher, the better. But if there is one writer that I trust to lead us down the path inside Franks twisted inner world its Jason Aaron. 


-Conor Kilpatrick
