Punisher MAX Vol 10 Valley Forge Valley Forge v 10
Punisher MAX Vol 10 Valley Forge Valley Forge v 10
Garth Ennis concludes his seminal run on Punisher - in style! Thirty-five years ago, the Fifth Cavalry disgorged their troops on an isolated Vietnamese hilltop and was met by a scene of utter devastation. The final body count ran to well over seven-hundred - almost 200 hundred of them American soldiers. Standing alone amidst the carnage, a sole survivor: Captain Frank Castle, who years later would be known as the most fearsome vigilante to walk the Earth - the Punisher. Now, the Punisher is about to face his stiffest test: He’s hunted big game in his day, but none as big as this. Five men with unlimited resources. Men who’d put anything between themselves and the Punisher’s bullet. Men who know exactly who he is - and how to fight him. Collects Punisher MAX #55-60.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars The end
No other writer has gotten The Punisher like Garth Ennis. Since making the move from Marvel Knights to Marvel’s adult-themed MAX imprint, Ennis has had a nearly flawless run on a series that took Marvel’s criminal killing vigilante in an ultra-gritty, realistic direction that pulled no punches. With Valley Forge, Valley Forge; Ennis’ long run writing The Punisher comes to a close, a run that I for one had wished would never end. Well, you know what they say about “all good things” and such, and while Valley Forge, Valley Forge isn’t as perfect a read as many of Ennis’ previous Punisher MAX storyarcs, it ties everything together that Ennis has set up over the years, as Frank Castle learns just who was behind tipping off Barracuda in Long Cold Dark, and it is an enemy that this time around Frank may not be able to take down. With ties to his pre-Punisher days in Vietnam, this promises an outcome that will definitely not be pretty. While Valley Forge, Valley Forge is certainly engaging and page-turning, its one big flaw happens to be in the pacing. During the chapters of this TPB pop up segments of a book written by the brother of one of the main characters of Ennis’ Punisher: Born mini-series. While this does end up playing a semi-important role in the proceedings here, this breaks up the pacing, and simply takes too much away from what’s going on. This may not be such a big flaw for others, but for a die-hard fan of Ennis’ Punisher run, this hurts the book more than helps it. Goran Parlov is on board once again as the artist, and his work seems more tighter here than on Long Cold Dark. All in all, it’s sad to see Ennis leave The Punisher, but he goes out firing, and leaves a legacy as being the sole writer to really get what the character and the world Frank Castle lives in is truly all about.
4 Stars the end of the “REAL” punisher
I’ve followed the max print since Born, and now it has all rapped together to complete the greatest punisher arc ever created. I feel that ennis really entices the story line and makes an awesome portrayal of the marvel vigilante. In this issue, Frank Castle is being hunted by some crooked top government officials. They’re convinced that he has information that could incriminate them all for things that happened in previous issues. So first they sent Barracuda, well that didnt work, so now they sent a squad of special forces to take him down, “alive”. Theres alot of vietnam references dating back to the Born issue, which helps to manifest the ending of this issue. The artwork of Parlov is not my favorite of the series, i woulda much rathered fernandez or larosa, but i guess beggers cant be choosers, its still a good read. Its a shame that ennis is ending his run on the series, the punisher will never be the same. He has resurrected the punisher from the dead, I only hope that this portrayal of the punisher will continue on. The Max series is not technically finished but for me it is, ennis paints the picture and i dont think there will be better.
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