By: Garth Ennis Publisher: Marvel Comics Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Marvel Comics Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 112 Publication Date: January 25, 2006
Product Description: The year is 1971. With mounting casualties and a rising anti-war sentiment, America's time in Vietnam is coming to a close. Yet in the isolated Valley Forge Firebase on the Cambodian border, Captain Frank Castle is one of the few soldiers still committed to the fight against the enemy. With dwindling reserves, Castle must stand against an impending Viet Cong attack that threatens to wipe out the entire American platoon. To survive the battle, what grim decision must he make that will forever alter the course of his life? In this acclaimed tale, superstar Garth Ennis reveals the never-before-told story of the horrors Castle was forced to face to come home fromVietnam alive, ending in a shocking twist that will forever change how readers see Marvel Comics' most famous urban vigilante. Collecting BORN #1-4.
Semper Fi... `The Punisher' was created for Marvel comics by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru in 1974, largely as an extremely canny way of cashing in on the zeitgeist of 'vigilante justice' films which were tearing up the US box office in the early seventies.
Frank Castle, The Punisher, is a former marine and Vietnam veteran who, after surviving a disastrous mob-hit in Central Park which slaughters his family, begins waging a one man war against New York's criminal underworld. He is organised, ruthless and completely unrepentant in the way that he goes about eradicating his targets.
BORN, by Garth Ennis, is an origin story of the kind that Hollywood would never dare bring to the big-screen.
It is 1971, and, prior to the tragic events which are to shape his life so irrevocably in New York, Frank Castle is captain of 'Firebase Valley Forge' - a remote American infantry outpost on the Vietnamese/Cambodian border which is falling into dissolution and is under constant threat of destruction or occupation by the Vietcong. Castle, with a ruthlessness that prefigures the terrifying focus of his later life, leads his men through jungle Patrols and skirmishes with the enemy until, faced with a situation which sees the 'Firebase' seemingly overwhelmed by sheer force of numbers, he is forced to make a decision, the consequences of which will haunt him long after the final bullet has been fired.
Narrated primarily through the eyes of a 'still-green' PFC called Stevie Goodwin, this is an excellent four-issue miniseries which completely redefines our understanding of an archetypal protagonist and which pulls absolutely no punches in its depiction of the meat-grinder that was the Vietnam war. It's some of Garth Ennis' strongest writing on the series and its publication within the MAX imprint allows him to explore its adult themes to the utmost degree. Darick Robertson's splash-pages depicting the aftermath of the battle of Valley Forge are lurid works of Grand Guignol genius which linger in the memory long after the final page has been turned.
Highly Recommended reading for both old fans and those who are unfamiliar with the character.
WOW!!!!!! I was blown away ( no pun intended) by this graphic novel. The story line and art work are top notch. My only complaint is that it did not go on longer. I wish Garth Ennis would do an entire series of Frank Castle while he was in Viet Nam. I was completely drawn into the story and felt like I was there with his platoon searching the jungles for enemy soldiers. And talk about an awesome twist of an ending! WOW! I was blown away! This is a must buy for anyone that is a fan of Ennis, the Punisher Max series, or war stories. Buy it today. You won't be disappointed!
Wickedcool Hmm. The title of this review says it all: BORN is wickedcool. It is a perfect addition too Garth Ennis' amazing and amazingly brutal Punisher MAX series. Shame he is bowing out after issue 55 (which will be trade paperback volume 10). Little point reading after that, b/c it doesn't get any better than this.
Not for the faint-hearted.
Frank's inner demons Frank Castle, the man who would one day be known as The Punisher, is on his third tour of duty in Vietnam when something terrible starts creeping into his psyche as his bloodthirsty nature gets the better of him in this trade paperback entitled BORN. I enjoyed it a lot, and I would love it if Garth Ennis took it upon himself to write more tales starring a younger Punisher who is still learning the ropes and coming to grips with who he is and what he will eventually become. BORN appealed to me because it centers around the notion that the death of Frank's family was not the catalyst that gave birth to The Punisher, but that the vigilante side has lurked beneath the surface ever since Frank's last tour in 'Nam, when he made a deal with something or someone that feeds on death and bloodshed. This allowed him to survive long enough to become the world's fiercest vigilante, but at a terrible price. I adore Robertson's art (check out Ennis and Robertson's other project The Boys for similar brilliance) and the covers of the individual issues by Wieslaw Walkuski are absolutely amazing. Punisher shows that even during his early years no one was safe from his wrath as he punishes Vietnamese and fellow soldiers alike in typically violent ways in trademark Ennis style. I loved the plot and the overall realization that some dark entity inspired the Punisher, and it makes for an interesting read at the end of the day. I gave it four stars because the comic turned out to be a tad more predictable than Ennis' ongoing Punisher MAX series, and it felt as if I had seen something like it before somewhere (a man in dire peril makes a deal with a devil or whatever to become something inhuman that serves the devil's needs, almost like Ghost Rider). What is different here though is that Frank Castle enjoyed killing and just needed an excuse to go on an endless rampage and become what he always wanted to become. Even when he moralizes with fellow officers his inner voice or demon refutes his claim that he wishes to be 'saved'. Throughout the book Frank is portrayed as a man in love with death, and though he is presented with a choice the reader gets the feeling towards the end that we know which path Frank will take, since he is obviously destined to become Marvel's quintessential vigilante, so the comic basically just shows you how the situation in which Frank makes the choice came about. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has read the MAX series or even Ennis' earlier Preacher comics, it won't disappoint.
Thinly Plotted But Pretty Good Punisher Born shows that Frank Castle was a hard bitten US Marine in the Viet Nam War, dispensing his own brutal justice long before he became The Punisher.
Darrick Robertson's art is nicely done, albeit with a few major blunders. For example, his opening scene of a US C-130 is not well drawn and later on he shows a US airstrike that first depicts a pair of F-8 Crusaders that mysteriously transform one panel later into a pair of F-4 Phantoms. That is way too big of a blunder.
The coloring is excellent, especially in the jungle scenes. It's a solid piece of the Punisher puzzle but I think Garth Ennis could have plotted it more thickly.
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