Marvel Comics and Punisher #1 Spoilers and Review follows.
Not JUST Exchanging Skulls! There’s A HUGE Game-Changing Cliffhanger!
There’s over 10 variant covers, excluding the virgin art versions of many of the below, in addition to the main cover above.
The promise of the issue can be discerned from its solicit.
Punisher #1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Penciler: Jesus Saiz, Paul Azaceta
Cover Artist: Jesus SaizWILL THE PUNISHER’S WAR END? Born of tragedy. Devoted to war. Unstoppable in his rage. As the Punisher, Frank Castle has become the most accomplished killer the world has ever seen. Now it’s time for him to face his true destiny. What shocking secret from Frank’s past will convince him to take the reins of the Marvel Universe’s most notorious clan of assassins? And once Frank becomes the warlord of the deadly ninjas of the Hand, will it also mean an end for the Punisher? Or a whole new bloody beginning? Join the superstar team of writer Jason Aaron and artists Jesْs Saiz and Paul Azaceta for an epic exploration of the dark and violent past and inevitable future of one of Marvel’s most iconic characters.
The book opens with a few pages retelling the origin of the Punisher particularly the murder of his wife and two children.
In lieu of those pages, to get readers caught up on Frank Castle’s origins, check out his classic Who’s Who type bio from the classic Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
In 2022 it seems that Frank Castle has changed his traditional Skull emblem to a Devil Skull.
He’s also switched from guns to swords.
He also now leads the ninja warriors known as the Hand.
With glimpses of the recent past and present readers begin to learn how this metamorphosis began to occur.
He was attacked in his NYC apartment by the hand and their battle is violent and improbable over several pages.
Igniting a bomb in his apartments turns the tide.
In the recent past we learn that Hand horde attack was all a test to see if he was worthy of the Hand and in exchange for his leadership service to them Frank Castle has someone given to him… in 2022… you read that right.
In modern day, we learn who that someone is.
It’s his thought-to-be-dead wife Maria bullet scars and all?!
Does this mean Frank Castle’s kids are alive too?
The Pulse:
A frenetic issue with action and intrigue with heaps upon heaps of violence. Some of that violence was a bit unnecessary and over-the-top, but I suspect its what fans of the Punisher’s expect and/or want to see. I am intrigued by what’s to come particularly around Frank’s life changes and his family’s reemergence. The art was PHENOMINAL. 8 out of 10.
