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Tweak says, "Obey me, minion!"

Doop (xdoop) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-11-01 20:26:00

Entry tags:

char: microchip/linus lieberman, char: punisher/frank castle, creator: garth ennis, creator: lewis larosa, nsfw: gore, series: punisher week, title: punisher, title: punisher max

The death of Microchip

This is from The Punisher MAX #1-6. It's written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Lewis Larosa.

In #1, we see Castle massacre a bunch of mafiosos at the 100th birthday party of Don Massimino Cesare.

In #2, Microchip and his group watch on the news about the Punisher attacking more mafiosos at Don Massimino Cesare's funeral.

In #3...

#4...

Meanwhile, the mafia, led by Nicky Cavella, learns about the Punisher's capture and decides to take him out.

In #5...

During the chaos Microchip manages to free Castle.

Later...

The Punisher calls Nicky Cavella and gives him their location. Afterwards, he discovers that Microchip's phone had been bugged, meaning the CIA will be coming to the warehouse as well.

In #6...

In the end, Nicky Cavella manages to escape while everyone else gets taken out (Castle would later brutally murder him after he dug up Castle's family and videotaped himself pissing on them).

(Post a new comment)

	neuhallidae 2009-11-02 02:07 am UTC (link)
	Unless there's a bullet in that crate behind him or buried in his neck, how the hell would they even tell it was a gunshot wound? There's nothing left of his fuckin' head. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shanejayell 2009-11-02 02:17 am UTC (link)
	Gunpowder residue might confirm it was a gun, I suppose.... (Reply to this) (Parent)

	stolisomancer 2009-11-02 04:30 am UTC (link)
	Of course the bullet's behind him somewhere. It probably blew two big holes in the crate Micro's leaning against, and there's probably gunpowder residue all over Micro's clothes. Besides, what else would do that? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	jlroberson 2009-11-02 05:31 am UTC (link)
	Well, somehow I doubt they were saying this: "Fuck! Where'd his head go? There's nothing but blood and broken chips of bone!" "I don't know, Sergeant, but you and me are going to FIND THAT HEAD." Starring Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler, rated PG-13! (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	neuhallidae 2009-11-02 05:32 am UTC (link)
	Booo, and here I was expecting a Horatio Caine crack. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	yaseen101 2009-11-08 01:18 am UTC (link)
	"It looks like this case..(puts on sunglasses)..just got a head start." YYYEAAAAAHHHH (Reply to this) (Parent)

	halloweenjack 2009-11-02 06:26 pm UTC (link)
	I'm pretty sure that most experienced cops in the NYC metropolitan area are familiar with shotgun-to-the-head wounds. Plus, all those pellets. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	shanejayell 2009-11-02 02:13 am UTC (link)
	I always figured this storyline was Garth Ennis sending a message to the long time Punisher fans: "You remember the Punisher series where he always had the right weapon, rose around in his battle-van with his buddy Micro and fit into the marvel universe?" shoots Micro "This ain't that series." (Reply to this) (Thread)

volksjager
2009-11-02 02:23 am UTC (link)

Micro was VERY divisive among fan,some wanted the lone gun man who didn't need anyone,others wanted a more "realistic" approach where they was a support structure that let a mere mortal pull of the impossible time and again.

It also goes to polarity of a Punisher that could interact with the other heroes of the Marvel universe vs. the ultra hard-boiled killer that defined the "grime-gritty"age.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	xdoop 2009-11-02 02:24 am UTC (link)
	Micro had already turned against the Punisher and got killed off in Dixon's run. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	volksjager 2009-11-02 02:26 am UTC (link)
	What happened with his resurrection by the Hood ?? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	xdoop 2009-11-02 02:29 am UTC (link)
	That happened later. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	volksjager 2009-11-02 02:36 am UTC (link)
	well yeah. I'm ust wondering what happened cause I didn't pick up that book :) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shanejayell 2009-11-02 05:53 am UTC (link)
	Some of it is here: http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1162285.html#cutid1 (Reply to this) (Parent)

	volksjager 2009-11-02 02:14 am UTC (link)
	If you added up every book, how many Punisher issues have there been ??? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	shanejayell 2009-11-02 02:21 am UTC (link)
	Skimming the wikipedia listing, I'd estimate 400 issues or so. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	volksjager 2009-11-02 02:24 am UTC (link)
	That's close to my guess. I would have said not more than 500. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	shanejayell 2009-11-02 05:55 am UTC (link)
	If you count in guest appearances and mini-series, it'd be MORE than 500, probably. Or even 600 plus. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	proteus_lives 2009-11-02 09:24 pm UTC (link)
	600+ He did a shit-ton of appearances in the 90s. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	manofbats 2009-11-02 02:20 am UTC (link)
	Lots of boring preaching going on here. This is why I don't like the Punisher. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	punishermax 2009-11-02 02:52 am UTC (link)
	How is any of that boring preaching. I thought it was called character development and good dialogue. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	manofbats 2009-11-02 03:08 am UTC (link)
	It bored me to the point where I wanted to shoot both of them with a shotgun so that someone would finally do something interesting. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Don't be so quick to judge. nefrekeptah 2009-11-02 07:39 am UTC (link)
	The talky bits here are all the talky bits; the rest of these issues are of Frank gunning people down with a mini-gun and people getting their nuts hacked off and good stuff like that. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Don't be so quick to judge. xdoop 2009-11-02 12:54 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I just posted the stuff with Microchip; there's a lot of violence and gore elsewhere in the story. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	Re: Don't be so quick to judge. geoffsebesta 2009-11-02 06:59 pm UTC (link)
	What a relief! :) (Reply to this) (Parent)

	stolisomancer 2009-11-02 04:31 am UTC (link)
	manofbats often has a different opinion than most. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	yaseen101 2009-11-02 05:42 am UTC (link)
	I have to manofbats, this was kind of boring to be honest. So far the only Punisher story I've ever liked was the 'Tyger' story posted a while back. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	punishermax 2009-11-02 12:29 pm UTC (link)
	But like someone said before, that is ALL the talking parts in like a 5 issue arc. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wizardru 2009-11-02 10:27 pm UTC (link)
	This is actually some pretty decent character stuff, here. I liked it much better than most Ennis stuff. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	freezer818 2009-11-02 03:04 am UTC (link)
	He's the "White Hat" version of The Joker at this point. (Reply to this) (Parent)

jlroberson
2009-11-03 08:59 am UTC (link)

It's anti-preaching. What you're seeing here in this scene is a few things and all of them are about what Frank is and what friendship means to him. Frank is beyond friendship. The closest he could come was to allow the little imprisoned bit of his soul that still understands being human to tell Micro to run, before the Bad Thing happens. To run before Frank acts pretty much as he's programmed himself to do. Knowing that Micro's betrayed him is secondary, whether that's because he understands Micro's motives or not. He knows Micro has profited from heroin. That's it now.

Micro is trying to preach while being hopelessly compromised, trying to assume that must not matter to Frank as much as their friendship, because isn't that what humans are like? Remember, the crux of this story is that Micro believes Frank can be saved. Now, it's important he talks like this to Frank. Because it's true, but doesn't matter to Frank; he's considered that already. (There's little you can say to Frank he hasn't probably said to himself, one chilling thing about him; he has, in his mind, nothing to learn from, and therefore does not need, other humans) Because it shows Micro to be human in contrast to Frank, and that's including the somewhat cowardly moments. That's human, that's normal. (If Ennis meant it to be pathetic, he'd let you know, believe me) He's attached to life. And he believes in communication like people normally do. And he feels badly for Frank. He feels, Frank won't allow himself.

Frank doesn't preach, really. Part of his point is that he's mostly done with words. So I think this scene works very well. In fact, I think it's one of Ennis' more memorable with the character.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	(Anonymous) 2009-11-02 02:38 am UTC (link)
	"We both of us know what heroin does?" Wha? Anyone know if this could be deliberate -- as in, pointing out Frank's a gunman not an English Lit major -- or if some editor has been slipping again. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	arbre_rieur 2009-11-02 03:23 am UTC (link)
	It's a colloqualism you hear from time to time, in the U.S. Not common but not exactly rare, either. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	glimmung 2009-11-02 04:15 am UTC (link)
	They are in the North East. Pretty Common. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wizardru 2009-11-02 10:26 pm UTC (link)
	Occassionally some weird english turn of phrase pops up in comics like this (a dog's breakfast being an example). This isn't one of them. I've heard this colloquialism plenty of times. It's very New Yahk. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	wetstereorebel 2009-11-02 03:12 am UTC (link)
	Thanks for posting this, I've always wanted to see it. I read quite a bit of Punisher back in the Portacio days, and I never thought I'd see Micro taken out like that. (Reply to this)

	ashtoreth 2009-11-02 04:08 am UTC (link)
	I second the thanks! Nice to see the backstory on the character. (Reply to this)

jlroberson
2009-11-02 07:09 am UTC (link)

One thing that's interesting about scenes like this, where someone tries to reason with the Punisher, is how they reveal how much of his self-image has to do with being damned. He doesn't want anything, he doesn't believe anything, he's dead already as far as his feelings. It's just that he's still breathing and his body is still working. So while he remains, in his view his duty is taking as many criminals out of the world as he can. And even remaining alive is part of that duty. He doesn't have a death wish--that would imply some kind of desire. So he doesn't do it in order to get himself killed. He doesn't care if he is, but he has to do the best he can to keep himself alive anyway so that more criminals can be killed.

But it doesn't mean there's anything he wants, and there's not a way of looking at this that he's not already considered and is beyond, which is a way of thinking those who try to reason with him don't comprehend, and can't, being still psychologically "alive." Frank knows already, whatever it is you say to him--that his family's already avenged, that this is crazy, all that, he already knows, but it's not relevant to him.

In some ways it's the way Ditko's Mr. A can be made to work. Frank is as absolutely implacable in his integrity. Except with Frank, again, "integrity" seems too human, too pre-Vietnam, a word.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

	cmdr_zoom 2009-11-03 04:07 am UTC (link)
	So what you're saying is that he has become, essentially, an automaton. A literal "killing machine." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

jlroberson
2009-11-03 08:45 am UTC (link)

I'm saying that, but in the sense that he's willed it and continues to.

Which is why I found it surprising in the MAX series, which I liked(but, again, in almost all cases I like Ennis+Punisher and pretty much don't care otherwise about the character), that he had sex willingly. I'm not even really considering the dishonoring-wifey's-memory thing. Frank is an adult. I'm thinking more that he simply wouldn't be able to, that he would not be able to allow his body to. Because to some degree it seems that all that keeps him together at all is how--- "tightly-wound" doesn't even begin to describe it.--he is. Sheer will, focused on the goal, and never, ever anything fun. Look at the way he's drawn in the MAX series. It makes sense. (and Bruce/Batman should look like that) Because they do say he's been doing this for thirty years. It's hard to believe his body still works at all.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

	taggerung301 2009-11-02 01:53 pm UTC (link)
	What micro said about forgetting the Mafia and switching to Bin Laden pissed me off "Forget about the small fry. Forget about the mafia. No one cares about a bunch of fat Italians and their two dozen murders a year." (Reply to this) (Thread)

	espanolbot 2009-11-02 07:43 pm UTC (link)
	Amusingly Bin Laden has already been killed offscreen in a comic semi-recently, with Midnighter teleporting into a barn that he was hiding in at the end of the Midnighter/Grifter mini a while back. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	jlroberson 2009-11-03 08:48 am UTC (link)
	Even more amusingly, in just a few issues after this, Frank would do a black ops mission for Nick Fury in Russia. (Reply to this) (Parent)

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