Posted on: May 6th, 2009 Pull-List: Eminem The Punisher 1 Review
Ok, so this is a bit different from the normal comics I review, but after getting this today I couldn’t help it. Eminem’s new album comes out in two weeks and as a marketing scheme they put him in a comic book with who better then The Punisher. When I saw it I couldn’t believe it, and yeah, I couldn’t help myself but to get it. I grew up listening to the music, seen him in concerts multiple times, even sadly own some of his clothing so I couldn’t resist. I’m even still looking forward to his new album, no matter how bad it might be, but that’s here nor there, let’s get to the comic book.
So last month’s XXL (a hip-hop magazine) had an article where Marshal Mathers is dressed as the Punisher. To say the least it was interesting would be an understatement. To be a fan of hip-hop and comic books you have to wonder why no one has done this before. Granted MF Doom does little things and Ghostface does the Iron Man thing, they’re not as main stream as Eminem. So with this they went a step further and did a comic book with them together and surprisingly it’s not that bad.
The book starts with Eminem doing a concert and after the show is leaving in his limousine. As he’s about to get into the car, complaining that he is hungry, The Punisher comes out and starts blasting. We get a lot of !@#$s and MOTHER!@#$in this throughout, which is appropriate for the material and blood flies everywhere, which in this case is great. Punisher takes out Eminem’s crew, who are not recognizable from D12 or anything, and Eminem is on the run. He’s firing a gun at The Punisher and yelling at him and although it probably is supposed to be serious and suspenseful it just comes off funny.
Eventually he’s grabbed up by a guy called Barracuda and they both go on the run ending up in some house. Eminem tries to pull the, I’m a celebrity move on The Punisher and gets him to come into the house. Eminem jumps Punisher and beats in his face with the butt of the gun knocking him out only to find out that he wasn’t the one Punisher was after, Barracuda was. Barracuda then reveals that he has been sent by a Bible group to take him out and shoots Eminem knocking him out.
We now find ourselves on a boat outside Detroit with Eminem chained to Punisher. They start arguing almost like a Deadpool and Punisher segment and eventually Barracuda comes to take them out. He takes Eminem first and throws him off the side of the boat into the frozen water, only to have the ice not break. Barracuda goes for a sniper rifle and Punisher makes his move.
Eminem runs out into the frozen river to find a guy ice fishing. The guy freaks out saying he’s a huge fan and says he would do anything for him. Eminem eyes the chainsaw used to cut the holes in the ice. Now Punisher is on the boat getting the crap kicked out of him when long and behold, Eminem shows up to the rescue. With the chainsaw in hand and Barracuda with a machete they duke it out. Eminem takes the chainsaw to him and rips him apart. Eminem throws him over the boat and into the water only to be faced with Punisher pointing a gun at him.
Punisher makes Eminem get off the boat and onto a piece of ice to float away. Punisher tells Eminem that he’s going after the Parents Music Council for contracting a killer. As Eminem floats out to a sunset he says, “Do me a favor and tell ‘em Shady sent you.” It’s really quite funny.
So no Frank Miller masterpiece, but entertaining none the less. The whole book is dialogued with lyrics from his songs which was fun to read. It’s nothing brilliant, but is simple and works for what it is. Fred Van Lente was the writer and did a great job given the material and surprisingly Frank D’Armata did a great job with the artwork. When you have something like this you don’t expect much, but when it comes out this good you are pleasantly surprised.
So basically if you’re a fan then will enjoy this for what it is. If not, I recommend staying as far away from this as possible. If you have any questions ask away and if you’ve read it let me know, I would love to hear that someone other than myself has read this. Enjoy.
One Response to “Pull-List: Eminem The Punisher 1 Review”
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Richard Christensen Says:
May 7th, 2009 at 1:34 pmI’ll have to take a loook for this bad boy, looks like it would be something worthwhile, since I am a fan Eminem, though in rescent years he has come across as retundent and annoying and i have lost interest. In fact i did not even know he had a new album comming out, but then again I did not know about Green Days or Marilyn Mansons new albums comming out later on this month either and I enjoy bith immensly.