THE PUNISHER from Marvel

Frank Castle has become something of a legendary anti-hero in the Marvel Universe since he made his debut way back in 1974 in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #129. We all pretty much know the story: Castle is a war vet whose his wife and two children are killed by the mob when they witnessed a gangland execution in Central Park. He transforms himself into The Punisher and wages a war on the criminal element. At his most popular, he maintained four monthly titles(plus a black and white magazine) and was the subject of three less than stellar movies starring three different actors(Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, and Ray Stevenson).

But Marvel has always struggled to maintain momentum on the title. How far can you take a vigilante like Frank Castle? Marvel gave him the MAX treatment that allowed them to stretch out the blood and the guts. They even had him disemboweled and decapitated and resurrected by Morbius and the Legion of Monsters as FrankenCastle. But how do you keep him fresh? In 2011, they let noted novelist and comic writer Greg Rucka and artist Marco Checchetto have their shot at him.

Issue #1 begins with a wedding and a slaughter. When all is said and done, there are 27 dead(with more added as issues go on), nineteen wounded and a bride who has become a widow.  So it’s up to Detectives Oscar Clemons and Walter Bolt to investigate. This leads them to the South Bronx where they find the corpse of a weapons dealer. Meanwhile, a party in Brooklyn ends badly for the party-goers as the man with the skull on his chest breaks things up. We also get the back story on how Bolt met the Punisher and a promotion in the process. Did I also mention that Bolt has been feeding information to The Punisher. Yeah…that too.

Norah Winters, investigative reporter, gets all up in the detectives business as she looks into a connection between the wedding murders and The Punisher. And the Punisher, who has been working his way through the organization known as The Exchange,  gets into it with The Vulture(version 6, 7, 8 or whatever…). During the battle, he falls several stories and gets found by…Miss Winters who helps him get away from the scene. Castle does his best to patch himself up while Winters begins a relationship, professional that is, with the widow Cole. Frank gets to spend some quality time trying to retrain his skills and work on his costume design. The widow Cole investigates Norah’s notebook and gets some clues of her own to help in ultimate goal: taking out The Exchange.

Soon Rachel is on her way to a nice little ski resort in the Hudson River Valley. And it quickly becomes a great night for capping bad guys. And she also gets to meet The Punisher himself, who is there on a similar mission. Clemons and Bolt respond to the scene and the deduction is made that Castle has a partner. Unbeknown to them, that partnership is more of an uneasy truce between Marines. .

This is the kick-ass, take no prisoners Punisher we all know and love. At one point, he busts up what can best be called a white slavery ring. And then wastes the girl responsible for drugging the women. No sir: Frank Castle doesn’t care what sex you are…you will pay. Greg Rucka, who began his writing career with the Atticus Kodiak series of novels, knows how to write compelling fiction. After all, he is responsible for such noted comic works as his work on DETECTIVE COMICS,  ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, WONDER WOMAN, CHECKMATE and 52, among others. His writing style is very prose oriented, but he also knows how to write some killer dialogue and this book has all that. He  also has great subplots. The relationship games played throughout are fascinating. Winters and Cole. Cole and Castle. Bolt and Clemons. Gerard and Poulsen. Sorry…I didn’t mention that the heads of The Exchange are a former AIM scientist and a former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, They are, adding more fuel to the fire. 

The art on the book is my only gripe because it seemingly changes from issue to issue. The first few issues were by Marco Checchetto, followed by Matthew Southworth and Matthew Clark filling in with issue #6 and Michael Lark doing issue #7, before having Checchetto back with issue #8 but another fill in for issue #9. Also(I guess that makes 2 gripes), must we draw Ozzy Clemons and characterize him in such a way that he totally reminds me of Detective Lieutenant William R. Somerset (although Bolt is certainly not Detective David Mills). At what point will we find a head in a box?

Anyway, the series totally rocks and, as jaded as I have become with Punisher titles, this is the best one in a long time. It is highly recommended as a good read!