Just caught up on my PUNISHER MAX.
Right, so the Kingpin arc: It is weird that the MAX series is now completely out of continuity despite the recent Aaron issues referring to Punisher killing Microchip. However, it's really not a big deal, it's just kinda confusing. What saves it is the brilliant rise of the Kingpin which is just superb. Using the fear of the Punisher and his own methods to create a way for him to steal all the power was really smart.
The Bullseye arc borders on the ludicrous black comedy (****ting guns out on the toilet) to absolutely chilling psychoses ("I didn't feel anything. We'll have to do it again."). The latter half is astonishingly good and a great Punisher villain.
However, there's no reason for it to be Bullseye. At all. This annoys me greatly. While it is nice to see Bullseye being used in a new fashion, he is being used so well and so radically differently, making him Bullseye is just fan service. Part of what makes Bullseye so terrifying is how little we know of him, but because he's Bullseye he's a bit on the familiar side. Also, the name doesn't really matter much as he's not the superpowered "I never miss" guy. I think he'd've been improved if he was a brand new character. It annoys me because we have a totally new Punisher villain who is just a reuse of an old villain. Imagine if Barracude was Tombstone. It totally could've worked, but he's Barracuda. Rorschach isn't The Question, he's Rorschach.
It uses Kingpin and Bullseye to draw fanboys in because it wants to sell more copies, but I think it does a disservice to the story that Aaron's doing because it creates comparisons with the original characters and the crazy departure is confusing and off-putting, and it makes it seem like it's just "another Bullseye" story when it's something completely different.
I'm wondering though how long it will last because KINGPIN was not five issues, it's eight issues and counting.
But it's good.
