Punisher: War Journal #1

Released: November 22, 2006

Publisher: Marvel

Writer: Matt Fraction

Penciler: Ariel Olivetti

Cover: Ariel Olivetti

 

This series was pushed back because it revealed and replayed events from Civil War #5, namely the Punisher saving Spider-Man.

 

In the mid nineties there were once three Punisher books and each one was basically the same as the next, which caused character overexposure and eventual character death (metaphorically speaking). Then Ennis’ Punisher came along, providing a very specific type of crime book with the Punisher played as a true paramilitary vigilante with no superheroics in sight. So there is an actual place on the shelf for a Punisher book that puts the character firmly in the Marvel Universe fighting supervillains. Ennis had him doing the same thing before he moved to the MAX title but most of that was based around Ennis’ hatred for the superhero genre, playing the Punisher off as an anti-superhero superhero.

 

Fraction is back doing something similar, but he’s doesn’t hate the genre, with the same dark comedy. The Punisher fighting midget Iron Man robots is funny and absurd, but in a good way. A character skilled in combat can’t help but expose the ridiculous nature of some supervillains like Stilt-Man, so I have no qualms with the Punisher offing him. There are some funny moments, and slightly saddening, where Stilt-Man talks of attempting to help people, but the Punisher kills him anyway. It puts Castle on Tony Stark’s side if he’s going to kill superpeople just because they are ignorantly destructive, even if they are trying to help people.

 

To counter that though, because Civil War #5 had quite the opposite idea, Fraction has Castle going after the Tinkerer who tells him that Tony Stark is using supervillains to fight for him. So, since redemption isn’t in Castle’s vocabulary, he throws his lot in with Captain America (who he can respect) and decides to go around offing the new Thunderbolt members. That’s really what it comes down to but I doubt they’ll have him truly fight the new Thunderbolts that have their own comic book.

 

Added into the mix is G.W. Bridge (since every side character Cable & Deadpool use must become a continuity glitch) who is working for S.H.I.E.L.D. to bring the Punisher in. They can’t have him taking out their new task force, can they? It works well, but also adds an interesting problem: the Punisher won’t kill law enforcement even though they’re trying to kill him but he will kill superheroes that have reformed? The line of who he is willing to murder is becoming blurry but the series is fun enough that it need not bother as long as it is consistent with whatever rules it makes for itself.

 

This is a great surprise and a fun book that I’m eagerly looking forward too.

 

Rating - 7