10 Punisher Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die

5. Up Is Down, Black Is White

Punisher Max Thumbnail
Marvel Comics

Punisher MAX again, but this time it's personal.

Sure, Frank has long-since avenged his family (plot twists and comic book-y revelations aside), but gangster Nicky Cavella finds a way to make it personal again - by exhuming the grave of Frank's wife and kids, then pissing on their corpses, all on camera.

Needless to say, this sets Frank off on quite the rampage, tearing through Nicky's forces in a fury we've rarely seen before or since (The Slavers aside).

What sets this apart from so many other Punisher-on-the-rampage stories is Fernandez's gorgeous art, and how deeply Ennis taps into Frank's psyche here - culminating with the realisation that Castle isn't really doing this for Maria and the kids anymore. Nicky still earns himself a pretty horrible death though.

Contributor
Contributor

A film critic and professional writer of over ten years, Joel Harley has a deep and abiding love of all things horror, Batman and Nicolas Cage. He can be found writing online and in print, all over the Internet and in especially good bookstores.