Punisher: The Platoon

No one writes “Punisher” better than Garth Ennis.  His initial run with Steve Dillon brought the character back to basics and showed that he could work in dark comedy situations just as well as straight up action scenarios.  Then the MAX run followed and the shift to a mature readers format allowed Ennis to take the character in even darker directions and resulted in some of the best comics that I’ve read from Marvel.  Since the conclusion of that run, Ennis has only returned to the character occasionally: A “War Zone” miniseries with Dillon that returned to their comedic interpretation of the character, a guest-starring role in the third arc of the “Fury:  My War Gone By” maxiseries, and now “The Platoon.” While one might think that diminishing returns would be setting in at this point with a character who has been written for so long by one writer, “The Platoon” shows that these days when Ennis dials back his comedic sensibilities and focuses on a telling a grounded story with human stakes he’s still capable of delivering greatness.

“The Platoon” begins in a bar in the present day where writer Michael Goodwin has tracked down four members of fourth platoon, kilo company — Frank Castle’s first command when he arrived in Vietnam.  Though the newly commissioned 2nd lieutenant has zero combat experience, he shows that he’s smart enough to listen to the men under his command, have them show him the ropes, and to not have them take any unnecessary risks.  He leads them through the Tet Offensive without any deaths under his command and it seems like the man can do now wrong. Yet his presence has not gone unnoticed by the Vietnamese forces, including one woman soldier who’s out to kill as many Americans as she can.  Then there’s also Castle’s own admission that that, though he can’t explain it, the war answers something in him…

We all know where that goes, as do Goodwin and the men he’s talking to.  What “The Platoon” shows is how Castle’s arrival in Vietnam began to inform the mindset and methods he would have and deploy once he became the Punisher.  Those familiar with Ennis’ take on the character will recognize a lot in him here. Even though we’re introduced to him before he’s seen any combat, Castle is still presented as the kind of ultra-competent machine that can size up any situation and determine the best plan of attack for it.  It’s a trait that I’ve always admired in how Ennis writes the character and I’m glad to see it return here.

Of course, even though Ennis’ “Punisher” is the ultra-competent type he constantly found himself in situations where no amount of planning could prevent things from going wrong.  The jungles of Vietnam are no exception here. Even though Castle does his best to make sure the men under his command have every advantage, they’re still up against a more creative and driven force in the vietcong.  It’s a dynamic that allows Ennis to wring a lot of drama from every military encounter while also staying true to his interpretation of the character. Particularly in the final two issues where things go very, very wrong for the platoon and the kills start adding up.

Ennis also keeps the story’s momentum going even though the narrative regularly flashes forward to Goodwin interviewing the old men in the present day.  Normally this kind of approach tends to give the narrative a stop/start feel that would make it difficult for someone to maintain their interest. The reason it works here is because the writer wisely keeps the flash forwards to a minimum, usually only a panel or two at a time, and usually keeps them relevant to the matter at hand by having the former soldiers comment directly on what they were feeling at the time.

There is one instance were Ennis does break for an extended time to focus on the present day group.  He’s able to get away with it because it’s played as a clever trick on the soldiers and the reader. Late in the first issue the perspective shifts to that of the female vietcong soldier and her superior as they discuss the fallout from the first Castle-led platoon survey.  The scene ends with a flash-forward to the present day as the soldiers all express shock at what they’ve just heard and one of them asking, “How do you know this?”

Sometimes it’s easy to take such perspective changes for granted in stories involving someone recounting  events from the past even if they don’t make sense. If they fit and inform the story well enough we can ignore that nagging voice in the back of our heads that asks the same question Goodwin is.  The fact that Ennis is aware of this issue and plays into our expectations came as a real surprise to me and served to whet my appetite for the explanation he gives. As for the reason Goodwin knows this, let’s just say that these former soldiers weren’t the only source he talked to when he was researching Castle’s first tour of duty.

It’s also worth mentioning that Goodwin does come off as something of a self-insert character for Ennis in this story.  Now, he has come up before in “Punisher” stories by the writer: He’s the one who wrote “Valley Forge, Valley Forge” which told the story of how Castle survived the massacre at that base from the volume of the same name, and was brother to doomed Stevie Goodwin from “Born” where that story was detailed firsthand.  Here, we never see his face and the questions he asks are ones that are easy to think that a writer like Ennis, who has spent a lot of time in Castle’s head, would have.

The reason this never comes off as distracting is because Goodwin winds up having a lot of his assumptions challenged over the course of the series.  It becomes clear from the questions he asks that he has formed his own theories about Castle and even some fannishness about his subject — such as when he asks the soldiers about the man’s first kill.  The soldiers, however, are more than willing to set the writer straight when necessary and even tell him that sometimes the answers he wants aren’t his to know.

Answers like what went down between Castle and Ly, the vietcong soldier who was determined to take him out, at the end.  The vietcong perspective in this minseries is welcome, but limited by necessity. This is ultimately the story of Castle and the men in his platoon and the focus should be on them.  Yet the perspectives of Ly and her superior do provide welcome additional perspective on the conflict at hand. It reminds you that they weren’t faceless terrors in the jungle but combatants fighting for what they believed in against a superior force.  Sometimes that perspective may come across as a bit expository, but it’s appreciated nonetheless.

Back for one more go-round with the character as well is Goran Parlov, who illustrated a number of “Punisher” stories from Ennis’ MAX run as well as the “Fury:  My War Gone By” maxiseries. It’s great to have Parlov back to illustrate this miniseries as well since he’s great at depicting action and drama. He can sell the desperation and chaos in a battle that devolves into soldiers fighting man-to-man with bayonets as well as the fear and frustration that the men have when they’re pinned down by enemy fire in the jungle.  Parlov is also a natural at selling the commanding presence that Castle has. In one standout scene, after negotiating a deal with a slimy quartermaster for some M14s, Castle notes that he’s heard there’s heroin going around. We’re then greeted with a panel of Castle looking out at the reader (toward the quartermaster) with an icy, determined gaze and stating, “It doesn’t come anywhere near eight sixty-one.”  You believe his seriousness and the quartermaster’s diminished presence in the next panel helps sell it as well.

Ennis has admittedly been long fascinated by the Vietnam conflict and he’s told a number of stories about it that haven’t featured a corporate-owned character from a major comics publisher.  “The Platoon,” along with its forerunner and now bookend “Born,” illustrates that you can show proper respect for a deeply divisive war even with that circumstance. Ennis shows us all the different sides of the conflict and the motivations behind them as well while also illuminating a new and unexpected part of Frank Castle’s backstory.  The top-notch illustrations from Goran Parlov also eschew sensationalism and focus on telling the story in the most direct way possible. What we get from that is one of the best things I’ve read this year and something that fans of the creators, fans of the character, fans of war comics — fans of great comics in general should seek out and read.