I think I might just give up on PunisherMAX right here. It’s clear Aaron doesn’t know how to write a good Punisher book and doesn’t even want to write a serious one.

It’s funny to think if I was under a rock, comics-wise, and hadn’t heard of Scalped, and read this comic, I’d think Aaron was just a buffoon.

This issue isn’t even “realistic,” it’s Frank getting beat up. Again, if Ennis’s run showed anything, it’s the danger of making Frank human. There’s not a story in it and there’s not a story here.

So it’s bon voyage to PunisherMAX for me here. I think if I’d sat down to read these on a monthly basis, I could at least come up with the enthusiasm to mock some of their stupider points, but trying to sit and read the whole thing?

It makes me a little sick to my stomach.

Wow, Aaron hasn’t just seen The Usual Suspects, he’s seen A History of Violence too. I wonder if he’ll work in some other incredibly well-known film’s concept in the future. Maybe send Frank back to the future in a DeLorean.

Except of course, Frank’s still not the protagonist. Dillon’s drawing him a little more age appropriate for the story this issue, but the art’s got some major issues. Whoever scanned the pages apparently screwed something up and they had to zoom in the art, making it look real bad. I hate it when comics have this problem, because it clearly means some link in the production chain is faulty.

The issue’s pretty weak. Not as weak as last issue but weak all the same. Aaron’s trying hard, with Dillon illustrating, to make it feel like Ennis’s Punisher.

But it’s not beautifully written and the jokes are weak so it doesn’t.

Kingpin narrates the issue. I’m not sure why they call it PunisherMAX, since it’s really KingpinMAX. Aaron comes up with all sorts of awful gritty, “real” things for KingpinMAX to have done, but really… he’s just ripping off the Usual Suspects.

It’s not a particularly fast read either. So when I get done with it and have almost nothing to say about it. Aaron’s KingpinMAX approach reminds me of Bendis’s Ultimate Punisher (from Ultimate Marvel Team-Up), he’s just streamlining and modernizing.

I guess my only other reaction to the comic is how much better suited this creative team would be for a Daredevil MAX series. Maybe Aaron would want to write it more too, because he doesn’t seem to want write Frank Castle.

Oh… the whole concept requires the reader to think Frank is dumb. Kind of like Ennis’s crappy “Barracuda” arc from his series.

Not the one to emulate.

Bringing in Steve Dillon to do the sequel to Ennis’s Punisher MAX series might seem like a no brainer but after one issue, I hate it. Dillon did all Ennis’s jokey Punisher stuff and it’s hard not to think of that approach when reading this issue.

There’s the additional issue of realism. I’m not sure what ingredient is needed to make the art on the Punisher look realistic, but Dillon isn’t cooking with it. His Frank doesn’t look sixty. A sequel to Ennis’s Punisher only works if Frank’s sixty.

Jason Aaron’s writing is unimpressive. He mimics one of Ennis’s mob boss scenes–maybe from the second or third MAX arc; it’s stale. Frank’s barely present, never as the protagonist. Instead, Aaron’s doing the MAX version of Wilson Fisk. Aaron’s ingenious idea is he comes to power through a scheme.

I could be less impressed with PunisherMAX, but I’m not sure how.