PC POST #385: -REVIEW- PUNISHER: THE PLATOON #2

Platoon #2 was a blast and Garth Ennis once again just delivered an amazing story and show a Frank Castle in action for the first time with zero experience.

If Garth Ennis had a seal of quality this story would be branded by it. Again. 

Ennis tell us a war story that only a very few can deliver with such intense and detailed description.

Ennis presents us the two points of view from both sides of the war, the American and the Vietnamese. Not for you to take a side but to think about both sides.

The leadership skills of Frank Castle continues to be tested by his Platoon but this time under attack by tons of Vietnamese troops, this will mark the very first time Frank Castle is in action and the first kill.

This comic has a huge amount of violence and gore like a good story delivered by Ennis, he shows us how dirty and savage war can be and we will see Frank's Platoon fighting for their lives with everything they have just to survive.

Most of the credit goes to Goran Parlov who delivered a really good artwork and amazing panels with great colors.

The splash scenes are simply amazing with the usual quality from Parlov books that we are used to.

Explosions, shootouts, violence and the expressions of the characters is another detail that Parlov nailed it, he almost didn't need that Ennis could write any dialogue into the script, their expressions said it all.

The cover is amazing with a strong stare and that look we as Punisher fans have seen somewhere. And for the epic posture, Frank is on the cover.

Parlov needs to share his success with Jordie Bellaire as colorist not only for the cover but to the interiors of the comic. She really gave more depth to the tone of this series.

You can't go wrong with this series. If you are Ennis fan or The Punisher's classic MAX stories you will love it. It's Ennis and I don't remember him writing a bad Punisher story.

Overall Rate: 8.5 /10

PC POST #379: -REVIEW- THE PUNISHER #16

Penultimate issue is out and puts together old foes. The Punisher and Face... With many updates to his own skillset!

Sadly Becky Cloonan's Punisher run is coming to an end. One more issue to go right when she found the perfect formula for her to portray the character. But she will not tap out until she wrapped up an old settle between Frank and Face. 

This issue is fast paced and the Punisher was conveniently placed in the right spot of the action meaning in the hospital that Face was recovering.

Most of this issue is about the Punisher vs Face and what an upgrade Face had. His face is now shaped like a skull and his body assimilated the overdose of EMC that will make him stronger and faster by default.

These two had a great fight in several pages being Face physically superior but Frank tactically smart to overcome that lack of strength.

The dialogue was good and the bit of humor was on point, without turning this issue into a comedy. I have to give credit to Cloonan for making Face a more interesting character than it was for 12 issues and my only regret is that she could make all these changes way back and make the first two arcs way more interesting than it was in the first place.

On the other hand, I'm glad she could catch up with good quality issues and now we will wrap up this story with a bang, next issue.

Matt Horak's art was really good. Since the last issue, the artwork seems to improved a lot. The battle between Frank and Face was graphically on top with great colors and especially the fight that occurred in the flames.

Now, I will give credits to Horak to make Face one of the most creepy Punisher villains I've ever seen. He remembered me a lot of another Punisher villain called Deke Wainscroft back into the graphic novel P.O.V.

Derrick Wainscroft

Face

The cover was once again superb with Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire delivering a creepy tooth of Face. With of course a skull in between the front teeth. It's curious, in every Punisher cover they draw always a skull. Sometimes it's not so visible but it's always there. Great touch by these two writers!

Overall Rate: 8.5 / 10

Review by Ivo Santos ( FB / Twitter )

PC POST #373: -REVIEW- THE PUNISHER #15

Simple and compressed. This should be standard for most of the Punisher stories, it's a simple "recipe" that it's been unused for awhile now until Becky Cloonan step up and show how it's done.

Issue #15 tells us a story of a serial killer who is pushing innocent people into the front of the trains and we will see Frank Castle hunting him down.

 In the first issues of this comic, Becky Cloonan shows how bad this villain is and easily make the reader asking for some kind of punishment. 

This guy in with a trench coat is far from being the worst villain the Punisher faced in the current run, but he is a man who knows his surroundings and the Punisher goes into his own "turf" which reveals to be a difficult task.

Cloonan introduced a secondary character called Ryan, a homeless that lived in the underground and was a great help to Frank. Frank recognized that Ryan was a former lieutenant and he pretty much offers his help to Frank to catch this killer, Frank accepted.  

This was the only negative point of this story in my opinion. Not because of the character which was great but the way Frank easily accepted his help putting his life in danger.

On the other side, it was great seeing the empathy of two former military men joining forces to the same goal and Cloonan explored very well the relationship between them.

Matt Horak did a great work on this issue. So far and in my opinion, this was his best work since he picked up the Punisher title. Very solid artwork with a great motion in the action scenes between characters. The backgrounds were great even the crowd who were in the background were well defined. 

Lee Loughridge was a huge help in the coloring of this issue, the tone was perfect for an underground scene.

Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire continues to impress with amazing covers and this is no exception. It's an action scene that reminds me the old 90's beat em up games with Frank wasting some bad guys in the subway.

OVERALL RATE: 7.5 / 10

Posted by Ivo Santos (FB / Twitter)

PC POST #358: -REVIEW- THE PUNISHER #13

The Condor's arc is over and Frank Castle is back in New York. After some vacations he goes back to his bunk and finds out one of his weapons was stoled and he tries to find out who has it.

The way this story was written it makes the perfect chance for non Punisher readers jump on board. It has a great resume of what happened in the past 12 issues.

This story is full of classic elements when Frank goes all detective to find out about his missing gun. Particularly i really liked this story, it's compressed and even explores a bit of Frank's humanity in the way he interacts with all the characters of this story.

There are funny moments in this story when we see Frank's intimidating a little kid because of his "lost" gun and the way both characters talk ended like a parental advice. In the last pages of this issue Frank even intervenes in a domestic fight.

This story doesn't have the non stop action or the huge body count that Cloonan used to present us in the current run but all is good for the sake of good storytelling and it was a good change of pace. 

The art of Kris Anka was pretty good. I really liked how Kris designed Frank Castle, in the first pages we can clearly see his face and details but when he is interrogating some characters about his gun, his face was drawn with a huge shadow covering his eyes. It was a great touch.

Matthew Wilson deserves some shout out too for the ambient he colored, sometimes too much vivid colors but when Frank Castle appeared the colors toned down becoming a little darker. It was a great detail and i really like it.

Once again Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire pretty much nailed the cover on this one. It's funny to see how the Punisher is portrayed in this cover with a not so innocent resemblance of Jon Bernthal. 

Overall rate: 8 / 10

posted by Ivo Santos (@ivomgs)

PC POST #351: -Review- DEADPOOL VS PUNISHER #3

Deadpool and Punisher are still looking for Mariana and Hudson to get the backup of the account numbers of the major crime syndicates... But the Bank hired a new player to recover the backup account numbers... the Taskmaster!

Fred Van Lente /Pérez/ Redmond
Cover art by Declan Shalvey and
Jordie Bellaire

I couldn't be more excited about this miniseries, Fred Van Lente and Pere Pérez are making one of the best team up books with the Punisher i've read in awhile.

It's a delight to read a comic book that respects the main characters and Van Lente does it. This third issue reveals the main aspects of personality from Deadpool and Punisher. Any new fan with zero knowledge about these characters would understand perfectly their beliefs and motivations.

I couldn't be more excited to see Taskmaster in this miniseries, specially because the Punisher never met him before and i hope to see these two fighting.

We can expect an action pack story from the beginning till the end with a little bit of a twist by Taskmaster. It was amazing that Taskmaster didn't care about Deadpool, because he knows him, but how interest he showed regarding the Punisher, in one page he describes the Punisher fighting skills while he sent all his mercs against him. Really cool stuff!

The art of Pere Peréz is great. The action scenes are superb and the characters are very well drawn. It's far from being a bored artwork in fact it's a very dynamic artwork. The coloring of Ruth Redmond is as precious as the art of Perez, she gives life and realism to the artwork of Perez and i really loved how she set the perfect tone for this miniseries.

The Good:

Great storytelling;

Amazing artwork;

High level of entertainment.

Not so good:

This should be called Deadpool / The Punisher ( Team up) instead of Deadpool vs Punisher.

Overall rate: 9 /10

Review by Ivo Santos (@ivomgs)

PC POST #349: -REVIEW- DEADPOOL VS PUNISHER #02 (2017)

(W) Fred VanLente / (A) George Pérez /
(C) Redmond/ (Cover) Shalvey & Bellaire

After a wonderful first issue this miniseries keeps up a good pace but this time with a little bit of plot development instead of action packed. Van Lente is doing a perfect job portraying both characters. I think the fans of both characters should be happy with this great service.

VanLente built a great chemistry between both characters when we see the usual comedian side of Deadpool and the seriousness of the Punisher. So far, it's working.

We can find some cameos of Marvel characters and we see how Bank got the hands on everybody pockets.

Last issue was top notch action packed adventure with some head to head fight between Deadpool and the Punisher. In this second issue, the action slows down a bit and we will see some detective skills of the Punisher, when he investigates the "tragic deaths" of Bank's family. The Punisher clearly is taking advantage of Deadpool's being a naive

We got some awesome sword fighting between Deadpool and the Don of the Dead.

This comic book is called Deadpool vs Punisher, but in this issue they did not fight against each other but for what i have seen it so far and how it ended we will have another clash between Deadpool and Punisher soon enough.

The artwork of George Pérez is great and i was highly surprised by the details of how gory he can be. Great detail when Deadpool sliced the intestines and head of his enemies during the sword fight with Don. Another positive detail is the great coloring by Redmond that turned this artwork really "smooth" and pleasant read/watch. 

The Good:

-Great pace and interesting plot;

-Awesome portrayal of the protagonists;

-Great artwork of George Pérez and Redmond.

Not so Good:

-Deadpool and Punisher didn't fight in this issue.

Overall Rate: 8 / 10

By Ivo Santos ( @ivomgs )

PC POST #348: -REVIEW- THE PUNISHER #11 (2016)

(W) Becky Cloonan / (A) Matt Horak
(C) Frank Martin / (Cover) Declan Shalvey
& Jordie Bellaire

The Punisher #11 is out and it was a blast! Clearly the best issue of the current run!

I can't describe how much fun i had reading this comic book, the storytelling and artwork were in perfect harmony.

Punisher #11 is like 80's movie in terms of action with minimal dialogue and straight up to business, this issue marked a fighting for survival with a cornered and wounded "animal" (Frank Castle) outgunned and outnumbered.

Becky Cloonan did a great work in the passed few issues, in former issues there was some dull moments and sometimes it gave me the feeling that i was lost in terms of storyline. 

But clearly she did set up the story very well and at this point and the results are seen in this issue. The final objectives of Condor are clear, agent Ortiz seems to find the right path and Frank has to close this chapter, that eventually it will be concluded next issue.

Matt Horak and Frank Martin did one hell of a job (again) on this issue. Matt because of his amazing splash pages and scenes during the fight scenes that last for at least 15 pages. Great hand to hand fighting with Frank using all the elements around him to take out dozens of Condor mercs.

Frank Martin set up a dark tone and amazing colors to this issue, once again he let Horak's artwork be even more amazing.

Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire are the perfect team for the covers of this run. Great creative team and how they set up this cover with a perfect aligned sharks formed the eyes and nose and the rocks bellow the ocean formed the teeth of the skull.

The bodies below the ocean and the boat described perfectly what was this story.

The Good:

-Great action;

-Good artwork;

-Compressed storytelling;

-Great cover.

Not so Good:

-

Overall Rate: 9 / 10

posted by @ivomgs

PC POST #341: -REVIEW- PUNISHER #9 (2016)

Punisher #8 is out, with less Punisher but more Agent Ortiz... And it doesn't have to be all that bad.

For those waiting to see a kick ass action scenes with the Punisher, might be disappointed, because there is only one page with him.

But overall it's far from being a boring comic, specially with the art of Matt Horak that gave a great dynamic to the comic with the storytelling of Becky Cloonan.

Becky Cloonan gave a chance to Ortiz to develop a bit more in this comic. It was important, in the past issues Ortiz seemed kind of obsessed with the Punisher instead of putting down the guy responsible for the death of his partner Henderson.

Ortiz is a kick ass character and we can see that in this issue specially in the scenes with Face.

We could have a bit more of the Punisher, sadly we got only one page with a few panels, as a Punisher fan i didn't like it but his lack of appearance was sacrificed with some characters development like Ortiz and Face.

I really liked the artwork, Matt Horak seems the right man to this book, i'm still on the fence about the details of his characters in a distance, but his "close ups" are really amazing and very detailed.

I have to give a special credit to the "crash scene" and the explosion in the Olaf's house. 

Frank Martin, the guy from the "background" is part of the success of Horak's work, like he did with Dillon's. Great coloring and very adequate to the tone of this series.

Decent cover by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, this time i'm not surprised with this cover. In fact it's my least favorite of this series, but hey, it's still a very decent artwork. But to me, not at the same level as for example last issue.

Overall i didn't felt so engaged like the previous issues, in terms of plot, but i liked that Cloonan could develop a bit more of Ortiz and Face. I was very surprised how the house of Olaf exploded, didn't saw that coming... i was expecting a simpler trap but nothing so extreme, specially to put his wife and kid in great danger. 

Let's hope we have more "Punisher" in the upcoming issue.

The Good:

-Good development of Ortiz and Face; 

-Great artwork and coloring.

Not so Good:

- Lack of appearence of the main character in this issue;

-Face is still around, barely, but still is.

Overall Rate: 7.0 out of 10

Posted by Ivo Santos (FB/Twitter)

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

PC POST #327: -REVIEW- PUNISHER #6

(W) Becky Cloonan / (A) Steve Dillon / (C) Frank Martin & Lee Duhig /(CA) Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire

After the fast packed action between Ortiz and the Punisher last issue, the pace of this new book did actually slow down a little bit.

Becky Cloonan show us some flashbacks of Frank's days as USMC and his relationship with Olaf. We also learn that Frank had already cross paths with Condor's soldiers in the past.

It was interesting seeing Frank as a marine and how honorable he was, unlike the soldiers of Condor.

Ortiz is dealing with the grief of his deceased partner and she wants to destroy Condor operations.

It was a good move to explore some Frank's background and Cloonan did it in the perfect timing, There is some stuff to be explained but i bet with time it will happen.

From the artistic point of view, Steve Dillon once again kept his high standards. He nailed on portraying a younger Frank Castle and did a great job in the action scenes. 

I was very impressed by the last page of this comic, clearly Dillon show his full potential with the help of Frank Martin who delivered the best looking page of the entire run to date, in my opinion.

Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire showed once again awesome skills with the cover of this issue. Graphically, these awesome pair is meant to work together. Both did a great job. With a cover giving us a signal of Frank's passed days as a marine.

Conclusion: This run doesn't seem to lost the "steam" and despite the action and the pace dropped significantly i maintained my attention to the comic, for moments when i finished reading the first time i was confused by that last page but then i read issue #5 and understood what happened.

OVERALL RATE: 7.5 out of 10

Editor's note: This review just take too long to be released. I was ready to release it on Saturday but then i was in shocked when i learned that Steve Dillon passed away. And i put this review aside for a few days, maybe i was mourning him.

Steve Dillon was the artist who did more Punisher issues to date. He wasn't just an artist, he was a storyteller. I was in my teen years when Ennis and Steve picked up on the Punisher, so this admiration has many years.

I will miss Steve Dillon's artwork, i will miss those funny moments all these years and great laughs while reading his Punisher comics.

My sincere condolences to his family and the comic book world should mourn him. It was a great loss. 

I will definitely revisit all those funny moments he had with all of us.

Ivo Santos | @ivomgs