PC POST #386: -REVIEW- THE PUNISHER #17

 Becky Cloonan's 17th issue of her Punisher series comes to an end with a bittersweet taste.

The problem I had with this particular issue is that the Punisher behavior didn't make any sense. And once again he put innocent lives in danger. Like it happened to the homeless veteran a couple of issues ago.

The storytelling of this issue is very compressed and in terms of action is very straightforward while we are constantly being teased for the main event. The fight with the Punisher and Face.

The fight was enjoyable and even the contribute from the supporting characters was very important to the conclusion of this fight. 

I still don't understand why he let that actress and the director be in this fight or even let the director film his own actions to take out Face.

Matt Horak's art continues to keep his own quality, I get the feeling the more he would've worked on this issue the better he would become. 

The splash scenes were good and every panel of the fight between Face and Frank was worth it. There were a few dark panels and like issue #14 I really liked how Horak draws dark pages. Great shadows and pretty detailed despite the lack of "light".

The cover was decent. Not the best I've seen in this run but decent. Different than I am used to seeing in a Punisher comic. I didn't like the pattern of skulls in the back but overall it was a very decent.

Overall Rate: 7 out of 10

The final verdict of the run: Becky Cloonan portrayed one hell of a Frank Castle. Probably the most accurate to the classic stories of the past decades. He punished evildoers with everything he got like Bear traps, swords and all kinds of crazy stuff. I have to give it to Cloonan she imprinted one hell of diversity tools that Frank handle it perfectly. It might not be for everyone's taste but it was good for me. This Frank Castle doesn't mess around with or without weapons.

The best moment of this comic was around issue 13 to 15. I freaking love those one-shot stories, I think this was the best Punisher Cloonan could offer. It was great seeing the Punisher dealt with common problems aside from the "super stuff" like the EMC.

The weak point was the main arc of this comic, I've said it in many reviews that 12 issues for the Condor arc were too much. Long arcs don't work with the Punisher. The formula doesn't need to be reinvented. 5/6 issues one arc. It just took too long to finish this storyline.

The fact that Steve Dillon passed away was a huge blow to this comic. Matt Horak dealt with his own way which was good but no one can be Dillon and like no one can be Matt Horak.

Horak gives his best and I think, honestly he was up to the task. But, Steve Dillon was born for this kind of storyline that Cloonan wanted to tell.

My only regrets for this run was that I haven't seen Cloonan's interior art and didn't have a good amount of one-shot stories, those good "domestic" storylines that I grow up with.

Overall Rate for the Run: 7.5 out of 10.