4 out of 5

If The Cell was a torturous, grim, possible end result of Frank Castle’s vengeance, The Tyger posits something oddly poetic – nature’s killer – set against the background of what might be The Punisher’s first set of targets.  Mirroring that, Lewis LaRosa’s pitch black art style is compared to John Severin’s classic hatched work on Tyger; f-bomb laden dialogue stacked against use of Blake’s titular poem.

Sound maybe a little questionable?  Heavy-handed?  Romanticizing a murderer?  Yes, that’s there.  One of the biggest hang-ups of Ennis’ other MAX one-shot is with his trying to latch it to that classic bit of literature, a poem that’s not only over-used by a lot of comic guys in general, but also – I think – referenced by Ennis elsewhere before.  It’s an understandable tactic, flashing back to Castle during boyhood, first reading the poem and imagining an unstoppable force that’s required by humanity, and then not-so-subtly comparing that to what Castle would become, but it’s also completely unnecessary given the rest of the story, which is perfectly effective and moving on its own: witnessing, as a kid, an instance of revenge against a remorseless abuser, mixed in with hearing / seeing his parents’ attempted responses to the same, and seeing how the aggressor’s actions have affected those around him…  It’s not an ‘origin,’ as Ennis has covered that in his war history for Castle, it’s more just evidence of how the world has always been fractured, and how that imprints upon us individually, and as a collective.  This is smartly paired with Severin’s timeless art style (though Paul Mounts’ colors are maybe a bit too digital), and Ennis employs a simple, patient cadence to his narration that doesn’t over-emphasize, letting the reader warm to the themes on their own terms.

…Excepting the poem.  Which is blended well into the text, overall, I just found the juxtaposition of Punisher to ‘tyger’ to be a weird stretch, and not really in keeping with how Garth normally writes his character.  Rather, if this hadn’t appeared under the MAX banner, but as a standalone take on The Punisher, it could work, but as an addendum to the excellent character embellishments Garth had already accomplished in the series, it’s a solid, occasionally moving and fantastic one-shot, but certainly imperfect.