Punisher: The Platoon #1 Lettered Preview

The long-awaited return of the MAX imprint after four years!

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Holy crap, four years since MAX at all, or just the last MAX Punisher book?

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The former.

FIN

Damn, was it Aaron's run that was the last published book?

I can't believe this is finally fucking happening. Fuck me sideways.

Thanks OP, will be the first comic ill buy in years.

Ennis is a rare sort, he loves his dark humor and exploitation, but he can do amazingly heartfelt and sentimental war comics. Even with all the bombast is his MAX Punisher its still a deep and heavy story.

No, that's the forgotten Fantomex MAX from some literally who artist-turned screenwriter and Shawn Crystal.

>Steve Buscemi on the left
Who are the others?

Yep and honestly it was kinda shit some good moments but Franks characterization is awful and using kingpin was stupid

I am definitely buying this thanks for the preview op

Congratulations that you forgot Deadpool MAX X-Mas Special, Fantomex MAX, and Wolverine MAX exist.

Fantomex MAX came out in 2014, so it's only been 3 years.

I'd be interested in reading the story of Frank coming home from his first tour of duty to hippified, spit on veterans USA.

Wasn't Ennis' Secret Wars mini a MAX book? Where Monsters Dwell?

>Frank's characterization
You mean his pre Punisher motivation and the divorce thing? At the time I thought that was a super interesting idea for the character, but in retrospect its demystifies him and hurts him.

>asking troops if they've read Dispatches

First page and already this shit is biting as fuck. This gonna be book of the year fellas

No, but it was a continuation of a MAX book called War is Hell: The First Flight of the Phantom Eagle.

>Fantomex MAX came out in 2014
I'm talking about floppy releases; the final issues of Fantomex MAX and Wolverine MAX came out the same month, though Fantomex MAX #4 was released a week earlier than Wolverine MAX #15. This new Ennis/Pavlov project was first announced later that month.

I meant the last published punisher max ongoing, his book ended the punisher max story

I wonder if this will run alongside the current punisher run (which is dogshit).

Cloonan's next issue is her last. She's really outdoing herself when it comes to stupid.

Oh shit, motherfucking MAX Punisher!? And with Ennis at the helm!?

Friendly reminder to watch the Vietnam doc by Ken Burns on the PBS website before the it's gone.

My body is ready.

Cool

Yeah, that's why I assumed it was also MAX.

Hey, can I share something with you guys since this is the only Punisher thread up?


How'd I do with this Auntie Mo pic?

>before it's gone
Wait, are they seriously going through with defunding and shutting down PBS?

FINALLY! Marvel has been sitting on this book for years

I expect a worse version of Punisher BORN

Why 'worse'?

So you think this will be more of a horror story like born was? Since it's Franks first tour I'm wondering how bad it'll get

>SJW Marvel
That's why.

ennis is so fucking based

Have faith in Ennis. Have you read his previous runs? He's been pretty consistent quality-wise.

I don't recall him being affected by SJW bullshit. At least not in a cringy way.

Nigga this is MAX + Ennis in a book set in the 70s. No "SJW" stuff is gonna get an mile near this

One thing I liked about 80's run is that punisher smiled and cracked jokes while killing scum, shame he stopped doing that.

would a book about mutant women going to the beach topless during a vacation to avoid tanlines be MAX?

>punisher smiled and cracked jokes while killing scum

While that was fun and good for the older runs, I think Ennis made the character more realistic, and in some ways a lot more relatable. He is all kinds of fucked up in his head, and finds no joy in doing what he does. It just needs to get done.

Deadpool is better at killing scum and cracking jokes.

My biggest hope is that Ennis pulls some characters from The 'Nam. Especially Mike "Iceman" Philips

As a BBW lover I can honestly say

Stop trying to make me find fucking Auntie Mo attractive.

When is this releasing? Are they using it to hype the show? The show looks pretty good, I think Bernthal is the best on-screen Castle we've gotten. I'm so fucking hyped, Punisher MAX with Ennis is the only thing that could make me buy a new comic. A

Jimmy's Bastards has a lot outright mocking SJWs. Remember that Ennis is a self identified working class leftist, and thinks SJWs are holding the left back by focusing on issues far less important than stuff like poverty.

There's a strong resemblance to the ginger guy in the one with glasses here

He's a working class hero kind of guy, the kind of blue collar liberal you can at least respect and have a beer with even if you disagree.

>Ennis
>Parlov
>MAX

Should I call a doctor because I think this erection will last more than 4 hours. My War Gone By was impeccable. Too bad it already rules out a Fury cameo

we're all gonna make it

>25ID patches
TROPIC LIGHTNING
STRIKE HARD

sounds like a pretty boring book

>Too bad it already rules out a Fury cameo

Maybe later on we get a second tour story for Frank. And in it, they could re-tell the encounter with Fury, but from Frank's POV.

>would cum buckets

>When is this releasing?
next Wednesday
>Are they using it to hype the show?
duh doy

I T ' S
T I M E

>tfw the time will come when Ennis will be out of Punisher stories to tell and we'll never get any new MAX

Do you think the Netflix series could ever attempt Slavers?

Never. Have you seen the trailer? They've already tonned down Frank to no end.

Not sure how it will turn out, but it's pretty clear they are making it a lot easier to digest for a wider audience.

The only arcs they could try and adapt would be In the Beginning, Kitchen Irish and Widowmaker

How did they tone him down in the trailer? He executes the guy who's useless to him and it looks like he's fighting the CIA as well. I'm not arguing, Im genuinely curious. I haven't read MAX in years but this is inspiring me to dig them all back out, they were fucking great. I know we're definitely getting Microchip.

I could see Mother Russia and Barracuda being doable

>Kitchen Irish
He already franked all of the Irish in DDS2. They even had a dude named Finn Cooley who Frank franked with a point-blank shotgun blast instead of having him try to open Frank's explosives rigged van for some reason.

>Forgetting about the Generals growing and using their own personal 9/11 to cover up Frank's mission

Just say they're part of the corrupt Trump administration and people would be all over it.

Could be just the trailer that's toned down. DD's teasers didn't show things like Fisk mashing someone's head off in a car door, or Frank's meat locker full of bodies hanging from hooks.

dumb phone poster

user means that PBS is streaming all of it now on its website but that could change if, for example, in a year they rent the rights to a Netflix or Hulu.

FRANKNESS
IMFRANKENING ME

it’s less about content and more about general tone

to make audiences ok with rooting for frank, the story has to take place in such a broken, morally failed world that it’s plausible his involvement actually makes a given situation better. that's pretty tough to do without coming across as edgy or trying too hard to include sick shit for its own sake, and it's really tough to do when the story's taking place in a universe shared with characters who are genuinely good and hopeful (even Ennis tends to struggle with this in his mainline marvel work.)

part of what makes the MAX comics work so well is that there’s an element of comedy (or at least irony) that underpins the most extreme stuff. in the first-person narration, especially, there’s often a sense that frank is sort of bemused by the things that keep happening – like he’s already seen so much horrible shit that nothing can even surprise him. that sense of bitter humor makes him a more sympathetic character, adds energy to the storytelling, and also feels accurate to the way a lot of real-world vets talk about their experiences. i haven’t really gotten that vibe so far in the netflix version of the character

What I think is great about the MAX comics is that you get different arcs, which can almost be read as standalone stories (even though there is continuity between some of them), and the bottom line is always Frank punishing those who deserve it. Most of the time, the character itself is simply a tool or an observer to a much larger issue (CIA / Police corruption, IRA fallout, slavery or human trafficking, Afghan / Vietnam war effect on people, etc), and couldn't give less of a fuck about who he is killing. It's not personal, it's what he does because that's what he is.

What I see in the netflix trailer, is a guy who was in a CIA covert operation, and so his family was murdered by the CIA, as part of a cover up / conspiracy / whatever, and he goes after the government to rightfully seek retribution. It seems very contained and limited.

I like it though, but it could be made into an action flick, instead of a series. Kind of feels like a wasted opportunity.

>Most of the time, the character itself is simply a tool or an observer to a much larger issue (CIA / Police corruption, IRA fallout, slavery or human trafficking, Afghan / Vietnam war effect on people, etc)
this is on point. also makes frank great fodder for historical stories – especially in Ennis' larger mythos, where he and nick fury become these fucked up ancient mariner-type figures cursed to bear witness to the combined horrors of the 20th century

ALL THAT I FRANK
ABSOLUTE FRANKLIN
I CANNOT FRANK
I CANNOT FRANKIE

But that's how his Arc in MAX goes. He starts off just wanting revenge, but it doesn't satisfy him or make him feel better. He is still broken and empty, so he keeps going because it's all he knows how to do. I could see the first season being about vengeance, and then after that moving on to simple punishment.

>He already franked all of the Irish in DDS2.

Exactly, its all already set for Kitchen Irish, just replace "bomb" with shotgun to the face.

>I could see the first season being about vengeance, and then after that moving on to simple punishment.

I agree with the idea, but not sure if there are 13 episodes worth of vengeance and "Frank Vs CIA / FBI". But again, so far we've only seen the trailer, so let's wait and see.

Though the solicit for one of the issues mentioned that that Vietnamese general guy from My War Gone By is going to be in this.

Can't wait. I know The Punisher is an Executioner knock off, but having read only the first novel of the latter, I don't think Don Pendleton did a good job with such an amazing idea. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but David Morrell, and even the B&W classic Punisher stories did a much better job with the Veteran bringing war home concept. There was a theme concerning displacement of anger that could've worked with all the violence in "War Against the mafia, " but Pendleton went for some pulp along with some so so philosophy.

I've never heard of Dispatches. Could you explain what makes asking if they've read it biting?

you could always ask Aaron too regurgitate more failed daredevil pitches and replace matt with frank again.

It makes me want a Punisher animated series.

I didn't mind Aaron's Max all that much, his climax however seemed rushed. Funny how he gave himself a pat on the soldier in the letter of the epilogue. Personally, I'll always stick to the Family man who lost it all, and decided to go to war again. As much I like Ennis' interpretation, I still prefer the old school narrative, and the war stiffy.

I forget, did they update him to Afghanistan or Iraq? I dunno how they'll do it, but I suspect they'll be incorporating stuff from Born/Valley Forge, Valley Forget for backstory/flashbacks.

There's The Westies, The River Rats, Debra Toner is a character I wanted to see for some time. (Played by Lucy Lawless, I hope)

Remember when Frank got into the White House and tossed a bullet at the president, threatening him? Think he'll do that to Trump?

Fuck me sideways I didn't realize this was a MAX series. I'll definitely give it a look now.

>Punisher MAX
>Ennis
>Parlov

I'm sexually aroused.

I'm new to the Punisher, I thought he fought in Afghanistan. That's what I got from reading Rucka, Edmonson, and Cloonan.

They won't because shit's fucked, and normies might drop the show because of it.

They updated 616 Frank to some undisclosed Middle Eastern-looking war.

Does Ennis hate Trump as much as he did Bush (who he never wrote as anything other than an evil retard).

>Widowmaker

That would be okay. One of my favorite arcs, seldom mentioned here in favor of others.

Have you never heard of Wikipedia?

>'05

probably

I like that idea too, but it would have to be way down the line. Like season five or six.

Yes, by the own nature of the story it can't be the first arc.

You are incredibly new. He first appeared in 1974 in a Spider-Man issue, so him having his training and experience come from Vietnam was timely. For decades, he was tied to Vietnam like Captain America being tied to WWII. As we got into the 90s and 00s this obviously stopped making sense, but he was so directly linked that some people tried to write around that with him dying and being resurrected a few times. They were usually terrible and were quietly retconned. The stories you know were the reboots that took. The Marvel sliding timeline finally caught up with Frank, so now he's a War on Terror veteran in the main books. However, MAX had him over 60 years old and still having come from Vietnam.

If they did have the fucking balls and didn't write a script (just fucking lift the comic, word for fucking word) it'd be some of the best television ever recorded.

Did Frank go on another tour after his family died in MAX?
I thought all three tours were before that.

You could do Widowmaker as early as season 2, but you'd probably be better off building it slowly by making them recurring minor characters at first and have it come together over the course of a season.