WRITER: Greg Rucka
ARTIST: Mirko Colak
COLOR ARTIST: Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERS: Joe Caramagna
COVER: Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary &
Paul Mounts
ASSISTANT EDITOR: Ellie Pyle
EDITOR: Stephen Wacker
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Axel Alonso
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Joe Quesada
PUBLISHER: Dan Buckley
EXEC. PRODUCER: Alan Fine
Release Date: March 14th, 2012
Published
monthly by Marvel Worldwide, INC.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
Price –
$2.99
(32 Pages,
single-issue, color)
INTRODUCTION: (From page 3)
“For months,
the criminal organization known as The
Exchange has been consolidating their position at the top of the New York
crime world. An amalgam of ex-AIM, Hydra, and similar organizations, they’ve
attempted to exist below the radar, and avoid super-hero attentions. Under
ex-AIM scientist Stephanie Gerard’s leadership, they’ve been successful…for the
most part.
Now, the
Punisher is hunting the Exchange, and Gerard knows the danger she and her
fellows are in. She’s ordered ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Christian Poulsen, her business partner, to take care of Frank
Castle once and for all. Eager to impress the woman he loves, Poulsen has
baited a trap with blood, in an attempt to draw the Punisher into its jaws.
But unknown
to the Exchange, Marine Sergeant Rachel
Cole-Alves is also hunting the Exchange, pursuing revenge for the murder of
her husband and family on her wedding day. Drawn to the same bait as the
Punisher, she has unwittingly entered Poulsen’s trap…”
WRITING:
The writing
from Greg Rucka in issue #9 is in top form as it has been during the entire
series so far. Rucka gives Frank an opportunity to speak a little bit more in
several key situations during the issue. One is at a point where Frank is going
in for a kill, another when he is trying to gain vital information about
Daredevil and finally a ‘frank’ conversation with Rachel Cole about her purpose
and intentions. It seems to all fit fairly well but it does feel like a Frank
that we haven’t seen much of so far in the series. Fans must know that at some
point we were going to be treated with some tasty dialogue from the big man but
it seems like his dialogue even still will be short and blunt. This is fine by
me as the periphial characters that Rucka has given life to seem to be much
more important in driving the written dialogue of the story forward.
Rating – “B+”
ARTWORK:
This is the
one major let-down for me in this issue. After fans have been spoiled time
after time with the brilliant work of Marco Checchetto during this series,
guest artist Mirko Colak performs admirably but fails nonetheless. Characters
from Mirko seem lazy and slow…even for a comic! His representation of Frank
literally had me going nuts with what seemed to be a man that hasn’t taken care
of himself at all. His rendition of both Frank and Rachel seemed to me very odd
with some views/angles representing them as somewhat overweight and dull in
detail. It also doesn’t help the the moody atmosphere that Checchetto brought
to the title seemed to be missing in this issue. Lastly, the cover in my
opinion is the worst that the series has had so far…also not done by
Checchetto.
Rating – “C-“
STORYTELLING:
This issue
felt more like a preview for something big coming…which is obviously the epic
crossover for April between Avenging Spider-Man, Daredevil and Punisher. There
is the lead in of the Omega Drive, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense at
this moment with the Exchange storyline (but I have faith that it will) being
injected into the story early in this issue and then the 24 hour diner conversation
between Frank and Rachel that goes so quickly that I didn’t even see them eat!
All in all the actual story only lasts 23 pages out of the 32 pages and feels
either rushed or just a lead-in to what needs to take place next with
Spider-Man. I really feel that the story could have been better served with a
more intense scene between Frank and Rachel. Heck, who knows, maybe if
Checchetto would have done the pencils on this issue he would have stretched
the diner scene out another two to three pages longer J
Rating – “B-“
CHARACTER REPRESENTATION:
I honestly
feel that Character representation comes down to a mixture of the writer and
the artist in any comic book. In past issues, I have felt strongly that the
team of Greg Rucka and Marco Checchetto have complemented each other to blend
the characters in an amazing fashion. I unfortunately did not get that vibe in
this issue. I did feel that Rucka did a solid job at moving the story forward,
at providing some interesting plot points and some build up for future issues
but the issue just didn’t seem to do anything special with the characters. The
only real redeeming moment that I felt was strong was the last three frames of
the issue when Frank tells Rachel that they are going to war. Other than that,
the characters didn’t seem very alive.
Rating – “C+”
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:
This issue
does give readers some action and some interesting plot points. It picks up on
last month’s fantastic cliff-hanger and it has Frank in a very unique situation
to defend himself. It has a unique diner scene that allows for some valuable
interaction between Frank and Rachel and it has some build-up for the epic ‘Omega
Effect’ crossover coming next month. That is honestly about it though.
Rating – “B”
OVERAL RATING OF ISSUE: “B-“
