Garth Ennis and the Punisher go together like mince and 'tatties, with his MAX run in particular often being heralded as the best the character has ever gotten.
And that's why, after almost ten years away from the character, fans have gotten so excited about his return. The occasion? A prequel to 'Born', Ennis' Punisher origin story that dared to pose the question of just where, exactly, Frank Castle was made. The Platoon, published in November this year, dares to go even further, chronicling Castle's first tour of duty in a book that is as historically competent as it is riveting.
Ennis' affinity for the sixties zeitgeist is displayed in full force in The Platoon, as the writer analyses the transformative effects of Vietnam on both America as a whole and on Frank too. We're still waiting on that answer - whether or not Vietnam truly made Frank Castle - but we can't wait to see Ennis and Goran Parlov provide the answer. It might be uncomfortable, but Ennis has already reiterated his masterful understanding of the character in the comic's first three issues, providing the thematic and literal prelude to the run he started all those years ago.
It's just a genius, genius book, and one Punisher fans in particular should mark down as essential reading.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
