Punisher: Nightmare #3 Review
Writer: Scott M. Gimple
Art: Mark Texeira
Colorist: Frank D'Armata
STORY(MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS): This issue begins with Jake Niman getting shot in the head by an unknown assassin and the Punisher going after him. We got some background about this unknown assassin he's name is Dubose and he was a former sargeant of Jake's unit in the army. While Punisher his pursuing Dubose by car and carrying C4 in the trunk he gets shot and his car explodes, Punisher gets out of the car before the explosion but he lost his senses.
Then we see Jake in his alter persona Nightmare taking Dubose as a prisoner lifting him with one hand both legs. Nightmare and Punisher go to a building scooped by Jake/Nightmare closer to Kozlowskis and to avoid attention and they start interrogating Dubose. They discover that Dubose was recruited by the army to kill Jake. When the Punisher takes over the interrogation we get to know that Jake was an experiment of the army, they injected him with the "Lazarus Serum".
This serum uses injuries to remake tissue and it takes two years to kick in.
When Frank is questioning Dubose and he his trying to release himself from the strings, Nightmare is questioning everything, his friends, enemies, motives and getting too confused. Dubose gets released from the strings and Frank fights him. When Frank immobilizes Dubose, Nightmare points the gun to Frank and starts to shooting at him, all hell went loose in the next panel we see the three of them falling from the window.
RATING: 4/5
WRITING: I think Gimple nailed it in this issue, we got some glimpses of "Civil War" and some good speeches of Captain America about the Punisher and how his action may encourage others. Finally Gimple is wraping up some loose ends about Jake and the experiment the army done with him. One of the great points in Gimple's writing is the inner monologues of Frank we got to know what he is thinking in various situations. Anyone who knows the character may not need to read this, but this is very helpful to catch new readers to get into this wonderful character.
RATING: 4/5
ART: As the previous issues this is the most consistent point in this comic, good colors thanks to Frank D'Armata and the art itself by Texeira. What i like the most is the expression of the characters and all the action that involves them. Can't say much more than i have in the previous reviews, this guys are GREAT!
RATING: 4/5
ENTERTAINING VALUE: This is by far the best issue of the three! At the beggining of this issue we got some "Art of War" wisdom phrases by Sun Tzu which perfectly fits the Punisher. Then we got some good action in this comic something that lacks a bit in the previous issues.
In my opinion with all the other issues this could be a good way to start reading the Punisher. With Captain America speeches and the Punisher inner monologues back in the "Civil War" i think this is a good way to start for anyone new to this character.
I got the feeling that Jake Niman/Johnny Nightmare is becoming one of the great anthologists in the Punisher rogue's gallery thanks to all development of this character along these three issues.
Great work by all the team behind this book. Gimple, Texeira and Frank D'Armata keep this great comic in the right track.
RATING: 4/5
OVERALL RATING ISSUE: 4
