PC POST #67: Classic Review. The Punisher: Assassin's Guild

Post by @Castlectc

  Greetings fellow Punisher fans. I've recently realized one area my particular blogs here have been lacking in, and that's the review category. I've been knee deep in a bunch of reading material I'm catching up on, and I figured I'd start with this particularly rare graphic novel one-shot, called "Assassin's Guild". So here's my quick blurb about the work.

  Assassin's Guild was introduced in 1988, and is a product of the writer, Jo Duffy, and artist Jorge Zaffino, both of whom I'm not too afraid to admit I'm not familiar with. The main reason I wanted to start with this tale is because I feel, although I thought it was alright, I find it difficult to believe there could be worse Punisher stories out in the universe.First off, the art isn't much to look at aside from the occasional splash page, and is all together kind of scratchy and scribbled. Not too pleasing to the eye, but that's just me. Next, the writing isn't too spectacular also, with the premise being kind of silly and the idea seemingly pretty basic and bland. Basically, Frank Castle comes upon a Chinese restaurant that fronts as an assassination post, that will carry out any killing for a price, hence the title. See what I mean? Alright, well, none of this would usually bother me much, but there's some serious issues I had with it, that really took me away from enjoying it, all of which I will mention now. This book reads like an episode of Magnum P.I., and as a matter of fact the Punisher acts like Tom Selleck. I only say that because he's laughable. He's continually making mistakes and second guessing himself. He sleeps with a woman from the enemy, and actually falls for her.... Yeah, wait, what?! He tells her his secrets, confides in her, feels for her, all of which I found absurd.. That shouldn't be happening. He displays no fighting prowess, or fierceness, and has a hard time handling this squad of waiters turned killers. There's very little gore or blood in the book, kind of light on the action for my tastes as well, which really hurts. Very little interesting scenarios, which is usually where the Punisher books shine, and a few other factors made this a hard pill to swallow.

   Now, all this considered, it's not a bad book. There are some redeeming parts, and there is an ending that is somewhat interesting. I've never read a bad Punisher book, and I've read tons of them, but this one almost came close. It's still worth owning for how old and rare it is, plus the fact that there's not too many other Punisher stories like it. It is kind of unique, in that aspect. Just don't spend too much money purchasing it, and perhaps heed my words here a tad bit, and you should be fine.

   Anyways, just felt like getting these reviews off to some sort of a start. I'm currently halfway into Marvel's The Essential Punisher: Volume 1. It's a huge book collecting a lot of the beginning issues, and it promises greatness. I'll be excited to review that one soon, if I don't get sidetracked and possibly get my hands on something else to review first. As always, I thank everyone for reading and taking the time to give a glance, and hope to come back with some more interesting blogs, as soon as the punishing is possible.

  Much love and respect!
 #PunisherBrotherhood
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,CAStLE,.