PC POST #295: -REVIEW- Punisher #1 (2016)

Punisher #1, Cover by Declan Shalvey

Here begins the first run of the Punisher in the new Marvel Universe with a new creative team Becky Cloonan as writer, Steve Dillon in the pencils and Martin as colorist.

This first issue introduces us to a criminal organization that wants to put a new drug in the streets called EMC, which gives users heightened strength, durability and resistance to pain.
We are introduced to most of the characters involved in this criminal organization like Face and Olaf but the boss we only know his codename, "Condor".

We get to know a few characters from the DEA who are investigating this criminal organization.  

I did not know Becky Cloonan's work as writer, but it was a very entertaining issue. The first feeling i got it was like she merged two worlds. The MAX universe and the cannon Marvel Universe. Some sort of reading Jason Aaron Punisher MAX with Ennis Marvel Knights. Both elements are in this first issue.

I really liked the secondary characters and most of them are interesting. But the one who caught my eye, was Olaf. Olaf is a "ghost" from Frank's past, he knows him well and his capabilities. He is linked with Frank back into the USMC days.

Frank Castle doesn't say a word in this comic, and he doesn't need to. Frank is a man of action, his words are with bullets flying and shredding bodies and we got plenty of it in this comic. Frank acts very much as a "force of nature" and it reminds me a lot of Greg Rucka's take on the character. Silent and deadly. The difference is that the body count of this first issue is huge.

Becky Cloonan doesn't seem to take risks and writing the usual monolog of Frank Castle. Yes, this comic doesn't have (at least for now) the internal monolog of Frank when he talked about his prep work and other stuff.

Steve Dillon did a great job on this one. In fact, i think this comic is what the best he can offer when we compared to his previous works like Thunderbolts and PunisherMAX.

There was times when fans criticized him during the Thunderbolts, that he used the same face layout for every character. But no, not on this one.
The violent scenes are really good, not too "cartoon-ish", like we have seen in PunisherMAX, it's very balanced between the first Punisher Marvel Knights miniseries "Welcome Back, Frank" and PunisherMAX.

I am talking about the art of Dillon, but i have to mention that Martin (Colorist) helped a lot with his vivid colors and gave a significant depth to the artwork of Dillon. His colors remember me GuruFX that i saw in Thunderbolts and they saved a lot of the artwork in that book back then.

Punisher #3 cover by Declan Shalvey

Declan Shalvey will be the man doing the covers and he is nailing it, three covers that were already out and artistically he is over the top. Specially the Punisher #3 cover.

 

I liked a lot of the beginning of this story but there are a few things that i didn't like and i hope to see improved with time.

Bad word censoring, doesn't make sense in this comic when this comic advertises that "It's not for kids", come on, we see tons of violence and it is ok and that few words are? Nonsense.

The Punisher using a t-shirt with a skull without proper protection for a shootout. Does everyone forgot the meaning of the skull? The skull was to lure the bad guys to shoot at it, and that skull on his shirt do not seem to have a proper protection for Frank for a shootout.

Anyway this doesn't take away the entertainment of this comic, which was great and delightful seeing Frank getting rid of crooks with his own brutality. But Punisher fans like perfection to the "minor" details. That's what separate him from the super guys. He has to protect himself because he is flesh and bone and with one bullet could be the end of him.

Overall rate: 8/ 10

 Article by @ivomgs