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Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (The Punisher (2004-2009)) by [Garth Ennis, Tim Bradstreet, Darick Robertson, Lewis Larosa, Leandro Fernandez]

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Garth Ennis

Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (The Punisher (2004-2009)) Kindle & comiXology

by Garth Ennis (Author), Tim Bradstreet (Cover Art), Darick Robertson (Artist), Format: Kindle Edition

755 ratings

Book 2 of 8: The Punisher (2004-2009)

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Collects Born #1-4, Punisher (2004) #1-12.

Experience the gritty and uncompromising PUNISHER MAX from the very beginning! When a mob hit killed his beloved wife and children, Frank Castle became the Punisher — an unstoppable one-man army waging war on every piece of criminal scum plaguing New York's streets. But do the Punisher's origins trace back even further? In 1971 Vietnam, Captain Castle's platoon faces a Viet Cong attack — and to survive, he must make a grim choice. Then, Punisher's old partner, Microchip, long thought to be a casualty of Castle's war, resurfaces with a startling offer! Will the Punisher play patsy for the CIA? If not, will they let him walk away? And in a story ripped from the headlines, Castle must take on rival Irish gangs when a bomb goes off in Hell's Kitchen!

Book 2 of 8

The Punisher (2004-2009)
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388 pages
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English
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MAX
Publication date

January 20, 2016
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762926 KB
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01A9WBW8W
Publisher ‏ : ‎ MAX (January 20, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 20, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 762926 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 388 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #281,326 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #2,318 in Superhero Graphic Novels
- #4,742 in Superhero Comics & Graphic Novels

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755 ratings

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Garth Ennis

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Garth Ennis is the award-winning writer of Hellblazer, Hitman, Punisher, Preacher, Pride and Joy and War Stories. He is much in demand for his hard-edged, wickedly humorous style.

Photo by pinguino k from North Hollywood, USA (william and garth ennis) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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MJ

Great start to the punisher

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2022

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Couldn't put down the book. Great introduction to the punisher. 10/10 would recommend. Looking forward to reading more punisher books.

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Noah Crawley

Great, not perfect, but great.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 5, 2016

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For the most part this is a good book. This ultimate collection contains the first 2 trades of the series as well as the mini series Punisher Max:Born, which is basically a punisher prequel story. (before I dive deeper into this I would just like to comment that this book is for mature readers only and contains some VERY graphic imagery). OK so the first section of this massive collection, is the 4 issue mini series titled born and it deals with frank's time as a captain in his 3rd tour of vietnam. This is a pretty good intro into frank castle himself but if your looking to find a good punisher origin story I would look elsewhere. The 1 official trade found in this book is punisher max: in the beginning. In the beginning is a FANTASTIC intro into this series, it has an already established punisher. He knows what he's doing, he's not an rookie, and his only goal is to complete his mission. I'm not going to dive much into the story to avoid spoilers but all i'm gonna say is it's a great read.
However it is the 2nd part of this book that ultimately falls flat with the 2nd volume of the series Punisher: Kitchen Irish. DO not get me wrong, kitchen irish isn't a bad book. It's just....not a good book. The punisher is barely in it, and it is mostly filled up with a bunch of irish mobsters spewing loads of exposition, in between f-bombs and racial slurs. Although it still isn't enough to stop this from making this book a kick ass purchase. This is definitely worth your cash.

3 people found this helpful

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Matthew

Incredibly Entertaining and Provoking.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 31, 2019

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Without spoiling anything, this is definitely a unique comic. As a long time Marvel fan I’ve become very used to the more PG style language and scenes throughout their storylines. This completely does away with that, and it really helps to create a realistic experience for the reader. I really appreciate how they wrote Frank in this. I don’t want to give anything away, but they wrote him as a really bad guy. This isn’t just a “good guy kills bad guys” anti-hero story. This is a bad guy killing worse people. It makes for a fascinating grey-area type of story where you’re more or less just waiting to see what happens rather than blatantly just root for the “good guy.” The 2006 run of Iron Fist is my favorite marvel storyline ever, but this is definitely up there as one of the best. Just be warned, there’s more than a fair share of gore, graphic language and a couple of slurs. If you can handle that, you’re in for a great story.

3 people found this helpful

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Kid KyotoTop Contributor: DC Comics

Over 400 pages of great comics

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 26, 2017

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Garth Ennis' run on the Punisher is rightfully regarded as one of the best comic runs of the 2000s. This volume covers a prequel "Born" and his first two arcs, "In The Beginning" and "Kitchen Irish".

Born is set during the Vietnam War and is by far the best of the 3. Young Captain Castle tries to defend his firebase from the Vietnamese while surrounded by demoralized and incompetent men. How far will he go and what price will he pay? It's an incredible period piece (with some fantastic research) and, unlike later stories, shows Frank's character changing. The Apocalypse Now feeling is very strong.

The other two pit the Punisher against the mob and the IRA, familiar enough targets but Ennis works overtime to create distinctive and memorable foes even with these familiar groups.

This is a violent, R rated book and not for kids. Many times it feels just ugly and grim but nonetheless it's a great comic and worth picking up.

With over 400 pages of great comics for just $12 on the Kindle it's hard to find a batter buy.

16 people found this helpful

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Reinold F.

One of the best Origins in Marvel history.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 4, 2018

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What happens when you can be offered to be our true selves, what we only allow us to be in the hells mankind builds in war or madness? Frank Castle is one of the inhabitants of a war in Vietnam and with him there are others that see it with different eyes. This is the first story, Born, and you have to read it at least once.
In the volume there are after the origin two other stories. I enjoyed so much the hunt of Punisher with one old ally behind the scene we all knew but not like this; and the third and last is with Irish characters, that one was really good but not as fantastic as the second and not as classic as the first one. But is there to read so it is a win.
The feeling I got when read Barry Windsor Smith's Weapon X years ago I felt it again when I read, without hoping anything, this shocking story called Born, by Garth Ennis. Formidable.

6 people found this helpful

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Tim

Punisher Max, Vol. 1 (Kindle version)

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 29, 2016

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Kindle version: Garth Ennis's version of The Punisher is dark, gritty and violent. Definitely not your comic book version. Volume 1 of The Punisher Max series contains three stories: Born, In The Beginning, and Kitchen Irish. Different artists ('pencilers') for each story, but all three are excellent. The first story, Born, gives insight to how The Punisher came to be, well before the loss of his family. The second story, In The Beginning, has The Punisher brings back an old character and introduces a few who will follow on to other Punisher stories. The final story has The Punisher mete out justice when local gangs fight over a fortune and accidentally involve Castle.

Top quality stories, excellent artwork. A must-read for adult Punisher fans.

An interesting feature of the Kindle version, at least on my iPad, is that double-tapping the full-page graphics panel will pull up the individual panel with a black background. This makes it easier to read, especially on a smaller-screened device. And by 'double-tapping' I mean with your finger, not your .45.

2 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Mr. R. Stanton

Guns and bodies

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 23, 2019

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I was interested in more stories about Frank Castle and his alter ego The Punisher after enjoying the Netflix shows. Most people might see the origin of the character occur after the murder of his family, he then creates this alter ego to punish those responsible and then continues to punish those who the law fails to take down. However, this first collection from Garth Ennis explores his origin even further back when he was fighting as a soldier in the jungles of Vietnam and his family's fate is only briefly mentioned as we then skip forward to a post 9/11 New York and a face from his past returns with an offer for Frank that would allow him to continue using his skills as a soldier but working for the CIA.
This was an entertaining collection of stories that are well written and the artwork was a great fit but not one for the squeamish as it very graphically reflects the violence and brutality of the stories being told. On the negative side, this first collection does not do much in terms of character development for Frank Castle and I found the supporting cast were a lot more fleshed out (literally in some cases). There are many more collections to read through and I look forward to more stories from one of Marvel's most brutal creations, especially as he encounters other characters from the Marvel Universe who object to his particular brand of justice.

4 people found this helpful

Sandro

Dull and nonsensical

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 28, 2018

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Perhaps the nicest thing I can say about this title is that it sports some decent artwork because as an engaging reading experience its utter rubbish!

On the face of it –it seems like it should be fun, ex soldier whose family is murdered and in retaliation he becomes a full time vigilante to punish both the killers of his family and all criminals, generic but still potentially fun. The problem lies in the totally inept way the story is told, quite simply it moves around too quickly, its as if the writers had hundreds of ideas and simply could not concentrate or develop these ideas for more than a couple of pages at a time before getting bored and moving on to the next idea. The net result of this is a meandering plot that practically abandons any narrative and seems to jump from one hapless person getting his head blown off to another with virtually no explanation of who the victim is or how we reached this point.

Frank Castle (the main character) is about as robotic and two dimensional as it gets The dialogue seems to have been taken from 1970’s action movie. I wasn’t expecting Shakespeare but I was at least hoping for better than this cheese on toast.

The whole thing comes off as a scrapbook created for the purpose of depicting copious amounts of gore and torture but almost completely bereft of any kind of cohesive or even logical script. The writing is choppy and disjointed making it very difficult even to keep abreast of what is happening and who is doing what to who. Characters seem to come and go with virtually no explanation of who they are or why they are even there Its just a tapestry of killing and swearing and dry one liners, which sounds like it ought to be fun but soon becomes repetitive and tedious.

If you just want to look at pictures of people being killed horribly, with lots of cheesy dialogue and have no interest in a story that actually makes sense, or characters that are even halfway interesting then the punisher is for you but if such things are of interest to you then instead Read Jonathan Hickman’s “The nightly news” which is far superior to this overrated garbage

One person found this helpful

Stotty40

Best Punisher/comic ever must buy

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 15, 2018

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Brilliant, brutal I have really enjoyed this graphic novel and already have the next 4 lined up must buy for comic fans this max run of the punisher is in my eyes one of the best comics that I have ever read I love the artwork and the story Ennis is a legend for bringing us the best punisher ever.
Please read punisher platoon first then this it all runs seamlessly.

7 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Finally got round to reading this series.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 26, 2019

Verified Purchase

Well after many years of having The Punisher Volumes on my wishlist I finally get round to buying Vol1 and I dont understand why I waited so long.

The stories are fantastic and gritty aswell as gruesome which is to be expected and full of excitement I wasnt able to put this book down until I had finished it.... I'm looking forward to reading the remaining volumes and if they are as good as vol1 then I know im in for a treat.

2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Garth Ennis is one of the best comic book writers

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 14, 2022

Verified Purchase

In this novel Garth Ennis perfectly portrays the essence of how the punisher should act and talk, and the power he has over others just through his presence. If you like slightly gorey, crude, offensive and dramatic novels this if for you. Definitely one of the best (if not the best) comic books i have ever read. Would 100% recommend.

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