Marvel Rundown: Frank Castle is back in action with THE PUNISHER #1

Face front, true believers! This week our lead review looks at Frank Castle’s return to New York in The Punisher #1. Plus, we begin our coverage of the latest Spider-man crossover with Amazing Spider-Man/Venom Death Spiral #1, and a look at the beginning of the end of one of Marvel’s best series with The Ultimates #21

The Punisher #1

Writer: Benjamin Percy
Artist: José Luis Soares
Inker: Oren Junior
Color Artist: Frank D’Armata
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit

Ben Percy writes one hell of a street level comic. While I haven’t had the chance to read Percy’s Punisher: Red Band just yet, I need to do that ASAP if it is anything like this issue. Percy’s skill as a writer has always been understanding the assignment and nailing the execution. His work on X-Force and Wolverine may have been polarizing to some X-Fans, but he understood what kinds of books those titles needed to be and delivered. Same here in The Punisher #1.

Punisher is a polarizing comic character. He is very much of an era with the character wearing his 1970’s Revenge-sploitation grindhouse stories on his sleeves. He is also difficult to write given how his imagery has been co-opted by some of the worst in our society.

Finding the right angle and voice for a Punisher book has been a tremendous challenge for Marvel in the past 10 years because of this. Percy has found that angle. It is a very grounded Punisher but given a new angle of revenge. The events of Red Band had Punisher become enthralled to the Kingpin and mind-controlled to be an assassin for the crime lord. Okay, the idea of the story being grounded is relative to the Marvel Universe. Still, the comic focuses on Frank trying to be “heroic” vigilante he sees himself but still struggling to put his mind back together. This is a very Wolverine style take on the character, to be honest. The use of an omnipresent narrator for Frank gives us some sense of Frank’s internal thoughts but even they are cagey.

It has an almost Claremont-ian feel about it at times. Percy doesn’t really give Punisher any dialog nor does he even have agency in the comic. It is clear he is carrying out his actions almost as instinct. It is an interesting way to frame the character and leans on not just on Percy’s strengths as a writer but also on some of Punisher’s best modern takes.

The art by José Luis Soares is quite effective and matches the tone of the story. Soares renders Frank as a large, hulking man with battle scares riddled throughout. He looks very much like the classic Frank look, which after attempts of doing ninja Franks, Frankencastles, and angelic Franks, I really appreciate. Soares’s rendition of Jigsaw is just as grizzly as you’d expect, and I am shocked that this book wasn’t also a Red Band title for that scene alone.

 The page layouts provide a great sense of foreboding and dramatic effect. I found the use of panel overlays to show past events to be quite effective. I especially found the use of a mono chromatic color wash by Frank D’Armata on these overlays to be very effective. It gives the panel a sense of being like a hazy memory but also visually contrasts it from the current events on the page.

Overall, The Punisher #1 is a damn fine Punisher comic. It’s a back-to-basics approach to the character, but not in a reductive manner that we have seen with other Marvel properties. Frank Castle isn’t a character that can really evolve given the genre conventions that bind him. Percy understands the power and limitations of genre better than most writers at Marvel today. I have faith in him pushing those limits but in ways that will deliver an enjoyable read.

Final Verdict: Strong Browse

The Rapid Rundown

• Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral #1

  

  •  Despite contributing to this weekly column I simply cannot read every single Marvel book that releases each week. My issues with Amazing Spider-Man editorial are well documented in this column, and the Joe Kelly-written run has never drawn my attention enough to make me a dedicated reader. Despite my love for Al Ewing’s writing, I simply cannot get into Venom. So I come into this nine(!!) part crossover cold and with an admitted bias. Still, I always want every comic I read to be good. And you know what? This comic was pretty good. The issue sees Peter grapple with the wreckage of his life after returning from space, while Mary Jane struggles to tame Venom and find balance in her superhero life. Eddie Brock battles the Carnage symbiote, now bonded to him and begging to be set loose to kill. All the while, reports of grisly deaths mount tension at the bottom of every page. Despite three credited writers (Kelly, Ewing, and Charles Soule) this feels remarkably consistent in tone and voice. A few details from the ongoing’s I don’t follow had me scratching my head, but that’s the cost of entry in these crossovers. Jesus Saiz’s art is so hyper-realistic as to be occasionally drifting toward the uncanny valley but his wide screen action and cityscapes are gorgeous and the moody shadows gives the book a sense of dread, as do Matthew Hollingsworth’s muted colors. VC’s Joe Caramagna does a great job integrating the news clippings and reports to ensure there’s never any confusion about narration. I’m not sure this manages to sell me on the event—nine issues is entirely too many and we’ve seen how this office runs a story into the ground by stretching it too long—but it’s a well done opening. I’m still not interested in reading a solo Mary Jane story, but the Peter Parker portion of this book is so well characterized I may need to reevaluate the Kelly ASM. As for Amazing Spider-Man/Venom: Death Spiral, I will wait to see if the story has a real ending before recommending the story for the long haul.  – TR

• The Ultimates #21

  

  • Another round for one of the best books Marvel is putting out: The Ultimates #21, written by Deniz Camp and with art by Pere Perez, focuses on giving readers exactly what we need right now—a handbook on revolution. Following one of the best debut characters, Luke Cage, we get a day in the life of the Ultimates on the ground floor. Luke Cage’s team, Wingspan, Sigularity, and Nameless take on the Ultimate Defenders, a Roxxon-Sponsored group. Using the guidebook as a framing device for the issue is a fantastic choice that makes everything feel connected as you read through the panels.
    Camp uses the Defenders to comment on the “anti-politics” crowd, the type of people who want one-liners and quips instead of actual thought or meaning done in their stories. This issue also shows that Camp can really write Luke Cage, who may be the best character in the Ultimates overall. Not to mention, Pere Perez’s art is gory, action-packed, and takes excellent use of the pages and panels to create a flowing sense of action. This is the type of issue that makes you really sad that the Ultimates story is coming to a close and we’re losing out on this new world’s chance to tell fantastic stories.—LM

Can’t wait for next week’s books? Catch up with past editions of the Rundown!

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