Born #1 from Marvel. Garth Ennis (Writer); Darick Robertson (Penciller); Tom Palmer (Inker); Paul Mounts (Colorist); Rus Wooton (Letterer). From the same minds that brought you Truth (keep reading) and Origin (big sigh) comes Born--perhaps the most ridiculously named of the Marvel single-word Event Books. Here we have Frank Castle in Vietnam, pre-Punisher. Robertson's art is decent enough, but he and Ennis seem to use the occasion to again try and Push the Envelope using that MAX banner on the front of the book, and treat us to disembowelments via machine gun fire and bullets going straight into someone's eye. We're not one to shy away from a little bit of the old ultra-violence, but MAX books these days seem to want to get in your face with "HEY, we're EXPLICIT." It feels like gore for gore's sake. That, coupled with the introduction of what could be some kind of split personality deal with Frank does not bode well. We didn't like that shit when they tried it in Batman, we won't be digging it here.
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