Punisher War Zone #5(of 5)
Summary: Tony Stark escapes from the jam pantry(where Punisher locked him...) and begins tracking the suit of armor Punisher swiped from Stark Tower. Iron Man finds the armor abandoned and moves in to check it out, against the advice of Black Widow and Captain America. And yes, the armor is booby-trapped, pissing Tony off that much more. Cap has had enough of this amateur hour nonsense(and really, who could blame him?!) and takes command, ordering the Avengers to begin a search for Punisher since he couldn't have gotten that far away from the armor. As for Punisher, he meets up with Wolverine(who is working completely against the Avengers here), and says his good-byes to Sgt. Alves, who Wolvie smuggles up into Canada. Punisher has set up shop at an abandoned amusement park and knows he has to face down the Avengers to buy time for Alves to make good her escape. Punisher once again makes Iron Man look like a tool, and manages to web Thor's face with one of Spidey's web shooters. Spidey is also taken out by a shotgun blast to the chest. But don't cry for Spidey, Punisher was using rubber shells. Black Widow manages to stalemate Punisher in hand to hand combat long enough for the Avengers to get their act together and defeat Punisher. With that, the Avengers build a special prison to contain Punisher, while Sgt. Alves continues Punisher's crusade in Los Angeles.
Thoughts: This comic... First things first. What does Greg Rucka have against Tony Stark!? Punisher has OWNED Tony for this entire mini! I mean yeah, Tony is arrogant and all, but if this was your introduction to that character you'd wonder how he ever defeated the likes of Blizzard, let alone the Mandarin! Sheesh! So here's the thing... I'm of two minds with this mini-series. It was enjoyable. It was a good read. Action-packed, fun, all of that. However, it was HORRIBLE at portraying the Avengers. They were a bunch of clueless goofs! So while the Avengers fan in me cringed at the way they looked in this mini, the comic fan in me enjoyed this mini... Strange...
Score: 8 out of 10.
At least Cap wasn't written as a total clown...
I really don't know what people see in Greg Rucka's Punisher...
ReplyDeleteHis whole Punisher/Daredevil/Spider-Man team-up was crap. It was predictable, fighting Ninjas is old and over used (the first sign of no talent in writing whatsoever), the team-up of Spider-Man and Deardevil just to get “Odd Couple” moments and arguments from them was just idiotic. These characters have nothing left to say or to argue about so they’ll just keep repeating that. Garth Ennis’s Punisher from “Welcome Back, Frank” said it best, “I know these speeches of yours by heart.”
This is someone who thinks he’s the secret agent type… he’s not James Bond or Batman. He doesn’t go undercover that way. The redhead OC woman was nothing but a sorry ass excuse of a female Punisher (pointing there guns at each other was a Max Payne/Mona Sax rip-off). Making the Punisher look like a poor rip-off of Solid or Naked Snake (spiky hair, an eye missing, trying to make his bandage look like a bandana, a beard and using the same type of gun) and having a redhead female partner (Meryl Silverburgh) who’s wedding ending in a massacre (Kill Bill) just to get new readers is sad… and not only did we already had this whole redhead partner (the one who was from S.H.E.I.L.D.) back in the late 90’s but a female (blonde) Punisher as well… in other words… been there, done that.
I guess it doesn't take much for someone to put on a skull shirt and be the Punisher... making Frank a non-unique character if it's the easy. But what was the point in getting her out of jail if she's going to go right back to killing people??? Something that will put her right back jail again...
Ennis never resorted to make making the Punisher looking like someone else, having him saying dumb lines "Stay out of my way! (Lame!), fighting Ninjas, annoying superheroes (he gets mad and Spider-Man beats the crap out of him) or coming up with boring femme fatales in all black. It reads as a fan fiction coming from a teenager.
Why did Black Widow have to tell the Punisher who she is???? They've met before many times...
They still think that the Punisher and Captain America are able to relate to each other just because they’ve been in war??? Sorry, but the clean cut straight arrow WWII vet from the 1940’s can’t relate to a ruthless vigilante Vietnam vet from the 1970’s… this storyline has been written for the easily entertained. Frank saying, “Sir. Yes sir” to Cap… come on Thomas Jane, do another Dirty Laundry, all this crap with Thunderbolts, Nightmare and Punisher War Zone… we need you again… badly!!!
Garth Ennis got that right when Frank fights Cap in The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe
"You haven't been where I've been at all."
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NlHreXhwMu4/UUydzjxLQyI/AAAAAAAAA0U/JUYPWsHLtTw/s1600/16.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BqwOikjL7N4/UUyd0ZoOK8I/AAAAAAAAA0c/H8yjeOSLrXc/s1600/17.jpg