SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

  The Punisher is the type of character that is hard to connect with on a certain level. Sure, on a primal level we connect plenty with such a character who can solve the problems of the world with expeditive violence… But it’s a bit more difficult to feel empathy for him, except maybe during flashbacks related to when his family was still alive. The guy quite simply comes off almost like a machine, some sort of unstoppable and unfeeling Terminator. Or rather, he gives you the impression that all he can feel is rage, and therefore what we can feel FOR him as a character can become limited at times.

  In a Batman story written by Neil Gaiman, ‘Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?’, it’s suggested that of course someday Batman will die fighting crime. What else would he do, retire? While I think it would be very likely for Batman to die in a theoretical future while fighting crime, we’ve also seen plenty of different futures for Batman where he actually lives to see old age, such as ‘Batman Beyond’ or ‘Kingdom Come’. So in other words, while I thought Gaiman’s story was amazing and did have some VERY good points to make about Batman, Bruce Wayne has many friends and allies, and in the end I COULD see him retiring when his body gives him no other choice, knowing all the people he’s trained over the years can take over. The whole story of ‘Batman Beyond’ is based around just that.

  What does Batman have to do with the Punisher? They both have a lot in common. Both are men who lost loved ones and, obsessed with fighting crime, pushed themselves to the limits of what a single man could ever hope to accomplish. In some stories they do so in a world shared with flashy superheroes, in others they don’t, but in the end that changes little. And what does all this have to do with the issue I’m supposed to be reviewing here? That after reading this issue, I’ve realized just how tragic the story of the Punisher really is. Even in the versions of Batman where he has no side-kicks, he at least has Alfred and Gordon. He is not alone, he has people who care. Bruce Wayne has friends and love interests. Frank Castle is alone. There is no one he can turn to. And in similar fashion to ‘Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?’, Punisher MAX #22 states “This is the only way Frank’s story was gonna end.” And in this case I don’t doubt it, I don’t argue it in the least.

  The last issue of ‘Punisher MAX’ starts off with Frank Castle dead. Unlike with Batman where I could see other possible outcomes, I can honestly see no other possible end for Frank Castle but to die in his ongoing war against the scum of humanity. Jason Aaron, the issue’s writer, has clearly benefited from having a Punisher series that’s out of continuity, as he gets to tell THE story of how Frank Castle dies. (You know, without him then turning into a Frankenstein monster before going back to being human again…) With Frank dead, Nick Fury is the protagonist of this ‘final’ Punisher story. This issue was incredibly sad and depressing, as we follow Fury pondering Castle’s life and handling some loose ends himself. And when Fury defends what Frank did with his life, you can’t help but feel sorry for the Punisher. He seems less the crime-killing automaton of many stories past, and is left revealed as a tragic, sad man who had nothing but an obsession left in him, the only thing that made him keep moving. The famous Punisher War Journal is mentioned in a scene that really drives the point home.

  What did this issue accomplish? It made it so I’ll never read another Punisher story ever again without having Punisher MAX #22 in mind. I’m serious.

  And the ending where we see how normal people react to the news of Frank’s death? Oh, it gave me chills.