It takes a lot of guts to publish a comic that doesn’t have the title character in it. It all depends on whether the story ends up being good to justify the ‘disappearence’. I’m not fimilar with the work of Valerie D’Orazio but I will say one thing about her writing skills. She could’ve made this a story about a random thug in the MAX universe and I’d still be intrigued to read it.

Let’s get Laurence Campbell out of the way first, since I am definitely fimilar to his work. It has taken awhile but I have grown to appreciate his art more. I think it is the coloring that always get me ‘off’ from his style. Lee Loughride, the colorist, must be partners with Campbell because he always colors his work. It just get’s too dark for me at times and it does take away from Campbell’s interesting character layouts. He definitely can pace a comic well and when the comic calls for violence, he always seems to deliver. I do also like some of the effects in this like a character ‘dissolving’ or faces turning into manniquen (the latter dealing with the story) So while there is flashes of brilliance in this, I just wish there could be a different colorist to do his work.

As for the story, I will admit that D’Orazio confused me at first. I didn’t know where she was taking us at first and jumbling the peices together wasn’t easy. But when she starts to slowly reveal what the crux of the story is, I am along for the ride. This ‘Butterfly’ character is a pretty interesting hitwoman and if she was given the chance (not going to spoil her fate in this) she would make an interesting love interest or rival to Punisher. But her bouts of insanity and her history makes her one of the more insane characters in this universe. Heck D’Orazio also links this up to the very first issue Ennis did so long ago. So props to her there to make this ‘somewhat’ in continuity.

These Max one-shots have been pretty damn entertaining to read. It makes me glad to know that there are many options of writers that can write an intriguing tale of the Punisher MAX world. Along with Rob Williams, I think D’Orazio should be given a chance to do a arc of this series if/when Aaron decides to leave the title. Either way, you can’t go wrong with this one-shot.