Tuesday, January 31, 2017

PC POST #339: -REVIEW- PUNISHER #8 (2016)





Punisher #8 was a different kind of story. This issue remembered me of "Suicide Run" arc when Frank was presumably dead and was hiding from the authorities and public in general.
For this issue we have two good artists, Iolanda Zanfardino and Laura Braga.


Punisher #8 was a different kind of Punisher issue, at least different from what Cloonan as been told us so far, it keeps a good amount of violence but she added some adventure elements.

This was a solid issue and unlike the last one this didn't seemed like a "filler".
Finally Condor took some active actions to kill Frank, tracking him down to a old farm where he was recovering from his injuries from last issue.
In this old farm, there was a old lady called Ethel, that was by far, the most interesting character created for this run. I had mixed feeling about her in last issue, but after i read about her background story i really began to care about her.

Good action presented in this issue, specially when Olaf and his team try to take down Frank on the farm, bad luck for them, the farm is booby trapped.
The escape scene from the farm is great when we see Frank and Ethel escaping from the farm in the old fashion way in an old bike. We even got a gory scene with Ethel taking out a man from Condor with her knitting needles.
Later, while torturing the Condor merc, Frank learned his way to go to the Condor's headquarters, with a very specific scene with a bear that we will remember the old days of "Welcome Back, Frank" by Ennis.





Cloonan seems to keep Face alive for a while, he's lasting too long but she has plans for the character, but i haven't been impressed by the character so far.

There has been some rotating team of artists in this book, Braga and Zanfardino did a very decent work on this issue. The tone of the art was slightly off, of what we have been used to see from Dillon and Horak.
Despite that has been colored by Frank Martin, this issue was too bright and somewhat off from the mood that has been established from Dillon.
Overall it was good and both are great artists but Horak's did better work while drawing the characters with the same layouts as Dillon, Braga and Zanfardino just give their own takes on the characters.

On the other side, Ethel was perfectly portrayed. 

The cover from Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire was perfect for this issue, showing us the knitting needles that were very useful for Ethel. Artistically flawless!

This comic wasn't a step back in the quality, in terms of development and quality it was slightly better than the last one, but i think that this run as been a little "stagnated" without huge developments in the plot.


The Good:
-This issue got a mix between action and adventure elements;
-Ethel was one hell of a character;
-The bear scene was going to be "somewhat" nostalgic for Punisher fans.

Not so Good:
-Face is still around;
-Some characters designs aren't faithful to what Dillon established;




Overall rate: 7.5 / 10

Posted by Ivo Santos ( FB/Twitter)







Friday, January 27, 2017

PC POST #338: New images of Jon Bernthal on set as Punisher!





Today it was leaked by GettyImages and ComingSoon.net, some new Punisher images of the upcoming series of Marvel's Punisher. 
In the pictures we see Frank Castle (Jon Bernthal) carrying some flowers. There is no information about what he is doing, but i would say he's going to pay tribute to his family or maybe something more fancy to get rid of someone.








Steve Lightfoot will be the Executive producer of Marvel's Punisher that will be premiere this year after Marvel's Iron fist and Marvel's Defenders,

I'm counting to see the Punisher series in the last quarter of this year.



Posted by Ivo Santos ( @ivomgs )

Thursday, January 19, 2017

PC POST #337: -REVIEW- THE PUNISHER #7

Punisher #7 marks the last pages of Steve Dillon, unfortunately he didn't finish this issue but Matt Horak stepped in to end this issue and will replace Dillon's as the main artist of this run.




Becky Cloonan didn't dropped the quality of this issue. But when i was reading it felt like a "filler". There was no huge improvements in the plot or any important events for upcoming issues.

On the other side, Becky Cloonan and Matt Horak built an amazing brawl fight between the Punisher and a few members of the Condor, gritty violence, pure fun and entertainment, almost like a western but with a significant amount of gore.


I think its about time that Face can meet his end and about time to see more action from Olaf (which i believe we will see next issue).



The artwork of this comic was divided by Steve Dillon and Matt Horak. There are five pages of Dillon's in this comic and it really gave that nostalgic feeling that he was born to make this comic. Nothing really fancy but it was really enjoyable to see his last work on this.

Matt Horak did a very good job, the first time i read this comic it didn't felt somewhat "off" but after two more reads it looks good.
It seems that Horak tried to adapt his style to Dillon's, it was expectable and understandable, because of the few pages of Dillon's art in this comic but i prefer that he can make his own design in the upcoming issues. I didn't like the look of Frank's face in some panels.

The bar fight was amazing and very well constructed, without a doubt my favorite bar fight i ever read.


The cover from Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire is a masterpiece like they used to do in this current run. Pretty much in context if it was released last issue but in terms of art it's amazing.


Frank Martin as the colorist did a good artwork, in the brawl fight scenes the splash pages are simply amazing.




The editor Jake Thomas did a great tribute to Steve Dillon in the letters page to a great artist with his own style and great storyteller. He will be missed.






Overall Rate: 7 / 10

posted by @ivomgs












Monday, January 9, 2017

PC POST #336: Deadpool vs Punisher "Bullet to the Brain" Miniseries!





Deadpool vs Punisher, is one of the most awaited fights between fans from both characters.

Who would win in a fight between two of the most ruthless and lethal characters in Marvel Universe?
We might get an answer (or not) by Fred Van Lente and Pere Perez the creative team who will make this battle a reality.

Deadpool and Punisher have been in the "red" Thunderbolts, that time lead by Red Hulk "Thaddeus Ross". Both characters didn't have a good start in Thunderbolts, Deadpool even tried to kill him because of Elektra and the Punisher shot him in the head because he talked too much or cut his body parts off in the final arc and put it in vibranium jars in the arc "Punisher vs Thunderbolts".

From the interview Fred Van Lente gave us good hints of what to come from this new miniseries.

The two characters have a genuine reason to go after each other; it’s not mind control, it’s not mistook-you-for-a-villain, both protagonists are each other’s antagonists for legitimate reasons the reader can relate to, and that’s where this new character The Bank comes in.


Van Lente also reveals some minor details about this new player named Bank.


The Bank is a shadowy character who’s existed in the Marvel Universe for decades, but we’ve never heard of him before because he is very much off the grid—he’s as his name implies a money man, who handles offshore accounts for a variety of amoral-to-immoral characters and organizations.

He also happens to be one of Wade Wilson’s best friends, having known Deadpool before his Weapon X days, and so when Punisher decides to bring The Bank down, he’s got to go through Deadpool to do that, and you know what? Frank doesn’t really have a problem with that, since he doesn’t like Wade all that much anyway.

This miniseries seems interesting enough and if it's well set we might have one of the most funny and awesome comics the Punisher has ever been. 
The moment when the Punisher world intersects with Deadpool's, things will get messy for sure.


Can't wait for April for this upcoming miniseries!


DvsP #01 Cover by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire
DvsP #02 Cover by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire

Both issues to be released on April.

posted by Ivo Santos | @ivomgs