Punisher #2 – Review

by Nathan Edmondson (Writer), Mitch Gerads (Artist)

The Story: The Howling Commandos get even more interested in Frank as he begins to settle down in L.A.

The Review: Some people believe that opening issues are crucial. They need to open up possibilities, set up one or many ongoing threads, set up a world and its characters along many other things. There is a need for a hook to make sure readers are ready to get invested in the story and how the characters have to do with it. In a market with plenty of new series and new volumes starting in a competitive manner, that is something that stands up as even more truthful these days.

It is also something that I believe in, yet I also completely believe in an even bigger importance in the second issue. The follow-up to the opening needs to prove that it can sustain the themes and the possible progress the title has previously introduced. Unfortunately, as much as the first issue of this current volume of Punisher had been potent, there are some problems with the second one that does not necessarily bode well for the series.

The problems have nothing to do with some of the finer points like the cast. The way Frank Castle interacts with Tuggs, his weapon supplier, Lou the restaurant owner and officer Stone is actually quite interesting. With the character previously portrayed as a loner dedicated solely to his job, it is kind of refreshing to see a sort of nuance to how he actually talk with them in a semi-friendly manner. The addition to Loot, a coyote Frank saved could also bring a nice little humanity to the character that has been missing in previous iterations.

The Punisher #2 – Review

by Greg Rucka (writer), Marco Checchetto (art), Matt Hollingsworth (colors), and Joe Caramagna (letters)

The Story: The Punisher has marked his prey, tracking a poor, hapless goon back to his masters while Bolt and Clemons are left to pick up the bodies.

What’s Good:  For the second issue in a row, the Punisher doesn’t utter a word, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  This silent Frank Castle is as fresh as the first issue and his silence makes him all the more monstrous and inhuman, if not mythical.  In many ways, Frank’s silence actually opens opportunities for Rucka to make him even scarier, particularly in one scene, where Rucka perfectly illustrates the Punisher’s uncompromising mercilessness.  The Punisher has never been more predatory.

The result is a comic where Frank hunts this thug and follows him, always just in the corner of the poor guy’s eye, haunting him like a vengeful spirit.   The Punisher plays the hunter through and through, the thug in question the hapless deer.  Franks silence and the way he manipulates his unwitting prey to run from safehouse to safehouse, allowing the Punisher to rack up the bodies, is utterly brilliant and makes Frank appear to, on some primitive level, possess an awareness, calm, and intellect that his prey lacks.  He leads the guy, tracks him, nudges him, all without saying a word.  Frank is so menacing and so coolly calculating that in many ways, as this unrelatable hunter of people, we come to experience “the Punisher” legend just as the criminal underworld does.

Punisher #2 – Review

By Rick Remender (writer), Jerome Opena (artist), Dan Brown (colorist)

The Story: Punisher meets his mysterious benefactor from the last issue, a tech-savvy man name Henry, who sympathizes with Castle’s war on Osborn but thinks information and propaganda are the bullets needed to take down Osborn.  Punisher reluctantly allows Henry to join the battle, and although their new strategy proves to be successful, it may be more than Henry can take.  He’ll need to make up his mind quickly though, because Osborn has taken notice of their actions against him, and has dispatched a villainous ally to express his displeasure.

The Good: After last issue’s largely unspectacular debut, I’m happy and encouraged to see thing are getting much better.  “Dark Reign” is the perfect vehicle for a Punisher relaunch, and Remender’s back-to-basics approach on this title reminds us what makes Punisher such a classic character.  Opena’s art continues to improve as he grows more comfortable with the cast, and his framing of the action sequences is every bit as intense as something you’d see in the movies.  The real surprise for me in this issue though was Henry, an ideological accomplice who believes in Punisher’s war even as he struggles to accept Castle’s brutal methods.  Henry’s presence adds a moral gravity that Castle may not want, but desperately needs.

The Not So Good: There was very little here that I didn’t like.  Although this is so far proving to be a rather slow-burning story, it is successfully striking a fine balance between excellent action sequences and more subtle moments of characterization that will pay off down the road.

Conclusion: Remender and Opena are a fine creative team and by bringing their talents to this book, Marvel has convinced me that Punisher is a title worth reading.

Grade: B+

-Tony Rakittke