Art by Marco Checchetto

The day Greg Rucka’s Punisher debuted on the shelves, I thought of getting it. I flipped through it and completely lost interest. Frank looked like he was coming out of the 2004 movie with the spray painted skull and the slim (at least, for Frank) figure. The thing that bothered me the most was that I didn’t even get to see much of the Punisher himself. That is what “The Punisher” is supposed to be about, right? So…I passed on it. My mind changed about five issues into the series. By then, I’ve heard very good feedback on it from other comic review sites and I wanted something to replace the terrible books I stopped reading *cough* Catwoman *cough*. Lucky for me, my wonderful comic shop had all of the issues. Being an irresponsible child, I took a large leap of faith and bought all of them. And the only mistake I made was that I didn’t pick this fantastic book up sooner.
This is not a superhero book. This is a horror story. Rucka decided to have a new take on the anti-hero that might outrage those traditional Punisher fans. As I said before, I was unimpressed at first. But when I actually sat down and read the book, I wanted to punch myself in the face for being so stupid. In fact, Punisher is one of the best books Marvel is publishing. Frank Castle doesn’t appear much and he doesn’t talk much either. In fact, I think the first word he said was in issue three. Don’t let this turn you off though. Rucka took a total 180 with this project. Instead of writing Frank’s view on the world, he wrote how outsiders view him, including his enemies and innocent bystanders. He isn’t a vigilante to them; he’s a ghost, a myth, a monster. This fresh new take is dark, interesting, and beautiful. And the great part is, you actually care about the normal people. The way I see it, there are three main characters in this series. The first two are Detective Bolt and Detective Clemons, two detectives (obviously) investigating a wedding day massacre that the ghost of New York is putting into his own hands. I found the two of them to resemble Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman from the great movie, Seven. The other character is Norah Winters, a young reporter who crosses paths with Castle and is highly effected by it.

As brilliant as the writing is, the series would not be nearly as enjoyable without the breathtaking pencils and inks by Marco Checchetto. Without him, the series would not have the same horror feeling that it does now. On one page, a criminal is looking out into the dark and sees a pitch black figure with a glowing skull on its chest.  The panel was so eerie that I almost got goose bumps from it. He might look slightly different from the Frank Castle we’re used to, but he’s still Frank freaking’ Castle and that’s all that matters. Another thing about his art is that when there’s action and violence, he makes it interesting. The opening scene in issue one is a huge massacre of people by gunfire. The man really knows how to make mass murder beautiful…but I don’t mean that in a condoning way. He just captures the emotion, the fear, and the kinetics of everything that is happening. In issue three, Castle fights a certain flying villain in midair. There wasn’t much talking in it, which I’d usually complain about, but the fight was so gorgeous that I couldn’t be angry with this brilliant creative team.

I guess you could relate this book to Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. It isn’t a book about the Punisher; It’s a book about how the Punisher effects people. This may turn you off, but with the interesting take on the character and the beautiful art, I suggest you at least pick up issue one to see what you think.  The series is still young, so catching up on it shouldn’t be an issue. No pun intended.

Issue number seven comes out tomorrow! Don’t miss it!

-The Answer