‘Punisher #1’ Review
Written by Jason Aaron | Art by Jesus Saiz, Paul Azaceta | Published by Marvel Comics
How do you solve a problem like Frank Castle?
The Punisher has had a wild career since Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru created him way back in 1974. Originally a pretty clear cut villain, his popularity saw him frequently guest star so much he morphed into something of an anti-hero. You can blame Frank Miller for that one. His graduation to his own multiple books saw him become one of Marvel’s biggest characters in the early 1990s, together with Wolverine and Ghost Rider. Heck, he even got his own Netflix TV show just a few years ago. So, why has Frank not been flavour of the month lately?
With The Punisher Marvel now have something of an image problem. Seems if you like to make money from the Punisher skull logo, you have to accept that some less than savoury people may like to co-opt it. It’s been showing up in police violence and white supremacist cases rather a lot, for one thing. So, as any good corporate entity will tell you, it’s time for a rebranding. Any comic company will tell you, it’s time for a soft reboot. Marvel is both. The trick is to not lose the edge that has made him popular in the first place, a tricky balancing act. I think Jason Aaron was probably the perfect hire for this. He’s done excellent work on characters like Wolverine, and I’ve no doubt he’s up to the job. Let’s see if I’m right.
Behind a stunningly effective cover we get a stunningly effective opening, a reminder of the tragedy that created The Punisher. He and his family were caught in crossfire and all shot dead, except himself. The following two page spread uses images and events from his entire history, with some memorable in there. See how many you can remember. Present day, and an unusual weapons storehouse comes under attack. Only one man, but his name is enough to scare the living daylights out of everyone. Punisher. Punish them he does, and Saiz and Azaceta do an incredible job making him look good while doing it. He slices and dices…say what now? where’s his world famous heavy ordnance? the unfeasibly large guns that fire an impossible amount of bullets? nowhere to be seen. He has a sword. And a bad attitude. And a new symbol.
Did I mention the new symbol? if you keep up on the industry, you’d have to be under a rock not to have seen or heard about this. It’s a variation on Frank’s old symbol. It’s….ok. It might grow on me. Of just as much importance is the fact Frank’s got himself some playmates. Avengers? Nope. The Hand. Say what now? Yep, he’s thrown in with The Hand, a group he would have been shooting the hell out of a few years ago. Now, he’s apparently their High Slayer. This is going to need a whole lot of explaining which, knowing Marvel, will take 4-6 issues so it can be nicely packaged as a trade paperback.
To be fair we get a little insight. We see, in flashback, The Hand’s High Priestess seek out Frank Castle to be the next in a long line of slayers. He’s the best mass murderer in the world after all. In a staggeringly brutal few pages we see Frank take on a dozen Hand assassins in his apartment as some form of test. It’s violence right up there with the Netflix Daredevil. Visceral stuff. I must admit I do sometimes wonder why the Hand are so feared when non-powered characters like Daredevil and Punisher can take out whole rooms of them. Ninja school needs to up its game. When Frank disposed of everyone, he was deemed worthy, and the High Priestess offered him a gift, something that made him join them. I won’t spoil it, but it’s a guest appearance you would never have guessed…and one I have quite a few issues with.
Firstly, the good. This is a superb looking book. The cover, interior art and colouring is superb. The book has all the style in the world. What it lacks, though, is the substance. When I read a Garth Ennis Punisher, or a Frank Miller Punisher there was a lot of story in there complemented by great art. Aaron here does a decent job, I particularly like the monologuing, but it just feels a little forced. Making him a more supernatural/ mysticism connected character that doesn’t use guns might fulfill the brief of making him less attractive to the right-wing groups, but does it make him a viable character going forward. An ‘angel of vengeance’ type Punisher, with supernatural weapons, crashed and burned spectacularly during the Marvel Knight era. Let’s just say I’m not convinced.
Easy on the eye, less easy on the mind. I’ll sit on the Bullpen fence for now.
