In The Beginning

                                                   Story by Garth Ennis Art by Lewis Larosa and Tom Palmer


*contains major spoiler*

Since this series will be done chronologically the next in the series is In The Beginning, by far the best introduction book to any character you will ever read. From the very outset this book is gold, the use of the dark colours gels perfectly with Ennis’s even darker humour, the Punisher narrating to the reader his origin and intentions, in this case he decides to turn up at 100 year old mafia bosses birthday with an M60 and lay waste to the birthday guest who happen to be most of what’s left of the mafia in America. Unbeknownst to him he's being watched by the CIA who plans on using him as a weapon led by Frank’s old ally from the 90's comic Microchip. the mafia aren’t too happy that most of their people have been axed so they send their own team after him lead by Nicky Cavella (a major character in a future book) so frank turns up at the funeral of the people he's killed at the birthday party to finish the mafia off allowing microchip to follow him back to his hideout with his CIA team, including Kathryn O'Brien who is so screwed up she wants nothing more from poor frank than to tie him to a bed and kill him with sex.

 While microchip has Frank he tries to convince him that he should join. Of coarse Cavella finds out where the CIA are holding frank by cutting the balls off of one of the CIA agents and the two teams kill each other letting frank escape with microchip and killing one of Cavella’s men Pittsy in one of the most brutal ways you will ever seen in any comic (at least for most comics)

                                                                

Its one of those heart in mouth moments

 

 

 

My main reason for enjoying this book is when you strip away the gore and strong language, it fits in perfectly with the mainstream Punisher books from the marvel universe. I understand at that time there hadn’t been a punisher book for a while and if you didn’t realise what you were reading you would have pissed yourself at the contents.

Half the panels in this book contain shots of people with their brains hanging out and smiling, like they haven’t even realised they've died all the while you have their friends surrounding them watching it, contorted in fear and shock at what they’re watching realising that they’re probably next, it makes you wonder what it must be like to try and force yourself to fight against an enemy you know will kill you, it’s only yourself preservation that tells you to carry on and shoot back, you never think of this when you play a first person shooter or watch an action movie they are just faceless targets that deserve to die with no second thoughts. And this is just in the first few pages.
    
Another notable scene is the conversation between Microchip and Castle. Its set in a darkened room giving a claustrophobic intense feel to it, every single panel a close up of each characters face, I would say it’s a battle of wits but from the start Castle is a man of stone unwilling to move in his conviction of his mission giving no quarter to Microchip. The pinnacle of this scene is Frank telling micro the story of a neighbour who came to visit frank after he lost his wife and kids to give his condolences in the process revealing he left his own wife and family for another woman causing Frank to almost beat the man to death saying he deserved to be punished. This moment more than probably anything else is where the Punisher is born you can see him snapping and whatever’s left of his humanity goes from colour to black and white. It would have been a very delicate time for him when he would have still been trying to figure out what your going to do next, like most people that have ever lost someone and to see someone throw all that away. The blinding fury that would over take you would come out of your system eventually, in the Punisher's case he uses this as the beginning of his philosophy.

                                                                        

                                                      Punishment Due



I have to end this on the Pittsy as he's well fucking nuts to put it politely. Inspired by Joe Pesci and Paulie from the sopranos he's one of those characters who lights up the book every time you see him because he's doing something brutally insane, be it trying to smash a pool cue over a woman’s head who accidentally pokes him with her cue or cutting the balls off of one of his victims in fact in his first scene he actually says fuck ten times in one page in a great scene when he's ordering seafood. The fight scene between him and castle is more like a horror movie than any fight actually set in reality, no matter how many times frank puts him down he gets right back up and goes at him like a pit-bull from hell.

All in all a great book that delivers on every level as a comic book fan and a punisher fan and if you don’t like it, in the words of Pittsy "You, shut the fuck up"