4 out of 5

The End indeed.

Marvel’s set of title appearing under this subtitle – claiming to be the ‘final’ story for whichever character – were generally intriguing (it’s a great idea), but also often cheated: endings were not always as definitive as implied.  The reverence felt for characters seemed to prevent writers (or maybe editors) from wanting to commit to a conclusion, even if it was to be non-canon.

Garth Ennis’ Marvel MAX Punisher, though, was always headed towards an end: a trudging march off a cliff, firing his shotgun at any enemy he could hit on the way down.  Every breath Frank Castle takes is of-the-moment; he continues in his attacks on any and all evils as long as action is still possible, with the damning acceptance that he, too, is steeped in a form of evil; he punishes himself by living the life he does unto ruination.  He won’t stop until something out of his control stops him.

Such as the apocalypse.

In The End, nuclear war has struck.  The population is all but gone, but amongst those that have survived… still, there are those that should be, by Frank’s logic, punished.  Getting to them requires a walk across an irradiated New York, after which there’s no ‘cure’ waiting; no deus ex machina save.  But if you think that would stop Frank from making the trek, you haven’t been paying attention.

Moments of The End are of the greatest Punisher bits Ennis has written, also standing out from his oeuvre as definite, affecting statements and thoughts on Garth’s take on humanity and morality.  Much of his Pun run has this stuff, and it’s boiled down to something completely sobering here.  Richard Corben, similarly, delivers some amazing character moments; downbeats during which Frank – his body slowly betraying him due to the radiation – takes a required break to eat or sleep before continuing his journey.  Lee Loughridge’s colors perfectly offset and balance Corb’s heavy hand.  But… Garth can’t quite maintain the tone throughout: he ends up taking some easy snipes toward the end which turns Pun’s targets into uber-evil cartoons, and during the same moments, Corben’s pencils look oddly sloppy, with characters looking drastically malformed and loose in select panels.

Thanks to the extra pages, we get plenty of strong buildup prior to this, and the final moments return us to a less outlandish tone, which helps to sell the bleakness more effectively.  The book is an excellent coda to Garth’s run, despite its minor hiccups.