Well, that was gruelling. Imagine a zombie apocalypse, except that it's just a virus. The cannibals are alive and capable of speech. They're just... not as they were. It's a bit like Crossed, but without all the berserker craziness like mass nudity and rape. Also, this happened in a world of Marvel superheroes, so we're assuming that ordinary, uninfected humans are pretty much extinct.
The Punisher's not too bothered. It's business as usual for him, except that the criminals are all dead and instead he's hunting superpowered cannibals. The most annoying one for him is Deadpool, whose healing factor means he keeps returning even though the Punisher's killed him 32 times.
Does this sound cool? Well, it's not. The thing about the Punisher is that he's a dick. He'll choose the murder option even when the reader's screaming at him to let this one off, please, just this once. Imagine mankind's survival in his hands. Would he care? Would he even accept the responsibility? What if he were forced to choose between saving the human race and punishing the guilty? There's a theme of salvation and redemption, with religious language and a priest as one of the characters. There are multiple sort-of-crucifixions at the end of issue 2, after which issue 3's cover is in a church. However, the Punisher sees the priest's pleas to his humanity as akin to Satan's temptations in the desert. He also has a collection of superhero heads on poles. (We're not told why. Maybe they're trophies, or maybe he's making absolutely sure they don't come back. You can't be sure with superheroes.)
"You've been given a chance to save what could very well be the last of humanity. There are no other heroes left."
"I told you before, padre. I'm a killer, nothing more."
Even the clothes underline this debate. The priest has a cross on his chest, while Frank has his usual skull. (Mind you, there are also visual quotes of Conan the Barbarian.) The artist's Goran Parlov, who drew the character for years with Garth Ennis and for me is one of the iconic Punisher artists (with Steve Dillon). He draws rugged, slightly crude lines that are full of dynamic comic book energy, yet look hewn from stone. That's the look you'd want for this character.
Don't confuse this with
The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe, which is just an early example of Garth Ennis's disrespect for superheroes. This is more like Ennis's
Punisher: The End (showing the Punisher's choices after a nuclear apocalypse) or even loosely
Marvel Zombies (although that was funny, while this is soul-crushing). Jonathan Maberry has said this was inspired by George Romero's The Crazies and Richard Matheson's I Am Legend. Anyway, it did well enough to spawn two prequel mini-series, which I've also bought:
The Punisher caused the original outbreak, by the way. He killed some Red Mafia goons who were selling secret weapons of mass destruction, not realising that these were bio-weapons in their pockets. "Metal vials vacuum-packed with liquid nitrogen, safe from everything except armour-piercing rounds." Guess who was firing those. Yes, the Punisher killed us all. Even he got splashed with the gunk, but he's never been sick since then. He thinks he's immune. Maybe he's right. Maybe, though, he's the real Patient Zero and no one ever realised because what's the difference if the Punisher turns into a killing machine? He's been suppressing his humanity for years, so maybe he never noticed that he's also been suppressing cannibalistic tendencies? (Those heads on poles might support this theory.)
Lots of other superheroes appear, but not in a good way. Deadpool got one laugh from me, despite the circumstances. Spider-Man retained more humanity than the others (which is typical of him), but he's still a cannibalistic muscle monster. (His spidey-sense can't be working properly either.) The two most horrible super-fates we see are probably Iron Man and the Fantastic Four's Sue Storm.
The cover's lying, though. It's still a fantastic cover, but one of its savage drooling cannibals probably wasn't infected if you read the actual story. Well, maybe that's how the Punisher perceives them all, because he doesn't care.
It's a powerful book, with an ending that's very Punisher. Technically, in principle, he's done the right thing. That should have been a happy ending... but bloody hell, Frank. You'll put this book down with a hole in your stomach.
