Garth Ennis
Garth Ennis seems to be quite a divisive writer among comic fans, I have enjoyed pretty much everything that I've read by him, on my return to comics. However, a knowledgeable comics fan friend of mine, once described some of his strips as puerile and childish. To be honest I have to agree that there can be an element of that to his work but equally I think that is sometimes what attracts me.
The full on, in your face, behaviour of the cast of say The Boys, is so politically incorrect you just have to laugh at the brazenness of the characters and the writer. It appeals to that 70s child in me that grew up in a time when you weren't looked on as a maniac for not wearing a helmet when you rode your Grifter. We were brought up on bawdy Carry On films and shows like the Sweeney and The Professionals, where men were men and birds were crumpet.
But where Ennis really hits his stride is with war stories, like his Battlefields collection, the attention to detail and research for this work is always evident. He has an obvious passion for these stories but they don't always garner the audience recognition of titles like The Boys or Preacher. Perhaps he works like Gary Oldman, who famously takes on the big Hollywood commercial roles so that he can afford to work on his own smaller passion projects.
For me the best of both worlds has been reading Ennis' run on The Punisher Max for Marvel. My introduction to this was buying Volume one of the Complete Punisher Max Collection which brings together Born #1-4, Punisher (2004) #1-12. Born sees Ennis team up with his art collaborator from The Boys, Darick Robertson - always a favorite of mine.
Born gives a great insight into Frank Castles time spent fighting in the Vietnam war and how that shaped him into becoming the Punisher (as ever I’ll try to avoid spoilers). The story ‘In the Beginning’ sees the narrative taken into New York, after Franks return from Vietnam and introduces the event which befalls his family, that you may be familiar with if you’ve watched the Netflix/Marvel series starring John Beranthal. The art duties here falling to Lewis LaRosa who gives us a hulking grizzled image of Frank.
Much of Ennis’ work is a love letter to New York, a place that he admits he fell in love with from the moment he set foot there. However, there isn't much love to be found in the final story in this collection 'Kitchen Irish' when Frank becomes caught up in a turf war between gangs in Hells Kitchen. This strip featuring the pencilling of Leandro Fernandez who, like the previous artists, gives us some great images of a hench, battle scarred Punisher.
Much to my chagrin, my first exposure to The Punisher was via the TV series and that whet my appetite to read some Punisher comics. When I found out that Ennis had done a run, then my mind was made up. I get the feeling that this run was a big influence on the TV series and Beranthals portrayal. Both are very brutal and very bloody, not for the squeamish reader or viewer. Needless to say, I've loved it and I'm hoping to get the fourth and final book in the collected series soon.
So, if you only know Garth Ennis from his time writing for 2000AD or from the TV adaptations of his work I would definitely recommend jumping on with this Punisher Max run. Then, the Ennisverse is your oyster and there is a lot out there to choose from, I'll no doubt look at more in the future.
As a postscript, Garth returns to British comics on Wednesday 25th March when the Action 2020 special is released by Rebellion and the Treasury of British Comics. More details here:
No comments:
Post a Comment