PC POST #157: -PREVIEW-Punisher: The Trial + Interview

posted by @Ivo

-PREVIEW-

PUNISHER: THE TRIAL OF THE PUNISHER

CBR INTERVIEW WITH MARC GUGGENHEIM(click on the link)

PC POST #149: Punisher Rucka's run Tribute & Punisher: The Trial (two part series)

posted by @Ivo

Hi Punisher fans, today i will post a tribute that i have done some months ago and good news for every Punisher fan!

So, let's begin with the tribute.

This tribute was done to pay an homage to Greg Rucka's take on the Punisher. He deserved it and i hope he comes back for the character again... For the 1000th time, thank you for your fantastic run. This is for you.

NOW the good news, it seems that Marvel will give us another project that was on hold for some years it is called PUNISHER: TRIAL OF THE PUNISHER.

After Punisher: Nightmare by Gimple, Marvel is bringing back  another Punisher book that was on hold.

What to say about The Trial? This book was written by Marc Guggenheim and the artist is Leinil Yu.

By the synopse of this book it seems that the Punisher will surrender to the police and admits on his trial that he murdered a district attorney. This book will be a two-part series.

Personally this sounds very good and will give some boost on the character that is for now on a team book (Thunderbolts).

This two part series will be on the stores in September so stay tunned with us.

PC POST #111: Punisher Nightmare #5 Review

posted by @ivomgs

Punisher: Nightmare #5 Review

Writter: Scott M. Gimple

Artist: Mark Texeira

Colorist: Frank D'Armata

STORY (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS): This issue starts with Frank heavily armed finding Johnny in the sewers and shoot him with a gatling gun on Johnny's back turning him into pulp. Then Frank tries to deactivate all the C4 that Johnny planted in the sewers and store the deactivated C4 on his bag.
 On this time Johnny has recovered from his wounds and smash Frank into the walls, Frank shoot him and gets released from him and start running to create some space. Frank shoots the lights from the sewers and shoots his RPG almost hitting Johnny with a quick move escapes from the blast. Frank continues to running to get out of the sewers and he his being tailed by Johnny.

When Johnny get out of the sewers he sees that he is in Central Park, with Frank waiting for him in the place that started everything from both of them.

Johnny charges at Frank beating him over and over. At this time we get the feeling that Frank is planning something and he's getting beaten on purpose. After some beating Frank draws a pistol with incendiary ammo and all that beating Johnny didn't notice that Frank planted C4 on his back, Frank shoots and we see an huge explosion.

At the end of this issue Frank continues the mission when he and Jake left off, he finds the men that Dubose hired to kill Jake's family and kill them. Lastly he locates Sarnoff the man behind all the serum experiments and Johnny Nightmare and put a bullet to finish his life.

RATING: 4/5

 

 

WRITING: Gimple's writing continues very solid at the end of this mini series, this is the conclusion of a great mini and i wish that Gimple continued to write more Punisher stories, he developed a Punisher that i haven't seen for awhile. This Punisher has feelings, he isn't a machine, he still misses his family.

RATING: 5/5

ART: The most consistent point on all of this mini, excelent drawing by Texeira and brilliant colors by Frank D'Armata they make a great creative team and like Gimple i wish to see them in more Punisher comics.

RATING: 5/5

 

 

ENTERTAINING VALUE: Well this issue was non stop action since the beggining until the end like a good Punisher comic should be. Johnny Nightmare was a good Punisher villain in hand to hand it was a little out of Frank's league but gladly Frank outsmart him in the end. It's really sad to see this issue as the last of this mini series this last three issues were very entertaining, but i will be with high hopes to see this creative team together to write once more a Punisher mini series or maybe an ongoing.

RATING: 5/5

OVERAL RATING: 4.7/5

PC POST #110: Punisher Nightmare #5 Preview

This is it people, last issue of this great mini series, all hell will be on the loose in the sewers below Times Square... It's really sad that two great minis are reaching the end ( Rucka's and Gimple) and we will be resumed to Thunderbolts... I hope Marvel have more of this stuff to share with us.

@CBR

PC POST #109: Punisher War Zone #4 Preview

Here comes a preview of issue #4 for this fantastic run by Greg Rucka.

It's on sale 30rd January BUY IT!

@CBR

PC POST #108: Punisher Nightmare #4 Review

posted by @ivomgs

Punisher: Nightmare #4 Review

Writter: Scott M. Gimple

Artist: Mark Texeira

Colorist: Frank D'Armata

STORY (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS): This issue begins when the last one stopped, Frank, Dubose and Johnny falling from the building where they were interrogating Dubose before Johnny turned against Frank.

While falling, Frank managed to grab a ledge of a window avoiding direct hit into the concrete. When he reached downstairs he only found Dubose in his last breath he said a name to Frank, Kyle Sarnoff. That name is someone related to Frank's past back into Vietnam.

Johnny is on the run by a cab, while Frank gets some info about his wherebouts... Times Square. Frank gets back to his warehouse and starts to arming up and desguise himself to get Johnny in Time Square. While he is in Time Square some cops spot him and try to bring him in, but Frank subdue them and goes underground. Johnny is in the underground planning to bomb Time Square using C-4 that he grab from Frank's bag while they were falling.

RATING: 4/5

WRITING: Once more Gimple is really doing a great job by characterizing Frank, this time we travel back into one of the tours of Frank back in the 'Nam. Gimple explain to us two important situations back in Nam that are important to this story related to Kyle Sarnoff. Gimple in this issue is exploring about Frank's remaining humanity which is a good thing for me.

RATING: 4/5

ART: Nothing more to add since the last issue, great work by this great team Tex and D'Armata. Only one not so good points. While desguised in Times Square someone walking with dark glasses by night, one travel/sport bags in each hand and the white boots, in my opinion is not the best way to desguise...

RATING: 3/5

ENTERTAINING VALUE: Since issue #3 this mini-series is getting better and better like i was predicted in the last review of this book, in this issue Gimple is exploring Frank's remaining humanity and he is doing a wonderful job linking to some events in his past. I have said that this book could be a good way to new readers start reading the Punisher and its confirmed. It's a fact that Tex and D'Armata are doing a great job in the art of this book but the only downside is related to Frank's desguise in Times Square. I'm glad that this book is out, this will give some hope to all Punisher fans that beside Rucka's there are more writers that can handle this character.

RATING: 4.5/5

OVERAL RATING ISSUE: 3.9/5

 

PC POST #107: Punisher: Nightmare #4 Preview

posted by @ivomgs

Here goes another preview of this great issue on sale January, 23 2013.

PC POST #106: Punisher: Nightmare #3 Review

posted by @ivomgs

Punisher: Nightmare #3 Review

 Writer: Scott M. Gimple

Art: Mark Texeira

Colorist: Frank D'Armata 

 

 

STORY(MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS): This issue begins with Jake Niman getting shot in the head by an unknown assassin and the Punisher going after him. We got some background about this unknown assassin he's name is Dubose and he was a former sargeant of Jake's unit in the army. While Punisher his pursuing Dubose by car and carrying C4 in the trunk he gets shot and his car explodes, Punisher gets out of the car before the explosion but he lost his senses. 

 

Then we see Jake in his alter persona Nightmare taking Dubose as a prisoner lifting him with one hand both legs. Nightmare and Punisher go to a building scooped by Jake/Nightmare closer to Kozlowskis and to avoid attention and they start interrogating Dubose. They discover that Dubose was recruited by the army to kill Jake. When the Punisher takes over the interrogation we get to know that Jake was an experiment of the army, they injected him with the "Lazarus Serum". 

This serum uses injuries to remake tissue and it takes two years to kick in. 

When Frank is questioning Dubose and he his trying to release himself from the strings, Nightmare is questioning everything, his friends, enemies, motives and getting too confused. Dubose gets released from the strings and Frank fights him. When Frank immobilizes Dubose, Nightmare points the gun to Frank and starts to shooting at him, all hell went loose in the next panel we see the three of them falling from the window.

RATING: 4/5

 

WRITING: I think Gimple nailed it in this issue, we got some glimpses of  "Civil War" and some good speeches of Captain America about the Punisher and how his action may encourage others. Finally Gimple is wraping up some loose ends about Jake and the experiment the army done with him. One of the great points in Gimple's writing is the inner monologues of Frank we got to know what he is thinking in various situations. Anyone who knows the character may not need to read this, but this is very helpful to catch new readers to get into this wonderful character.

RATING: 4/5

 

 

ART: As the previous issues this is the most consistent point in this comic, good colors thanks to Frank D'Armata and the art itself by Texeira. What i like the most is the expression of the characters and all the action that involves them. Can't say much more than i have in the previous reviews, this guys are GREAT!

RATING: 4/5

ENTERTAINING VALUE: This is by far the best issue of the three! At the beggining of this issue we got some "Art of War" wisdom phrases by Sun Tzu which perfectly fits the Punisher. Then we got some good action in this comic something that lacks a bit in the previous issues. 

In my opinion with all the other issues this could be a good way to start reading the Punisher. With Captain America speeches and the Punisher inner monologues back in the "Civil War" i think this is a good way to start for anyone new to this character. 

 

I got the feeling that Jake Niman/Johnny Nightmare is becoming one of the great anthologists in the Punisher rogue's gallery thanks to all development of this character along these three issues. 

Great work by all the team behind this book. Gimple, Texeira and Frank D'Armata keep this great comic in the right track.

RATING: 4/5

 

OVERALL RATING ISSUE: 4

PC POST #104: Punisher: Nightmare #3 Preview

posted by @ivomgs

After this intense week we got some preview of the upcoming Punisher: Nightmare #3..

 

Great stuff and this beeing in the Civil War era it makes more sense to me.

See you next week for this review...

PC POST #103: Punisher : War Zone #3

By @neil4LOST

Punisher: War Zone #3

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: January 9^th, 2012

Published monthly by Marvel Worldwide, INC.

ADDITIONAL DETAILS:

Price – $2.99

WRITING:

After a decent first outing and a rough second in his current run of the Punisher : War Zone series, Rucka bounces back to deliver an intriguing story where Thor attempts to bring Frank Castle all by himself. Rucka does a nice job of setting up what seems to be an epic last two issues of the series. It starts off slow and predictable but ends being a breath of fresh air! Let’s hope that this version of Frank Castle goes out with a bang!

Rating – “B+”

ARTWORK:

Carmine’s work had been less than satisfactory in the previous two issues for my taste, but surprisingly enough his work fits well in this issue. The interactions between Castle and Thor Odinson mix well and dialogue between characters feels natural. Great work Carmine!

Rating – “B+”

STORY:

(WARNING – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS)

This issue rings true with the first two issues of this limited series. Thor is sent by Captain America of the Avengers to bring in the Punisher. After an encounter in Indonesia where Frank tries to lead Thor into a trap, Thor gains the upper hand and knocks Castle out.

Later on they have a deep conversation on a rooftop about Castle recent decision making and how it will ultimately lead to a good person who Castle cares about being put to death. They even have this conversation while sharing some ale! This conversation brings the book up to the level of the Punisher book by Rucka in its dialog and intrigue. Thor eventually leaves Punisher to ponder their conversation and readers are left wondering what Castle’s next decision will be.

Rating – “B+“

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE:

Overall, there is a lot to be entertained with in this issue. From explosions to knock-out punches from Thor to Punisher and Thor sharing a drink with deep discussion…you just can’t get enough of it. I was pleasantly surprised by this story and I am now looking forward to where it goes from here.

Rating – “B”

OVERAL RATING OF ISSUE:  “B+”

PC POST #102: Punisher: Nightmare #2 Review

posted by @ivomgs

This time i will change the order of my review it seemed to me more correct to began with story, writing, art and entertaining value.

Punisher: Nightmare #2 Review

 

 Writer: Scott M. Gimple

Art: Mark Texeira

Colorist: Frank D'Armata

STORY(MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS): This issue began with Jake thinking about his past some sargeat screaming at him, a doctor with a vaccine, him "burying" Johnny Nightmare in the war and remembering the shooting that killed is family. He and Frank were in the street on mission and then we see in the next page Jake bleeding in the floor. Then we see Frank asking him how can he healed in twelve hours from third degree burns and gunshot wounds. One interesting detail is that he wear the shirt with the skull at his wrong side, like oposing the Punisher. In the next pages we know that Jake was part of some program of the army that's why we see a doctor gave him a shot, then we got more panels of his past and Jake talking to Frank asking how did he manage to deal with the death of his family. In some panels we see that Jake quit the army.Then see Frank arming up Jake and then go tracking the killers of Jake's family, they were ambushed in a medical facility get rid of them and we see them in the streets and Jake getting shot in the back of the head. In the final page we see him arise like Johnny Nightmare.

RATING: 4/5

WRITING: The writing seems very solid once again but this time most of this comic is all about Jake Niman/Johnny Nightmare, we got some talking with Frank and Jake but mostly we are revisiting Jake's past as a special soldier in Afghanistan. Gimple is teasing us with some background information of Jake and i got the feeling that he is "playing" him like an opera with some crescendo in it always growing until it reaches his peak. This time we got some inner monologues but only for Jake/Johnny and his split persona issue. More and more we got the feeling that this guy's mind is pretty damaged and he will going to cause problem for Frank.

RATING: 3/5

ART: The art is again at the same level as the last issue. All the action is well made, beutifully colors done by Frank D'Armata he is giving life to this comic and with this boost, Texeira's graphics are really glowing through all of this comic. Texeira is giving emotion to this characters and we almost see them in the graphics and we almost don't need to read to understand them, just look at them. Texeira and D'Armata are really hitting the right spot.

RATING: 4/5

ENTERTAINING VALUE: This was a crazy issue, seeing Jake/Johnny with his inner monologues back to the past and go to the present and repeated panels almost 3/4 times if not more than this, was kind of a let down for me. 

We got a little of Frank just direct talking and no "inside thinking" since this issue was almost about Jake/Johnny split persona craziness. This was somewhat a continued "set-up thing" from issue #1, as a Punisher fan i want action we got a glimpse of it when Frank and Jake are ambushed in the medical facility and some explosions back into Jake's past. The graphics of Texeira's plus D'Armata colors in this comic we need to see some action in the next issues, and i'm hoping to see that in the #3rd issue. I believe this book covers all or most of Jake's past.

RATING: 3/5 

OVERALL RATING ISSUE: 3.5

PC POST #97: Punisher: War Zone #2

By @neil4LOST

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 5^th, 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-”

PC POST #91: New Rucka's interview - Punisher: War Zone

Another interview was released by CBR about our recent limited series "War Zone". Rucka's will tip us with some non-spoiler insight of whats coming in the next issues...

CBR News: Greg, after finishing an incredible run on "The Punisher," you're further putting your stamp on him in "Punisher: War Zone," further integrating him back into the Marvel Universe. The first issue makes this feel like something that could have easily been blown up into a much larger Marvel event -- how did you go about containing this concept and introducing it in the first issue with the efficiency and fluidity that you did?

Greg Rucka: It's funny -- when I started on "Punisher" with Marco, Marco and Steve Wacker and I knew this is where we were ultimately heading with Frank. That at some point, for lack of a better phrase, there was going to be a come-to-Jesus moment with Frank in the 616, that there was an inevitable confrontation there. It was sort of the elephant in the room. The problem with Frank in the 616, and one of the reasons why Frank works so well in MAX, is that he does not fit easily into a superhero universe. You have a couple options when you deal with that: you either ignore it and everybody then knows you're ignoring it, or you try to run towards it. That was really where we knew we were going to go with this.
It was logical coming out of the story in the Punisher and out of [issue] #16 that certainly Spider-Man, if not the hero community, would take notice. From there, it's just a question of trying to be as honest and fair to all the characters involved as possible. I don't know if there's a specific trick to integrating it one way or another. I really don't. It was logical that this was the time when finally the push was too much and, if nobody else, certainly Spider-Man was going to stand up and say, "Guys, we've gotta do something about this. If nothing else, he's making us look bad!"

CBR: You had some experience writing Spider-Man's interactions with Frank during "The Omega Effect" with Mark Waid. Did you take that opportunity to plant the seeds for "War Zone?"

G.R: Oh, yeah. More crucially, I don't think I ever really understood how to write Spider-Man until I got to do "Omega Effect." That was in no small part due to working with Waid and working with Wacker on that. Spider-Man had always, up until that point, been a very difficult character for me. I'd always found him very difficult to be sympathetic towards. He's always seemed to do the same sort of notes over and over again. I think in writing him and talking about him in-depth, I kind of got a new take on him and discovered that he's really -- aside from being what I'm late to the party on and what everybody else knows -- he's cool, but he's also a hell of a lot of fun to write! He's a fun character to write. I don't think of myself as a funny guy. I don't think of myself as particularly witty or quippy, and Spider-Man has always required that. It doesn't need to be good humor, but it needs to be humorous. He's always cracking wise. That's an element of the character.
If you read the recap pages -- I know a lot of people gloss over them -- the recap pages in "War Zone" actually are part of the story. There's information in those recap pages that set up future issues and where this thing is going. So, you ignore it at your peril. Matt Murdock is mentioned in there as well. He's being mentioned for a reason. The whole interaction with Spider-Man and Daredevil in "Omega Effect" was part of where I was intending to go with "War Zone." It all factored in.

CBR: The recap pages were also a very helpful part of your run on "Punisher." While "War Zone" isn't predicated on having read your entire "Punisher" run, it certainly seems like readers will get more of the story and references if they had. That said, the issue is amazingly approachable for new readers. How difficult was it to make this issue appealing to new readers while still making sure there was a good solid through line for longtime fans?

G.R: Honestly? I never set out in one form or another to go, "This has to be accessible to new readers." In every issue, I want to make sure there's enough information so that the reader picks it up and at the very least has an idea of what's going on and at best understands why what's happening is important. The benefit of putting the Avengers on anything is you have more people paying attention to it. [Laughs] Simply the nature of what the conflict is in the miniseries lends itself to a really clear setup. Spider-Man ends up having to go to the Avengers and say, "Look, we have to do something about this." The second he does that, then that provides the reader with a great entrée into the story. You're getting from Spider-Man's point of view exactly what the stakes are. The end piece to the first issue with Logan and Frank frames it pretty effectively.

Artist Carmine Di Giandomenico tackles the interiors for "Punisher: War Zone while Marco Checcheto handles cover duties

It's wonderful to hear people are finding it accessible. Maybe it says something about my writing that I wasn't trying to be any more accessible than normal, so maybe I should be working harder at it? [Laughs] I don't know, but I'm glad people found it easy to get into. It's fun and it is a very straightforward story in one sense. Here's the Punisher. He kills people! Here's Spider-Man. He goes to the Avengers and says, "Here's the Punisher! He kills people! We need to do something about this." The wonderful thing about writing anything with the Avengers is you always get different points of view. So many writers and especially just in the last several years have done such a wonderful job of bringing these characters into such clear focus. You look at them and you know what Tony's initial response is going to be. You know what Cap's response is going to be and you think you know what Thor's response is going to be.
I had never written Thor before. I just finished the final pass on that issue, on the Thor issue, and Jason Aaron was kind enough to read it. That was very generous of him. I'm very grateful. It's my first opportunity writing some of these people, so I want to get it right. I want to make sure they sound the way they should. Nothing would be worse than if people were reading "War Zone" and said, "That's not Spider-Man. Spider-Man would never do that."

CBR: One of the most impressive aspects of "Punisher War Zone" #1 was your ability to balance panel time between each of the Avengers and really solidify their attitudes towards Frank. Since you haven't worked with many of these characters in-depth before, what was the challenge not only in finding that balance, but effectively demonstrating their opinions about the Punisher?

G.R: One of the great things is, they play off each other so well. You put Spider-Man in a room with four of them, five of them -- that's the other wonderful thing about Spider-Man that I hadn't realized. Frank, throughout my run, has been stoic. He does not share what he's thinking, he does not talk a lot because he doesn't have people he talks to. He, frankly, doesn't care if they know what he's thinking or not. In that sense, he appears very reactive instead of proactive. He always has a plan.
The thing with Spider-Man is, you throw him at anything and he creates the situation. He hates that silence and he forces the interaction. By putting him in a room where you have Iron Man saying, "Really? Really? This is what we're meeting about?" and you have Natasha going, "Well, okay." I love Black Widow and one of the things I've always liked about her is she's a professional. I like that when Cap turns to her and says, "Well, can you find him?" She just says, "Yeah, I can find him." She doesn't prevaricate, there's no hedging. "It may take a while, but I'll find him." Those interactions and the way the characters interplay -- if you have the benefit of good writers who have come before, and I certainly have, you know what the characters are going to do in almost every instance.

CBR: Critical reaction to the first issue has been very good -- CBR actually gave the book a perfect score -- and our review called out a particularly interesting exchange between Wolverine and Captain America right before the conclusion of the first issue. Moving ahead, how will the Avengers' disagreements on how to handle the Punisher affect their ability to deal with him?

G.R: One of the things that I like about the Avengers is that even though they all have different opinions, they do unify around a cause. What Cap has to say in the first issue is certainly the Avengers thesis moving forward. Steve says, "When we permit this, we are saying it doesn't matter and we're saying we're only interested in those laws that pertain to us. Worse, we make our own laws." He's right. He is, I think, empirically write. If you look at Frank and look at Frank's actions in that context, whether or not you agree with what he does or his motivations, the fact of the matter is he breaks the law. He breaks the law on a pretty dramatic and consistent scale and he does so committing what is, in the hierarchy of superhero sins, a pretty big sin. He kills people and he gets a pass mostly because he's stayed below the radar -- at least, that's my argument.
Tony's line when he shows up is, "What are we saving the Earth from this time?" It's glib, but honest. You call the Avengers when there's a serious freaking crisis. You don't call the Avengers when there's one guy who's been shooting people. That's a waste of their resources, it's a waste of their talent. The way the series progresses over the first three issues is, Natasha attempts to find him and bring him in and then failing that, Thor's interest is piqued. It turns out, what is revealed by issue #4 is what Thor has done with a great amount of calculation. By the time we get to issue #4, the situation comes to a head because Frank's not an idiot. Frank knows that if he gets into a straight-up fight against the Avengers -- even a team of Avengers who are not 100% sure they need to bring him in -- it's still the Avengers! He's going to lose, and he knows that. It doesn't matter if they're all like, "Yay, team! Let's go get Frank!" It doesn't matter if Logan's dragging his feet or not, because when push comes to shove, what is Logan going to do? He's either going to sit it out or if he's in the game, he's going to be in the game. But Logan isn't going to throw the game. It's not like Cap's going to back down, it's certainly not like Iron Man's going to back down simply as an issue of ego, he's not going to let himself be beaten by this guy.
By the time we get to issue #4, the stage is set for a full-on confrontation. That confrontation, while different Avengers may be approaching it with different attitudes about Frank, they are agreed on a fundamental: that what he is trying to do must be stopped. The question then becomes how do you stop the Punisher? How do you stop a guy who really isn't afraid of dying, knows that the people he's up against will not kill him? How do you stop Frank Castle? Then, once you stop him, what do you do with him? He's been caught before.
What happens when you put Frank in Ryker's Island? The criminal population decreases rapidly. Frank gets to Rykers, people get killed. I have a friend, Eric Trautmann -- he's another comic book writer -- and he and I were talking about this. It's like Club Med! It's like sending Frank to Club Med! He doesn't even have to hunt them -- they're here! They just line up. It's great! I do like the fact that [the Avengers] are smart enough to know that from the beginning. "If we do get this guy, what are we going to do with him?" and that goes back to the other issue. What Cap has to say at the beginning of "War Zone" #1 about law and where the Avengers stand in relation to it is actually pretty critical to the resolution of the whole miniseries.
We tried to front load everything. [Laughs] It's all there!

CBR: Marco Checchetto was originally slated to draw the book, but Carmine Di Giandomenico stepped in as penciller for the issue. How do you feel Carmine was able to capture the same street-level feel Marco maintained in your previous Punisher title?

G.R: I think one of the nice things is that Marco made such a beautifully indelible mark, stylistically, across the sixteen issues that he pretty much drew the majority of. He really captured the design of Frank -- the wet paint skull on the body armor feel of it. Carmine can come in and grab those pieces and link back very cleanly, but at the same time -- to Carmine's credit -- it's very distinctively his. I can't draw to save my life, I have no idea how these guys do it. I don't know how one artist can look at what another artist has done and say, "I am paying homage to it quite literally," but at the same time, it's distinctly his. Frank is recognizable as the same Frank that Marco was drawing, but he's not. He's a different Frank. He looks different.

I've been really lucky. I'm able to say that about almost every work I've had in my career. I've been very fortunate with the artists I've been paired with. They've almost to a one been incredibly talented storytellers as well as just artists. That combination has served me well. It's made me look better than I am, let's put it that way.

CBR: In the more immediate future, you've got Punisher versus Black Widow coming up in "Punisher: War Zone" #2. What challenges await Frank in that encounter?

G.R: I will say this: one of the reasons I've been so leery of saying, "It's the Punisher versus the Avengers" is that my take on Frank has never been -- I've tried to articulate this elsewhere and I don't think I've done it very successfully. It goes back to "Omega Effect," because after looking at people like Daredevil and Spider-Man, I think Frank has an incredible respect for them. I think in the '80s iteration of the Punisher, when it was very broadly drawn between "bleeding-heart-liberals-soft-on-crime and the Punisher is the chalky pink medicine that solves crime" -- that kind of stuff -- it gets blurred. One of the things I've always tried to do with this Punisher is it's apolitical. This isn't about how he votes. It's never been about the fact he votes. This is about the fact that his wife and children were murdered in front of him and he's going to be the guy that makes sure that shit doesn't happen anymore.
He recognizes that in doing that, he is sacrificing a great many things. He is sacrificing morality, he is sacrificing recovery, he is sacrificing health -- he is, as he said to Cole in the "Punisher" run, "You're dead. If you do this, you are dead. You do not get those things that the living get any more. You give it up." At the same time, I think he's got to look at somebody like Spider-Man and -- he would never say it to Spider-Man, he would never in a million years say to Spider-Man, "You know, kid, I have an incredible respect for you. You're out there and you're a real hero," but he sure as hell thinks it. He thinks the same thing about Daredevil and he thinks the same thing about almost everybody who goes out there to be heroic, because he has never viewed himself as a hero -- or, I should say never following the death of Maria and the kids.
He looks at them, and I think he acknowledges the need for heroism. He even envies it. I think there's a piece of him that looks at it and says, "I wish I could be that man, but I'm not that man. That is not the path." There's a certain argument you could make that could extend to him saying, "And you guys need me to be the man that I am because it permits you to be the people you are."
So when we say it's the Punisher versus the Avengers, it makes it seem like -- and of course you get nice, sensational art that Marco does with bullet holes in people and so on, but Frank's not going to shoot Spider-Man. He's not going to shoot somebody if there's a chance he's going to kill them. Not these guys. For no other reason, it just doesn't fit in the code. His code is he's punishing the wicked. These people are demonstrably not wicked. He may think Tony Stark is an arrogant prick, but that's not reason enough to shoot him twice in the head. [Laughs]

If somebody came to him and was able to prove to his satisfaction that Tony Stark was actually involved in wide scale, global human trafficking, then it's a different issue. Then, he'll happily put two bullets in his head, but you're not going to do that because that's not who Tony is. That's not who Tony has ever been in the 616.

One of the things that really puts Frank in the doghouse in this series is, sure, Black Widow comes after him. If she finds him, what are his options? He doesn't want to kill her. He actually really doesn't want to be forced into a situation where he has to do that, and you can say the same thing -- Spider-Man comes after him, same problem. Thor comes after him, same problem. Iron Man comes after him, same problem. How does he get away, how is he able to continue doing what he feels he must do? It's a situation that begs a terminal result and it's not a terminal result that he is willing to deliver.
In that sense, I think we're touching on something we ended the "Punisher" run on, which is not every solution to Frank is a solution that requires blood on the ground. It's interesting, it's been a very interesting tightrope. One of the things that's actually made me very nervous is the reaction to "War Zone" #1 has been really, really good and I'm delighted. But I'm really worried people will get to #3 or #4 and go, "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! When's he going to shoot Spider-Man?" He's not -- or he's not going to in the way you think. It's not going to track that way.

CBR: The series as a whole, then, seems like a representation of unsolvable problems on both sides.

G.R: Yeah, and like I said, that goes back to the very fundamental questions that Steve and I were talking about when we began the run. It's the elephant in the room: What do you do with a problem like Frank Castle? That's frankly one of the things that makes the character so brilliant. It's one of the things I said at the beginning of the run -- inherently, what Frank is, is a revenge tale. Well, every revenge tale ends the same way. It ends with death. Frank actually got his revenge ages ago and yet he goes on, he persists. I can't think of a character in Literature -- I mean capital 'L' Literature, from comic books to novels to epic poetry -- where that's the case. It makes him remarkable and it makes him unique and it begs certain questions. You have to ask, how can he do this? How can he sustain it? How has it not been self-destructive, how has it not been self-consuming? These are, for lack of a better phrase, grown-up questions and they may ultimately not matter one whit. [Laughs] But they are the kind of things I find inform me when I'm working on it.

Source

PS: If you haven't buy Punisher: War Zone #1, don't wait this is one of the best runs in years of our character. Support good comics like this one.

by ivomgs

PC POST #88: Punisher: Nightmare book, news and Punisher: War-Zone #01 preview!

Hello Punisher fans!

This week we got some news about our favorite character.

In January we will get a new book for the Punisher, unfortunately it will be a limited series with 5 issues but no problem by me if Marvel keep 'em coming.

This book will be written by Gimple the Walking Dead TV series producer and writter and the art will be done by Texeira ( Space: Punisher).
In this book it will appear a new enemy Johnny Nightmare, as they say in the interview if he gets hurt he will grow more and more stronger ( probably a mutant?).
In this story Frank will know a soldier that lived the same nightmare as him. (the family of this soldier were killed in a mob crossfire and he gets in a coma).

You can check the interview for more details here.

Cover #1

Cover #2

Cover #3

Cover #4

Cover #5

For the news section this week we know that the Red Leader will be part of the team of Thunderbolts, don't know how Frank will deal with this, because the Red Leader is truely a villain, i'm guessing that he wouldn't last long in this team...

- January 2013 we got an appearence of Frank in Fury Max #08.

There will be an anime movie named Iron Man: Rise of Technovore that will feature Iron Man,War Machine, Nick Fury, Black Widow, Hawkeye and The Punisher. We will watch more news about this anime very closely. Here goes the trailer. See the article here.

It looks really cool, the art could be better in my opinion, but i'm glad that they give the Punisher a chance to be present in this anime. Maybe this could lead to many more appearences in Marvel animation.




At last but not the least i will post some pictures of the preview of the Punisher: War-Zone #01.

I love the art, And think there is some similarities with Marco's art, continue your good work Giandomenico. This issue will be available in 24th of October.

See you next time and i hope it will be soon.

Posted by @ivomgs