Punisher MAX vol. 1: Kingpin

I imagine that, for a lot of people, the appeal of this volume is going to be Steve Dillon’s art.  His peerless skills at depicting emotion and real-world violence on the printed page aside, seeing him tackle the character again makes it feel like Garth Ennis never left.  It’s not Ennis, but Jason Aaron who is tackling Frank Castle’s adventures now.  He may not have the former’s bravado in pushing the boundaries of violence and morality, but there is one thing Aaron has that sets him apart from his predecessor:  a willingness to embrace the character’s roots in the Marvel Universe.  Hence, the title character of this volume.

For years, the Kingpin has been an urban legend.  A boss of bosses who controls the strings of all organized crime.  With New York’s mob families reeling from the Punisher’s relentless assault, they decide to make this myth into a reality in order to buy themselves some time until Don Rigoletto’s “miracle worker” shows up.  Heading up the task of turning the Kingpin into a viable threat is Rigoletto’s most trusted and capable bodyguard, Wilson Fisk.

It might seem like a cheap, attention-getting ploy for a title that has thrived on its freedom from the Marvel Universe, but… Well, this is Marvel we’re talking about so I’m sure it really started out that way.  However, Aaron makes it work by taking the time to build up Fisk into his own person.  If you have no familiarity with him, then everything you need to know about the character is there on the page.  If you do, you’ll still be impressed with the gruesome details of his rise to power.  While what he does to his dad is bad enough, what’s done to him in the prison showers is something I never thought I’d see in a Marvel comic.  Yet even though he’s very much a monster, Fisk is still humanized in the way that he obviously cares for his wife and son.  For most of the story, anyway…

If this volume has a problem, it’s that in all the time Aaron spends more time on making Fisk into a legitimate character than he does on the Punisher himself.  He’s mostly a shadow through the first three issues, still giving us some good scenes of his trademarked brutality and relentlessness.  Things pick up once he crosses paths with the Mennonite and starts getting an old-fashioned beat-down in the process.  While his low-tech approach at least distinguishes him, he doesn’t really hold a candle to previous foes like Barracuda.

Ultimately, this volume is Fisk’s story and it makes a compelling case for his addition to the title.  There’s also a good use of form towards the end as the two pages after the “conclusion” set up the next volume nicely.  He may have taken his time, but Rigoletto’s “miracle worker” finally shows up.  Who is he?  Surprise — he’s another famous villain from the Marvel Universe making his debut here.  I can’t say I’m thrilled by the redundancy, but damn it was a good introduction!  I’ll look forward to seeing if his tale can match the high standards set here once it hits softcover.