Marvel 1991: Punisher: Return to Big Nothing

Well this is a good start.

The first two of my random picks were unavailable in digital form, and it turns out that the third was in fact published in 1989, and only re-published in 1991, but I've got to start somewhere or this project will never get going.

Punisher: Return to Big Nothing is, in terms of plot, the comics equivalent of a straight-to-VHS 80's thriller. The Punisher is for some reason wandering about the desert somewhere in the south west US and breaks up an FBI drugs sting, gets everyone killed, then finds out -- by the sort of staggering coincidence that only happens in comics -- that he's got a historical connection to the case, so this time it is quite literally personal. Perhaps in 1989/1991 it was a bit more impressive in terms of plotting, but I somehow doubt it. The drugs ring is Cambodian rather than full of generic Central Americans, which is something different, I suppose.

On the plus side, Steven Grant writes a great Punisher, where "great" means completely bananas. One panel might show the Punisher shooting some dude through the throat, and in the same panel you get some very wordy captions in which he waffles on about what criminals really want is death, and he is death, and so on. There are also a couple of fun moments when the Punisher ponders a merciful response but then decides that no, that's what "Castle" would do, as if he's the Hulk or something. It all makes the character come across as utterly deranged, which I hope was the point.

Mike Zeck has this way of drawing characters with a shadowy, haunted look in their eyes, which helps convey the sense that the Punisher has lost it. He also draws the character as huge, filling every panel he's in, while almost everyone else is drawn in a more mundane and realistic way, creating an odd contrast, like a murderous Roger Rabbit.

(The weird contrast is made all the more vivid by this being first published by Marvel's Epic imprint, so there are overt references to sex and drugs, and the book is full of graphic violence, but the Punisher is still striding about in his Marvel costume. Moreover, the twist at the end depends on the costume!)

Would I Read More of This?

Ah, well this is a bit of a cheat because Return to Big Nothing was published as a standalone graphic novel, so there isn't any more to read. That said, I'm not sure Grant's crazed Punisher is enough to keep me reading if the stories would be as generic as this, and I could see it becoming a bit tiring if he -- the character, not the writer -- was this mental all the time.

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I give Punisher: Return to Big Nothing a score of two Cables out of five.