Written by: Rick Remender
Arted by: Roland BoschiFrank Castle is back. Back for revenge. Back in New York. Back to cleaning its streets. Back together, healed and strong, his mission resumed as he partakes in the sweet wet work, and notches up one of the highest body counts in Punisher history. Cyber sensei Henry Russo is back, keeping Frank proficient with an eye in the sky. Others are back as well – two of Frank’s most sadistic enemies united in a new vindictive plot: Enter the Jigsaw Bothers!
What did I think of the first post-Frankencastle tale of the Punisher in the regular Marvel Universe? Take a look behind the cut for my thoughts!
I was really excited when Remender was originally slated to write the Punisher. I remember grabbing his new series with Dark Reign and enjoying it quite a good deal. For fans of Fear Agent (which I certainly count myself amongst now), the work of Remender and Opena/Moore was something to get excited about. However, when Frankencastle rolled around, I found myself losing interest, despite Moore’s art. So I pulled out, for lack of better terms. While I am certainly not here to bash it for anyone that enjoyed it, I just wasn’t very interested in the concept.
I was and AM very excited to see the Punisher back in the Marvel U as himself, though. See, I like Punisher MAX for the “gritty and realistic” stuff (and Aaron and Dillon’s FANTASTIC work), but I also really like the Punisher as a character in the larger Marvel U. He’s one of the least likable heroes, and he really doesn’t fit in. I like seeing him interact with them. While I don’t think In The Blood will necessarily get into that, I do like seeing Frank back sewn together.
I suppose it’s good then that In The Blood pretty much picks up exactly where I left. With a nice recap at the beginning, the book brings back Jigsaw and his son Henry, continuing off of the Hood’s attack against the Punisher in Dark Reign. This is the type of Punisher story that I really enjoy. I’m all for the weird and crazy, but for the most part I’m really most content with Punisher going up against villains who can raise the dead and do so specifically to get rises out of him. In the case of Jigsaw, it looks like Remender is really pushing to end the Jigsaw storyline here, perhaps with a gruesome death and a vengeful son. It’s the sort of thing quite commonplace in Punisher stories to be quite honest (for those of you that remember Ennis and Dillon’s Punisher: War Zone mini).
While I can’t speak for his entire run, I really enjoy what Remender has here in the Punisher. This is some of the most fun/over the top Punisher I’ve read in… well, ever. I mean, a hang glider shaped like a skull? A brand new Punisher-cycle? The first big moment of the plot involves him blowing up a prison and killing all the inmates – that he put away. While I’m sure that kind of action requires a reaction by the superhero community (and I’m unsure if we’ll see it or not), it’s the kind of move that makes SENSE for the Punisher, and more importantly totally fits in with how I’ve seen Remender write this character and characters like him. Remender has a great sense of humor when it comes to his work, so his dark humor really shines through with the title. He also takes some time to elaborate a bit more on the relationship he began establishing with Harry before Frankencastle, and I’m really quite honestly happy to see that being brought back.
However, I can’t say I’m really thrilled with the art here. With the first arc of Punisher, we had Jerome Opena (who is now on Uncanny X-Force). With Frankencastle, we had Tony Moore of Walking Dead and Fear Agent fame, and all was reasonably good in the art department. However, getting spoiled with such great art like that makes me see Boschi’s art and think that it’s just not the same. Using Opena and Moore certainly gave Remender fans that extra push to go on from the Fear Agent train, but Boschi seems out of place here. His style is less smooth and defined in the same way Opena and Moore is, and it’ just not something that excites me in any way due to it’s general messiness.
All of this goes to say that I am glad to see the Punisher back in action as his normal stitched up self. The first five issues of Punisher were really great (from my memory, because that Ant-Man scene was fantastic), and I feel like we have a chance to get back to that and bring the Punisher fans who show up at NYCC and ask rude questions like “What were you thinking?” in front of a packed hall at an X-Men panel back to the game. I’m not sure why the book needed a mini like this logistically, but I will definitely be sticking with this book.
Final Verdict: 8.1 – Buy
