PC POST #335: Top 3 best Punisher standalone issues, artists & Top 5 covers of 2016!

Hello everyone, let's start for the first time to some sort of "Punisher Central: Year Awards".
In this article i will mentioned the top standalone issues based on writing, best artist and cover.

TOP 3 Standalone Issues

[ 3.]

Civil War II: Kingpin #3

by Matthew Rosenberg & Ricardo Ortiz, Hayden Sherman

It was very well written by Matthew Rosenberg and gave us the best fight with Kingpin vs the Punisher i have ever seen. And both characters have fought each other in the past for a few occasions.

Very smart the way Frank infiltrated in Kingpin's organization and specially the fight and as expected a brutal fight between these two awesome characters.

[ 2.]

Punisher #5 

by Becky Cloonan and Steve Dillon

Punisher #5 was by far the best and entertaining issue of the current run, Very compressed story with tons of action where the art and writing were in perfect harmony. 

Seeing Ortiz and Frank team up to put down Face in an asylum full of EMC junkies was a fun ride, Ortiz forced to take down her partner and both character in disadvantage and surrounded by lunatics. A fight for survival.

The legendary Steve Dillon gave a huge boost for this issue to be in the top 3.

[ 1.]

Punisher Annual #1

By Gerry Conway & Felix Ruiz

Punisher Annual #1 was the winner of the best standalone issue of this year! After 25 years, Gerry Conway come back couldn't be better. Conway built a great point of view story without fading the star of the book ( The Punisher). 

This is a revenge story featuring Mamdouh, a police officer crossing the lines of vigilantism and the law. Great plot by one of the few writers who know the character by his core.

Top 3 Artists

[ 3.]

Paul Davidson

(A Year of Marvels - November Infinite Comic #1)

I like a lot the art of Paul Davidson, he deserved to be in the top 3 of Punisher artists for this year. He did a great job in the action scenes and in developing a great Frank Castle with the perfect build. 

Davidson did a wonderful job in portraying the expressions of the characters he developed for this story.

[ 2.]

Andrea Broccardo

(Doctor Strange/The Punisher - Magic Bullets #1 - #3)

Andrea Broccardo is becoming the greatest revelation as an artist to me. He did really improved since issue #1 in this miniseries. Great scenes and very well drawn characters. 

His Frank Castle remembers me the old school Frank from the early 90's. I really love the look and the casual suit Frank uses. I wish i could see him more often in Punisher stories.

[ 1.]

Steve Dillon
(Punisher #1 - #7)

Steve Dillon, the writer who worked in more Punisher comics than everyone else. He is part of the Punisher mythology and certainly contributed for what he is today.

Dillon is a great storyteller, he tells us the story by the pencils, and most of the times we wouldn't need writing to understand what he want to tell us.

He redefine the character for this run, gave him a hair more like Jon Bernthal's and a bit of a tan color.

The build is perfect and not to mention how gory his scenes were, a real kick ass violence necessary for a Punisher comic. And when the violence was excessive he tried to play with it and gave us funny moments due to some weird kills. 

Dillon was the only one who make me laugh while reading Punisher comics,

The prize is for you, best Punisher artist in 2016!

Top 5 Punisher Covers

[ 5.]

Punisher #3 Variant by Becky Cloonan

[ 4.]

Civil War II: Choosing Sides #4 by Declan Shalvey

[ 3.]

Civil War II: Kingpin #3 by Aaron Kuder

[ 2.]

Punisher #1 Variant by Alex Maleev

[ 1.]

Punisher #7 Variant by Marco Chechetto

Here is my top picks for the best story, artist and cover of 2016. I wish i could gave them all a prize but at least i can give them some recognition for their work. There a few more covers that deserved to be mentioned specially the ones in the Punisher ongoing by Declan Shalvey.

I hope everyone can have a Happy New Year and wait for the reviews of Punisher #7 and Doctor Strange / Punisher: Magic Bullets #3 and #4.

posted by @ivomgs