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.
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.
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!
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
