I remember the storyline involving his affair as being brief and forced. Ultimately, it was unnecessary to the story and took me right out of it.

I do find this bit of the review a little disturbing: “Where ideals of law and due process prevent criminals from adequate punishment now (in some eyes), Mills and Skinner up the ante by taking capitalism to its logical endpoint where the gap between the rich and the poor is so great that the rich are literally above the law in an overt fashion. If the Punisher now seems an extreme psycho, Jake Gallows comes across as a bit more legitimate since his world is more corrupt and in need of some justice — he goes too far, of course, but it seems almost measured, counter-balanced by society.” I think a lot of people would disagree that this is capitalism’s logical endpoint. That’s a rather politically charged statement.

Peace.

That’s on your business cards, isn’t it?

And actually, I think Punisher was very middle of the 2099 road. Doom 2099, Ghost Rider 2099; I’d say those were the best of the line. Spider-Man 2099 had the dependable workmanlike entertainment that one expects of Peter David. At the other end, Ravage 2099 as a train wreck; above that, X-Men and X-Nation 2099 were basically unnecessary and lacking any raison d’etre (other than sales-chasing). Hulk and Fantastic Four 2099 didn’t last long enough to establish anything; neither had much to recommend it during its short run (though the original, unpublished origin of the FF 2099 is pretty good). (I’m not forgetting anyone am I?)

Looking ahead to “Fall of the Hammer…” That one, I think, is pretty mediocre. Not bad, just not especially good. It reads like “hey, we just had this great idea, let’s do this multi-part story running through our titles in which the characters meet one another; we’ll call it ‘a crossover.’” Which would have been enough to make the story significant, in the 1960s perhaps; by the 1990s I think one could fairly expect a bit more.

For my money, the Ellis issues of Doom 2099 are not only the best of the series, but the best of the 2099 line and some of the best work Ellis has written in his career.

And if I remember correctly, that made him Spider 2099′s half-brother and he would later become Venom 2099!

Damn,I really liked these comics.