PUNISHER #1 (2011)
Writer: Greg Rucka
Art: Marco Checchetto
Article written by Stewart Loud
The new Punisher ongoing series written by Greg Rucka is finally here and #1 really is a very good looking book indeed. The comic opens with a shockingly violent, messy gunfight at a wedding reception resulting in a massacre and is followed by what looks like it could shape up to be every bit as good as Rick Remender and Garth Ennis' runs before it. Welcome back to the 616, Frank. It's been too long. And you seem to be sporting a hair do a bit more like mine as well!
For a start the art in this comic is brilliant, just look at all the freaking pictures I took for this article! Not only outstandingly well drawn but the perspectives each panel is shown from and the way they and each scene is all put together is a tremendous example of visual story telling. I'm guessing they took extra special care with this side of things because a lot of the scenes play out in silence with the narrative unfolding entirely in pictures. With every page I read I could visualise it all unfolding in live action in my head. Definitely one of the most cinematic looking books I've read for a while.
Greg is using the technique that Garth Ennis used so well in the MAX comics he wrote by having an interesting story with good characters that involves the Punisher working in the background instead of having the Punisher on every single page. This makes it more of a kick when he does get involved and you give more of a shit about the scum bags he's blowing away.
This works incredibly well in this comic with Frank only actually appearing a handful of times, always silent and almost always partially hidden in shadows. It's kind of like Greg's trying to make him a bit more mysterious and Batmanesque with him killing the lights in one scene and then moving in and out of the shadows to brutally murder a group of criminals.
Me likening Greg's Punisher to Batman may sound a bit gay but believe me it isn't. The darkened shoot out is believably choreographed (no “How the hell did he get over there all of a sudden?” bits) and it looks bloody great! In the few occasions when Frank does grace pages of the comic it actually made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.
Yes, I know it's no big secret that I'm a big Punisher fan and I'll read anything with him in it but I'm not just saying all these positive things about the book because it's about my favourite fictional character. I'm always the first to admit there've been some pretty terrible stories with Frank in over the years so when I say this is a great comic and a brilliant opener to the new ongoing series I bloody mean it!
With the absence of any of the other Marvel characters and having nothing to do with the Fear Itself arc currently running (shame really, I'd like to see Frank getting involved with the fight against the Nazis), this totally reads like a quality Max story, minus all the four letter swear words of course. Fans of the Punisher and fans of comics in general alike, get down to your local comic shop or get online and buy yourself a copy. Respect to everyone involved with this comics production, so far so brilliant!
Oh, another thing to clear up any confusion you may have from looking at the pictures. This comic does feature a fair amount of dialogue, I just chose to take a lot of photos from the sections without to show how powerful the art is. There's also an Ultimates preview in the back if any of you're interested in that.
Links to my other Punisher reviews:
MARVEL UNIVERSE vs THE PUNISHER
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