Written by Greg Rucka
Illustrated by Michael LarkOne long ago night, as the Punisher battled Daredevil, one cop’s life was forever changed.
I don’t have anything clever or insightful to write for the pre-review paragraph, so instead I will note this: this is probably the most I’ve enjoyed a Punisher comic that wasn’t some kind of alt story since I don’t know when, and I want the whole world to know about it.
Find out why after the cut.
Once upon a time, DC Comics published a little book called Gotham Central. Starring the police and detectives of Gotham City as they investigated the criminals Batman punched, the book was a grand achievement in the DC line-up as it was a true example of diverse publications (as opposed to 52 essentially similarly themed books being launched all at once). In a sea of titles that starred men and women in capes and tights, this book dealt with the real people of the DCU; their lives infinitely more fragile, their stories more relatable, their problems more identifiable. To this day, Gotham Central stands as one of the best Bat-family titles DC published within the past decade, and it remains a fine example of the quality comic DC is capable of publishing (even if general opinion seems to be that the world really needs more capes and more tights and more punching).
On the other side of the coin, you have the focus of this review: the Punisher. Punisher has been one of those titles to exist in the Marvel U for some time with no more than a base mantra; the Punisher could be chopped up and turned into a Frankenstein, he could fight naked old women with shotguns, or he could put on a weird version of Captain America’s costume and fighting racists, but it all ultimately came down to the central character’s nom de plume and what he does for a day job. This vigilante, with guns blazing through pages and a grimace imprinted on his face as vengeance burns in his heart, could sell a title simply because the demographic interested in his stories would get what they paid for in the end. No matter the adventure, it always comes down to the Punisher with a gun (or some killing tool) in hand.
So when Greg Rucka joined the book six issues ago, his idea for the title was immediately inherent: despite the book being titled after the Punisher, the book isn’t really about the Punisher. He is a major character, sure, and the book couldn’t exist without his involvement, but the book continues the recent tradition of writers taking a new slant in the Punisher to escape from the humdrum the character might imply. That’s why, instead of a book focusing directly on the Punisher fighting the Vulture or the Punisher shooting up a room full of bad guys, we watch from the sidelines or behold the aftermath. A lot of Marvel comics make attempts to portray super characters in a real landscape, but most fall short just before reaching that goal. However, as much as the Punisher is a character who “could” exist in the “real world” (in so much as any psychopathic vigilante could exist), we’re given the real viewpoint to his carnage, effectively encapsulating that idea in a way that Greg Rucka and (this issue’s artist) Michael Lark have done before.
In other words: The Punisher should ostensibly be retitled Gotham Manhattan Central. Perhaps even NYPD: Marvel.
Now, this isn’t the first time Marvel has given us a title in which the super powered characters play second fiddle to the “real world” characters. For example, Alias and the Pulse helped launch Brian Bendis’ career at Marvel, and both dealt with real situations in reaction to super problems. However, this is the first time (to my knowledge, anyway) that Marvel has allowed a brand as big as the Punisher to be subverted in such a fashion, with his name being given to a story that is only tangentially his. While Marvel’s Big Shot relaunch spouted off promises of street level stories with Moon Knight and Daredevil, the Punisher takes it to the next level, giving a “street level” title that truly exists only at the street. We get to walk the beat with the detectives, and previous issues have shown us the reporters point of view and even the civilian perspective. Now, with a semi-GC reunion, there’s no way of getting around it; this is the spiritual successor to the incredible series, and comics couldn’t be any luckier to see it happening.
Continued belowThe bottom line to all of this? It works. It absolutely works. You don’t need to see the Punisher any more than you needed to see the shark from Jaws, or the alien in Alien; he is an omnipresent force who exists between panels or in shadows, and his presence is always felt even when he isn’t visible. The people Rucka does write about and Lark illustrates with true grit and a biting edge, these characters who we see investigating or dealing with the Punisher’s actions, are all ultimately much more intriguing. This issue’s monologue about a previous Punisher event (the one alluded to in the solicit) is gripping, both in the lead-up and the final pay-off, and its a story perfectly executed by Lark in a way that makes Rucka’s script shine even more. It is great to watch the team in action again, and now seven issues in to this new status quo I don’t remotely miss even an ounce of the ultraviolent comic the book used to be.
I haven’t read that many books this week, to be honest, but one thing is for sure: reading this issue of the Punisher as my second book of the week (with the first being that other book I reviewed) has absolutely set the bar high for whatever else I happen to read. Rucka is bringing his A-Game to the book, and this issue with Lark solidifies the Punisher title in its own excellent corner of the Marvel U. This is by far one of Marvel’s definite can’t miss titles, and 2012 is already looking rather superb.
Final Verdict: 9.0
