HAPPY ENDING

These “Punisher Max” one-shots all seem to fall into a pattern of presenting stories where Frank Castle is a supporting character, often trying to kill criminals while the main plot goes on around him. Considering the character’s long history and the fantastic work Garth Ennis and Jason Aaron have done on the character recently, it’s an understandable approach to take. “Happy Ending” is no exception, with the Punisher only appearing in three brief scenes. Instead, Peter Milligan focuses on Joseph Bonner, an unhappily married accountant whose trip to a massage parlor has him fleeing gangsters with one of the masseuses, Gi-Gi. Joseph is very unsatisfied with his life, but accompanying Gi-Gi as she avoids getting shot and dealing with being threatened himself isn’t what he has in mind when he heads out for the evening. A regular guy getting mixed up in a big mess over a disc of incriminating evidence against a mobster is ample fodder for this story, but what holds it back is that Millig