DMZ #4

Seeing as Mr. Carmona is totally busy at the moment, or he may have forgotten in his old age, I have decided to post a pick of the week for myself and for all of you in the wired...Maybe he'll be back next week to post his own pick...

Written by Brian Wood
Art by Wood and Ricardo Burchielli
Cover by Wood
Published by DC Comics/ Vertigo
Suggested for Mature Readers

"Left to his own devices in war-torn Manhattan, Matty stumbles into Central Park, where he comes face to face with a crew of armed and dangerous environmentalists. Are these the mysterious "Ghosts" who protect the once beautiful park, or is Matty at the mercy of a gang of psychotic tree-huggers? " -from DC Comics/ Vertigo Homepage

It's been 5 years since the United States declared war against the Free State Armies. Manhattan is the DMZ(Demilitarized Zone) and New York is once again ground zero, but in a different way, a second Civil War has erupted and the 400,000 civilians that still live in the Big Apple, now the big smoking crater are trying to survive. 9/11 is everyday now, and the war on terror has been taken from the sands of the desert of far away lands and is now targeted on the insurgents and murderers of New York, as the United States has branded them.
Enter Matthew Roth, an intern working for a Nobel Prize winning documentarian who's going to film the war at home, he's dropped into New York on his first assignment and gets stranded in the DMZ after his documentary team gets blown out of the sky, along with Nobel Prize winner, he's the only survivor and he can't get home. That's when the fun begins.
I am really enjoying this book because it shows how no matter where war is located, it's all about the spin it's given, win the hearts and minds of the people and you win the war. Brian Wood is doing an excellent job of showing the way we perceive war in modern times, or rather, the way we don't perceive it...Everyone has a story , but those stories are usually overshadowed by the glorification of war on TV. If it bleeds it leads...But there are human elements to every story...And those stories need to be told...
pick up DMZ #4 it's worth the read and it's a Vertigo book, so you know it's good. This is the war abroad at home and I plan to fully review this series after a few more issues, this is a great jumping on point and the covers are amazing, if the above cover isn't enough to whet your appetite!

303

Story: Garth Ennis
Art: Jacen Burrows
Color: Greg Waller
Cover: Jacen Burrows
Publisher: Avatar Press
6 issue mini-series
Mature Readers

So this Ex Spetnaz Russian Colonel decides to take an antique 303 British Army rifle and walk from Afghanistan to America and kill a very important governmental figure. Can any one guess who will be assassinated?
That’s the premise of Garth Ennis’ comic 303 from Avatar Press, and it’s one that fits in nicely with existing reality. Ennis fills in the blanks as to how to go about killing someone worth killing, especially a world leader. First off show how much of a bad ass this character is and then give him a mission that is not only insane but pretty much impossible. That’s where the 303 rifle comes into play. Ennis’ imagination shows how one man with one gun can change the status quo for the entire world.
The Russian Colonel has no name, and for the task he has embarked on, he doesn’t need one. All he knows is that he needs to fulfill this mission no matter who or what gets in his way. His chosen weapon is an antiquated rifle that’s been around for nearly 100 years. They don’t make them like that anymore and Ennis throws in some historical reference on the rifle that I found fascinating. The historical facts show how this rifle and others like it helped soldiers shape the outcome of war in different parts of the world. This one rifle made a huge impact on warfare and how they just don’t make them this reliable anymore.
The Colonel is also cut from the same cloth, old school and hard line tactics. He does not waver and is not impressed by new recruits, he is there to do a job, killing folks, and he does his job well and without mistakes.From the battle ravaged deserts of Afghanistan, the Colonel begins his march, his mission.
The body count piles up as the Colonel walks the path of what he feels will be his redemption to every single person he has murdered, for everything he’s ever done wrong or perhaps, for what the world has made him do. We realize early on that the Russian has been born for war and for the craft of death. All his enemies follow him as apparitions everywhere he goes, like silent ghosts that do not really haunt him, but are there as a reminder of what he does and what he needs to do. That is until he reaches America, that’s right he gets to America with the rifle, but in the middle of the southwest, on another desert much like Afghanistan, he meets someone much like him, a cop who has problems realizing his place in the world other than being the strong arm of the law. The law is all this sheriff has and he intends to uphold it even when this stranger with a strange rifle comes through town. When the two meet, we’re left asking if the Russian will complete his mission or if the law will prevail.
Jacen Burrows provides the art and the book looks awesome for it. I discovered Burrows when he drew Warren Ellis’ SCARS for Avatar Press and I have followed his work ever since. Don’t get me wrong, this comic is about war and the art brings those images vividly to life. Burrows captures the atrocities of war as well as the human emotions that run rampant in that setting. The Colonel’s story unfolds in spectacular widescreen shots provided by Burrows’ art. The gore is highly detailed, not just a red splotch on the page, but entrails and tissue is delivered to the eye in dramatic fashion.The books were a bit late in coming out but I was finally able to acquire the full story recently. Ennis delivered what I had hoped for, a raw story, full of action and brilliant imagery.
This is Ennis at his best, no holds barred, take no prisoners and tell it like it is. It made want to know more about this mysterious Russian who had killed so many people that the ghosts followed him around everywhere he went.
So go out and find copies of 303 before the NSA and Homeland Security get wind that someone has dared speak out in comic book form on what I think should be done in order to save the world from itself. It’s rare nowadays to find a comic where the story makes you think of how things would be if someone decided to change the world. This series delivered an answer to that question. Ennis delivers war in comic book form as well as redemption from those atrocities in a twisted way. Maybe in a few weeks, as long as the government isn’t listening, I’ll start shopping around for an antique model 303, and one lone bullet, because, usually it’s up to a lone gunman and God as his witness to right the wrongs of madmen and tyrants…

Originally posted on www.hiredgunthecomic.com January 2006

The Punisher

Written by: Garth Ennis
Pencils by: Leo Fernandez (currently but has revolving artists)
Inks by: Scott Koblish
Covers by: Tim Bradstreet
Published by: Marvel Comics /Marvel MAX
Suggested for Mature Readers

I’m sorry but if Batman fought Frank Castle, Batman would get his pointy cowled ass handed to him. Frank Castle, aka: The Punisher, is the embodiment of the anti-hero. He was gritty before Batman was grim.
Everyone seems to underestimate Frank and that is where his strength lies. In Garth Ennis’ current Punisher run, all doubts that Castle is the numero uno vigilante are laid to rest, Ennis is by far one of the best Punisher writers thus far (and of course Chuck Dixon, but that’s for another time.)
The Punisher is a Marvel Max series , for those of you not in the know, Marvel Max is an imprint from Marvel that lets writers and artists deal with characters and stories in mature themes and so it is finally being written the way it should be. Ennis takes Castle to the depths of vengeance, where many heroes won’t go, and in fact I don’t consider Castle a hero, but more of a force of nature. Castle has become the proverbial bogeyman, his legend among the criminal element is even more mythical than Batman’s, because Batman will not cross the line that the Punisher does, and that in fact makes him much more dangerous to those that stand in the way of his “war.”
The new series started off with a bang, pardon the pun, using all the elements that make the Marvel Max series a hit, extreme violence, profanity, and of course sexuality. The first 6 issue story arc centered on the one man who got close to the Punisher and knows his inner workings and how to stop him, Microchip, the Punisher’s ex-weapons and tech expert from back in the Punisher Vol. 2 series. The Feds want to bring Castle in because he is a threat to national security so they “acquire” Micro to give them the low down on how to get Castle. Microchip is doing it because he feels that Frank has gone too far and the war he wages is a pointless one. Micro still feels some sympathy for Frank and decides to help the Feds. In the opening moments of the series’ first issue, Castle crashes a Mafia get together and kills about ¾ of the entire New York Mafia, which sets the remaining Mafiosos on a vendetta to destroy the Punisher once and for all, that is if they can find a Mafia Boss who isn’t dead to initiate the mission. Added to the mix is an obsessed FBI nymphomaniac agent who wants nothing more than to jump Frank’s bones and keeps obsessing over how large the Punisher’s main weapon is, if you get my point, and the series is off and running, with blood practically spilled on every page as the Punishers war continues with even a higher death toll!
The Max title is really letting Ennis open the doors on just how far Castle will go to destroy those that no one else will go after. It shows exactly how the Punisher serves his purpose in the Marvel U, how he cleanses real evil, though he may not be dealing with it on a global or universal level such as the Avengers, he is dealing with society’s dirty laundry when no one else will do it, and he likes it that way.
I don’t want to sound long winded but the series is awesome, I’ve always liked the Punisher, and the way that Ennis writes him is totally in synch with the character, his motivations, his goals, his artillery, and of course the hundreds of ways to kill someone with your bare hands. Sure everyone says Batman could take out Galactus given the time to plan and figure it out, but if it came down to it in a hand to hand with Frank, my money is on the Punisher. No gadgets, no vibrating hand technique, just “chingazos” because the Punisher has the one thing that Batman does not have, Frank has nothing to lose because everything he had has been gone for a very long time, or maybe it was never even there.
If you like the Punisher and want to understand him better, read the Born series which Ennis also wrote, it gives insight on why Castle was destined to become the monster killer he became, because we must always remember, when one fights with monsters, one must take care not to become one. The Punisher became that which he hated, but he has embraced it and become more than those Mob assassins could have imagined when they killed his family. In the end the only thing that will survive won’t be the Hulk and cockroaches, it’ll be Frank Castle. If you think I’m wrong, find The Punisher: The End one shot also written by Ennis and read the last Punisher story. It shows exactly how the Punisher will finally be taken out of the picture, and what it takes for that to happen.
Pick up the Punisher on-going monthly from Marvel and catch up with the original grim and gritty vigilante that started it all…

Originally Published on www.hiredgunthecomic.com December 2005