kitchen Irish

Story by Garth Ennis art by Leandro Fernandez

 

 

*contains major spoilers and one instance of racist language 

Back by popular demand, I say popular demand I have 2 people hungry for these reviews but at least it makes me feel wanted. On with the review.

A bomb goes off across the road in a bar that Frank happens to be relaxing in, miraculously he survives thanks to being cocooned the other body parts of the bomb blast victims, but the aftermath sets him off to find the people that did it. As luck would have it Yorkie (making a successful transaction from the mainstream marvel universe) contacts Frank to tells him it’s the work of Finn Cooley and his nephew Peter Cooley members of the IRA, it’s not all business however and Yorkie brings along Andy Lorimer the son of one of Peters victims as a favour to his dead friend.

They easily find Cooley who is being toasted at a local bar for being a 'hero' and Cooley thinks nothing of sacrificing his dear nephew so he can make a clean getaway from Castle who nails the little prick with a bullet in each of his legs, of course the kids a pussy who spills the beans the second he thinks he might suffer pain. He tells the story of Nesbitt the godfather figure of the Irish mob who leaves in his dying breath leaves 10 million to his adopted children Tommy Tonner who leads the westies, Eamon and Polly the river rats, Maginty the mad dreadlocked bastard and Cooley, they each get a part of a code that completed will grant them access to the will but they figure if they can kill each other they will get the full 10 million  so Frank and Yorkie sets it up so they’re all in one place and lets starts killing, they all manage to get away and the sudden euphoria of them escaping a war zone in New York makes them all sentimental towards each other and they all agree they were better of just splitting the money, unfortunately for them Nesbitt was a bastard and....well I won’t spoil the ending for you.



This book is a strange one as it feels more like a sequel to business as usual than any book in the MAX series, there’s nothing that connects it to the final book unlike the others in this series that have recurring elements and characters besides Yorkie, because of this it feels like the odd one out but that in no way takes away from the great story telling.There’s so many characters and they all have a great story, it’s amazing Ennis actually managed to squeeze them all and develope them the way he has. The only real problem with this is that castle almost feels like a bit player in how own story there’s a definite shift from being purely about castle story to trying to tell the back story of every character.

Because of the way it’s drawn the whole thing plays out in slow motion and the aftermath is just horrific,in the opening pages there’s a waitress whose last dying moments involves having no arms from the elbow down and gagging on a mouthful of broken glass and its a great contast for the next part where Frank has to restart a bomb victims heart by placing his hand through the guys open rib cage and manually massaging his heart to keep him alive, for whatever reason it’s important to Frank that this guy does not die, maybe he sees himself in this guy but it’s one of the few acts of kindness that the you ever see him perform, so it’s a major thing when you do see it.

 

why so fucking serouse ye cunts

The art in this book is brilliantly realized as always, specifically the design of Finn Cooley’s face who has no skin on it due to a failed bomb attack on a British target, its visceral and every time you see him you feel repulsed on some level, there’s a definite feeling that it’s a physical representation of all the evil this man is seeping out, it’s ironic because he just comes across as a pissed off thug and its probably the most normal of all the villains in the max series. It doesn’t stop him from having the best scenes in the book, like when he escapes the punisher and tells his friend he is tired of being a slave to the system he's spent so long following, he ends up shouting "I WILL BE NO ONES NIGGER" it’s then revealed he's in a  bar full of African Americans. It's in no way ment as racist but it’s a classic gag at the end of a very realistic conversation you can imagine these guys having. and the scene where castle rips off his face with his in a desperation move of survival is fucking hideous.

Another stand out arc is the scenes with Napper and Maginty. You have the old order being pushed back into work because if he doesn’t do as he's told his grand child will die. Napper used to make people disappear for the westies and is a bit of a legend Maginty uses him to hack up tonner as a message to the rest, because Maginty is a sick fuck he forces the Napper’s grand kid to watch him work. You can’t help but feel for Napper, here’s a guy who actually managed to make something for himself and move on with his life when he gets dragged back into it he is in hell and you can see it in every panel, he hates what he did and the last thing he ever wanted is to be reminded of it, you are cheering for him when he snaps, Maginty is just an evil fuck using the old excuse he had to be that way because of his upbringing and the brutal racism he received in Ireland, but there’s no charisma to this guy either he's just nasty for the sake of it ironically he is probably most like Nesbitt out of all the characters because of how much of a bastard he is.

 

The only interesting thing about the river rats is there may or may not be an incest angle i.e. over protective brother but they hold no real interest and Tonner is just cannon fodder for Maginty.

 I said no trainers

 

 

Ennis has done alot on the subject of the IRA and this is another story of the futility of their existence, he has done other stories such as The Magnificent Kev trilogy and Downtown where the Punisher ends up in Belfast, but this one is noticeable in the way the even the member of the IRA are tired of it and are reduced to just being in it for the money but at the same time know no other way of living, perhaps that makes them victims of their own stupidity. Yorkies conversation with Peter about how his cause is nothing but a selfish act and he is only causing suffereing to his country when all they want to do is get on with their lives is thought provoking. Its a great book end to these stories that are still having a very real impact on people living there today.

All in all Kitchen Irish delivers in every thing it sets out to do, so go on pick up a copy its a good craic.