Why Aren't You Reading This?

I'm a huge fan of Garth Ennis. I've loved just about everything I've read by this guy and I'm always shocked he doesn't get the same praise people like Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis get. The first thing I ever read by Ennis was Preacher, which is pretty much the best comic series I've ever read in the 20 or so years I've been reading comics. He has a way of going from really serious, to hilarious, to disgusting in the span of a few pages.

There's one book in particular that he's writing right now that I think is one of the best books out there at the moment. MAX Punisher. If you're reading it, you already know how good this book is. If you aren't........well........why not?

Now, I realize there aren't a lot of fans of the character out there. Honestly, I can count on one hand the number of good Punisher stories I've read. Let's face it. There's not a lot of depth to the character. To sum it up, he's a green beret who's family was wiped out by the mob. So what does he do? Why, he does what any rational person would do. He wears a skull, gets some guns and starts wasting mobsters, of course.

But the great thing about this book is that Ennis portrays Frank Castle as a complete lunatic with no emotion. He's essentially a killing machine. And the book is less about him and more about the horrible people he kills. He spends a good portion of the story making the villains so dispicable that by the time Frank catches up to them, you want to see them killed. And Ennis follows this up with some of the most disgusting, graphic and creative ways of killing people I've ever seen.

Be warned. This book is not for those with a weak stomach. It's graphic and bloody. But if that kind of thing doesn't bother you too much, you should be happily slapping your $3 a month down for this book.

One of my favorite stories is The Slavers. This is about a sex slave ring and the villains are the most disgusting people you can imagine. In the first issue, a woman escapes to find help and runs into Frank. She tells him her story and the first issue ends with one of the coolest lines ever. "By the time she finished her story, I knew a lot of men would have to die." This story also has one of the most gruesome endings as well.

I absolutely love this book. It's extremely rare that I buy single issues or something and enjoy it so much that I go out and buy the hardcovers as well. But I see myself reading these stories over and over again and I figure a harcover will survive that much reading. Anyway, check it out. If you don't like it, I owe you a coke.