Garth Ennis is building a great story exploring Frank's past. To be more precise his first tour in Vietnam.
So far, we have seen how brilliant Frank Castle is in the art of war and leadership of his Platoon. Frank Castle is responsible for making his men thrive and being alive in all the obstacles and dangers they had to face.
This issue #4 explores a bit of the psyche of the two main characters from each side of the war. Frank Castle and Ly.
This issue doesn't have kick-ass action panels but Ennis took a time to explore a bit of these compelling characters.
Once again Ennis show how devoted Frank Castle was to his wife and to the war. We get to see some sort of "need" for action when Frank talked with Dryden.
Ly unveiled a tragic past that shows us her motivations on getting rid of American soldiers and the obsession with killing them.
Interesting panels when we see Giap taking information from a captive American soldier about the motivation of the American troops and how the people in the US see this war. Giap is a man of war, a man who takes everything into consideration to make the best results as possible.
Another interesting panel was the eventual confrontation with some green berets who were willing to mess with Frank's Platoon until he arrives and with an amazing stare and posture commands the green berets to go to rest and they leave without any word.
Goran Parlov art is amazing. I risk saying that his art in this book is the best we have seen from him. The way he draws the characters and how they express their emotions through their faces is unbelievably realistic.
Once again, during the eye contact between Frank and the green beret, that calm look and those eyes you know and felt it that Frank Castle is a man you don't want to **** with. It's not the first time he uses this, the last issue Goran did the same when Frank went to negotiate weapons for his Platoon. It's that calm look and confidence that makes his Platoon follow him through hell if they need to.
Jordie Bellaire is responsible for the colors that give huge depth to Parlov's art. The color tone of this series is adequate and of course, she was a huge support to Parlov's art.
OVERALL RATE: 9 /10
Review by Ivo Santos
