Marvel Universe vs. the PunisherWritten by Jonathan Maberry
Art by Goran Parlov
2011
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So. Comics Universes (and I guess I'm thinking of the main two: DC and Marvel - but this could apply to any of them) are created to never end - they go on and on and on and on - and the heroes never stop beating the bad guys and saving the day. Part of that is commercial reasons - Batman, Spider-Man are all the rest are still pretty popular - and however much people may try (Morrison and Bendis I'm looking at you [1]) - you can never really kill them off (in fact is there a major superhero left that hasn't died and been miraculously brought back to life?). Plus - the fans - (damn them) never seem to tire of the same cycles - mainly because when you fall in love with someone as a child - that stuff tends to stick. Now - obviously - the strange thing about stories that never end - is that everywhere else - stories tend to do just that. And - frankly - for many of them: that's the best bit (that's why they're called "climaxes"). And what's interesting is that recently there's been a spate of comic books that have depicted the ends times of the Marvel Universe: Old Man Logan, Marvel Zombies and now this (is three enough to constitute a "spate"? hmmm. maybe not). Of course this kind of thing is nothing new. The big obvious forerunner is Alan Moore's famous Twilight of the Superheroes Proposal (which you can read in all it's glory here and I very much recommend). And obviously you could include both The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen as part of the same continuum. But the point is (is there a point?) that: the end of things in where things get interesting. To the book in hand: Marvel Universe vs the Punisher (not to be confused with Garth Ennis' 1995 book: Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe nor indeed that other story about Frank Castle at the end of the world - Punisher: The End (also written by Garth Ennis) and collected in The Punisher MAX: From First to Last - worth checking out): a collection of a four-part miniseries that does for The Punisher what Old Man Logan did for Wolverine. And - damn it - it pretty much follows the same trajectory: the first issue is amazing - full of atmosphere, details and delicious slices of unremitting doom. I wasn't expecting much - but the framing and way the parts of the premise fell into place left me like putty in it's arms. And then - well... (and watch how I make this tie in with everything I said at the top): stories need ending - because that's what makes them cool - and that's what makes them satisfying. The great thing about end of the world stories of the superhero variety is that they offer the promise of a final climax (in the form of a bang or a whimper - whatever: i'm not too choosy): but because everything is always about commercial reasons and so even if you're dealing with something that's set at the end of the world - you always (always) got to leave room for a sequel: you get end of the world stories that (oh the irony) don't have endings - only vague "to be continueds." And so it is with this - Old Man Logan - and Marvel Zombies (how many sequels does that have now?) - that seem to promise some sort of superhero closure / Ragnarök / closing of the book / kinda-thing - but instead give you: just another iteration in the never-ending battle between blah blah blah. Should you read this book? Yeah. It's diverting and the pictures are pretty. It's just disappointing that it doesn't live up to it's opening promise. Oh well.
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[1] That's a joke. Morrison and Bendis may have killed off their respective heroes but they did them (mostly) for great storytelling reasons. Well. Bendis at least. Morrirson I can never tell if he's just going for the headlines and market share.
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Links: 4thletter Review, Inside Pulse Review, Comic Book Resources Interview with Jonathan Maberry.
Further reading: Wolverine: Marvel Universe vs. Wolverine, The Punisher: The Punisher MAX, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Marvel Zombies, Hulk: The End, The Walking Dead.
All comments welcome.
