Tuesday, February 12, 2013

A "short" post today...

Bit of a dry spell lately for comics, so why not take a quick look at a favorite: from 2002, Punisher #17, "Aim Low" Written by Garth Ennis, art by Darick Robertson.

Unaware that the other is also on the case, both the Punisher and Wolverine are investigating a series of mysterious disappearances: mobsters, seemingly kidnapped, with their legs amputated just above the knees! After running into each other, Wolvie cuts Frank a few times, and Frank unloads a shotgun in Wolvie's face; before the culprits arrive: a gang of really angry midgets, led by the son of a mob boss out for revenge on the brother and mobsters that belittled him his entire life.

Frank and Wolvie get swamped by midgets--Frank has to admit, "If I weren't me--I'd be screaming like a girl right now." Still, despite the leader's appeal to his two "inspirations," neither hero is about to put up with a mob boss, short, tall, or otherwise. Frank goads Wolverine into getting them loose, then needs a distraction:

Frank shows the midgets that he won't put up with any criminals, and that Uzis aren't terribly reliable weapons if you're aren't big enough to handle them. In the end, Frank is left with the question of what to do with a very pissed off Wolverine; and his solution clearly shows neither Frank nor Ennis are probably fans of the "Canucklehead," who had just ludicrous monologues the whole time. Lots of Ennis's Punisher stories, particularly the MAX ones, are brutal; but this one is hilarious.

1 comment:

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

This was one was good actually, especially since poor Wolvie gets shot point-blank in the face w/a shotgun, and gets nailed in the dick twice; once with a baseball bat, and then with a an uzi. It's funny, and something you'd expect from Ennis.

His disdain for Superheroes though is something I never got. Even when reading his old Wizard interviews, he doesn't come out and fully explain why the hate, other than he doesn't like the fact that they take up/make up most of the comic industry. Well duh Ennis! Superheroes are the meat and potatoes of the industry. They're the main attraction amongst a wide range of different genres that also exist. It's just that capes prove to be the better selling genre.

I have no problem with satires and parodies of superheroes, it's just when Ennis does it, they seem packed with extra venom, like he has an vendetta against them or something. That's not to say he isn't a really good writer, because he is, just keep 'em away from the boys and girls in tights you know?