Punisher: War Zone #2
WRITERS: Greg Rucka
ARTIST: Carmine Di Giandomenico
COLOR ARTIST: Matt Hollingsworth
LETTERS: VC’s Joe Caramagna
COVER: Marco Checchetto
EDITOR: Stephen Wacker
EDITOR IN CHIEF: Axel Alonso
CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER: Joe Quesada
PUBLISHER: Dan Buckley
EXEC. PRODUCER: Alan Fine
Release Date: December 5th, 2012
Published
monthly by Marvel Worldwide, INC.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS:
Price –
$3.99
WRITING:
Rucka’s
second entry in his attempt to tie up the loose ends of his amazing Punisher
run seems to fall flat. After a compelling intro issue to this mini-series,
Rucka fails to tell a story that keeps readers engaged. The story of Black
Widow going around the world tracking Frank Castle is wearisome and doesn’t
quite fit the universe of Punisher that I have grown to love throughout Rucka’s
run. Instead, this issue felt like a completely different Punisher comic
altogether…one that was not written by Rucka but some other Marvel contributor.
Not only does the story not flow well but the dialogue between Frank and
Natasha Romanov isn’t very good either.
Rating – “D+”
ARTWORK:
The only
solid piece of artwork in this book comes from Marco Checchetto. The two places
where his work is referenced is on the front cover and the intro on page 1.
These two examples of work just make the rest of the book feel so bland and
useless. Not only was I struggling to get through the story in this issue but
the artwork even made the story worse.
Rating – “C”
STORY:
(WARNING
– MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)
There isn’t
a lot to spoil in this issue of War Zone. Basically Frank has left the country
and is on the run from the Avengers. For whatever reason, which isn’t explained
at all, the Avengers don’t all come after Punisher at the same time. Instead
they send Black Widow on a wild goose chase around the globe to track Frank
down. Eventually she does so in Africa of all places and Frank gets away. That
is about it…seriously. We get a hint at the next issue where Captain America
asks Thor to be the next Avenger to go after Castle.
Rating – “C“
ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:
I think this
was the first Punisher comic written by Greg Rucka where I was actually not
entertained. It was really surprising to close the back page of the issue and
think, “Wow, Marvel really has no idea how to use this character anymore”. It
made me think that maybe Marvel is trying to get rid of the Punisher or
something.
Rating – “D”
OVERAL RATING OF ISSUE: “C-”
