Punisher MAX, Vol. 9: Long Cold Dark Paperback – January 1, 2008

Barracuda, the crazed contract killer that managed to survive his bloody encounter with Frank Castle (and even star in his own Marvel MAX mini-series) is back with revenge on his mind. His plan involves a secret about Frank that Frank himself doesn't even know about, and pushes his limits unlike that we've seen before since legendary Preacher creator Garth Ennis took the reins of The Punisher. I won't spoil things by revealing the secret, but needless to say, Ennis has clearly been working up to this point from the very beginnings of the mature-themed MAX series. What results is an incredibly brutal showdown between Frank and Barracuda, so much so that the artwork of Goran Parlov gets just plain ugly to look at. He's done some mostly solid work before with these characters, but when things get super-bloody, Parlov's work just looks sloppy. Howard Chaykin, who is the regular artist on Matt Fraction's inferior Punisher War Journal, contributes some guest art in the opening issue, which isn't as bad as what we've seen from him working on Wolverine and Blade, but by and far the biggest flaw of Long Cold Dark is definitely the artwork. That aside, Ennis once again provides a dark, dreary, and just plain brutal Punisher story that doesn't disappoint, and the stage is set for what will be his final storyarc on the series. All in all, if it wasn't for the artwork, Long Cold Dark would be another flawless storyarc of The Punisher MAX, but flaws aside, the book is still worth picking up regardless for fans of the series.

I must say, Garth Ennis is probably one of the greatest,if not THE greatest, comic book story teller of my generation. He is up there with Frank Miller, Chuck Dixon and Robert Kirkman. By the last few pages of the book, Ennis had me feeling genuine sympathy for the characters involved, especially Castles antagonist. At the end of the story I closed the book and had to take a few deep breaths. This had nothing to do with the gratuitous violence throughout the pages, believe me this I can handle, but had everything to do with the gravity of Frank's predicament. Prior to reading this volume, I recommend picking up previous volumes of Punisher MAX so you are up to date on all the circumstances leading up to the events in this book. At least read volume seven: Man of stone. That should get you caught up enough.As far as the art goes in this story, the majority of the book, minus the first chapter, is done by Goran Parlov. Many Punisher MAX fans are critical of Parlov's art because, let's face it, Leandro Fernandez has spoiled us. I on the other hand truly enjoy Parlov's European style of cartoon mixed with realism. The characters will have cartoon like expressions at times but when someone is toting an M-60 machine gun, Parlov draws that M-60 spot on.I absolutely recommend this book. Garth Ennis's storytelling is amazing .Period.

Came in a bubble wrap envelope, in great condition.Also, this is definitive Garth Ennis. By far one of the best Punisher storylines. Not for the squeamish.Can’t believe a talking raccoon, walking tree branch and a radioactive spider bitten teenager might share the same Universe with Frank.

Ennis nears the end of Punisher with volume nine long cold dark. Barracuda is back and boy did he touch a nerve that frank didn't even realize he had...until now. Cuda finds a connection to franks old friend Yorkie. Then finds out something Frank didn't even know, he has another daughter! Frank doesn't even have time to think about the mother (Obrien), or show much sympathy at all, when Cuda is threatening to kill his daughter whom he didn't even know existed until now. This is the first time I've ever seen Frank even think about compassion, but nothing is thicker than blood. Story is well written but the art is not so great compared to the usual. I give long cold dark 4.3/5 stars

First off, I agree with "Big Evil's" review. The artwork is the only downside of this story arc. Again, really sloppy during the extremely brutal and graphic scenes. But artwork aside, I almost didn't notice it due to the storytelling. I was completely caught up in it, like I havent been since the Up Is Down, Black Is White storyline. You get a brief background on Barracuda and why he's so messed up as well as a shock for fairly longtime fans right at the beginning, not to mention an even bigger one not much later on. Reading stories like this from Garth Ennis makes me want to pick up everything the man has done.

This was good but not great. I loved Barracuda more in this story, more than in Volume 6. In this story we got to see how much of a Bad A** Barracuda really i. Everything else was average. The art was average and the story was average. Some of the reviews said that this was the darkest Punisher story yet. No disrespect but, I disagree. The darkest story to me has been and will always be " The Slavers".

As the owner of every Punisher Max title, I was more than a little dissapointed in this title.I think the plot was hastily put together (there could have been a little more shown of barracuda's early life)etc..However I would have given this book 4 stars if that were to be it's only short coming. The artwork for the first half was absolutley horrible and should not have been included in this title. A charitable 3 stars this time around Mr. Ennis.

Perfect!

Just finished this book and although not the best in the Ennis run. It's still a great read. The character of Barracuda is somewhat annoying. However he is still engaging. But as always Frank Castle is the Black Heart driving the story on.The art work is not fantastic and stifles the flow of the story. This could be me being picky though.If your a fan of the Ennis run then you will enjoy this book. Loved the crunching showdowns between Castle and Barracuda.

Brutal as ever 👍

Really enjoyable read part of my favourite Punisher series.

Long cold dark bietet einen wirklich netten, überraschenden Twist, den ich hier natürlich nicht verraten möchte, aber man darf gespannt sein, ob zukünftige Autoren etwas aus Garth Ennis' Idee machen.Jetzt aber mal zu den Zeichnungen, denn die sind wirklich mies. Unförmige Glieder und Gesichter, alles sieht ziemlich lustlos hingeklatscht aus. Garth Ennis hat mich nicht immer in seiner Max-Reihe überzeugt, aber mit dieser Story hätte er es geschafft. Die Zeichnungen machen dabei leider fast alles kaputt. Wenn ich da an die von Widowmaker und First steps denke...

The artwork isnt all that impressive and neither is the story line, Barracuda is back! Id had enough of him anyways, cmon guys make up some new villans! Only for DIEHARD Punisher fans.