It feels like yesterday that we had a, how should I put it?, ‘discussion’ on the previous issue of Punisher MAX. I just let everyone know that I don’t hate this comic, I find it enjoyable in some places. My problem is that, for almost a year and a half, Jason Aaron has not done enough to make me feel like this is ‘his’ view on the character. Not just by focusing on everyone but the Punisher so far, but because he’s just using Garth Ennis’s ideas and trying to make it into his own work. This issue however does try to push away from the Ennis world, but I don’t think it’s that successful.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a solid issue and I enjoyed parts of it. Especially the beginning which was handled wonderfully by Steve Dillon. In fact this is some strong work by Dillon in the last couple of issues. He’s handling the sort of ‘zombie’ like status Castle has in both the present day and in the past perfectly. When I look at this guy I can tell he’s traumatized by the war and the various cutaways to his time at Vietnam is paced well. My overall problem with this issue is that it really feels like Jason Aaron is desperate to keep a four to five issue arc. I mean did we really need to see Castle’s old boss’s son act like an asshole? What purpose did that serve other then Aaron showing ‘sick’ moments and see an asshole get his arm chopped off? Plus the inmates at the prison are still way to generic and only provide ‘comic relief’ by swearing like sailors. I know it’s a prison and I’m sure cursing is par for the course and I’m not a prude because how many fucking times did I curse in this review so far? But it feels like Aaron is just swearing for the sack of laughs like how Scary Movie would do sex jokes constantly. Plus this new guy, ‘Big Jesus’, is something out of a parody of Oz.

I said that if this issue didn’t do anything for me then I would drop it. Well other then Steve Dillon, there isn’t a lot to really sink my teeth into. Jason Aaron is not telling much of a story here, and he’s really stalling for time to stretch into an arc. There is no reason that this couldn’t have been a two-part arc and we got on with another story. Add in the childish swearing and I still fail to see what makes this man an ‘architect’ with Marvel. It’s not a bad comic, but this isn’t the Punisher comic I was hoping it would be. Garth Ennis might’ve had some extreme gore and swearing going on, but damnit he had a large storyline going with a ton of twists and turns. This just reads like a fifteen year old got reigns of a Punisher comic and is going over the top, which is not the Punisher for me nor will it ever be.