The Punisher like you’ve never seen him before! And this time, that’s no hyperbole. Your Major Spoilers review of The Punisher #2 from Marvel Comics awaits!
THE PUNISHER #2
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Jesus Saiz/Paul Azaceta
Colorist: Dave Stewart
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: April 27, 2022
Previously in The Punisher: The Hand has lost its way. What was once the world’s most fearsome organization of ninjas and killers has found itself defeated time and again by lesser foes. One priestess believes it’s because the Hand hasn’t had the proper leadership, the living embodiment of their dark god, the Beast. Enter the Punisher, the most accomplished murderer who has ever lived, a man determined to end his war, no matter what it takes.
THE FIST OF THE HAND
For those who missed issue one, The Punisher #2 opens with the shocking sight of Frank and his late wife Maria in bed together, declaring their love for one another. The price for Frank becoming the Hand’s new warlord was her resurrection, but things aren’t quite perfect. She thinks her death was a dream, but still complains that she feels like she’s been resting for years, and still bears the obvious scars of her long-ago gangland murder. She also wants to know where their kids have gone, a worrisome thought indeed. As for Frank, this issue explains more of the why in his new role, as the Archpriestess of the Hand reveals that she has admired his killing potential for years, even back when he was a troubled tween boy. (This part is, as far as I can tell, an entirely new development, and the issue shows us maladjusted 12-year-old Frank in all his glory, including hints that he had, at even that tender age, already killed a man.) By the end of the issue, the new state of affairs is clear, including the new rival organization, The Apostles of War, whose big boss is equal in stature to the Beast of the Hand: God of War, Ares.
REALLY BEAUTIFUL ART
The only word for Saiz’s opening sequence is “haunting”, with near-photorealistic renderings, soft-edged pencils, and subtle coloring combining to make an emotionally moving visual sequence. The flashbacks by Azaceta aren’t quite as arresting, but they still create heavy drama out of a story beat that doesn’t quite work for me. It’s my recollection that Francis Castiglione was just a normal all-American kid who went to Vietnam, then lost everything and turned to revenge. The idea that he’s been a killer since childhood is a hard retcon to swallow, much larger than the idea that he’d ally with a weird metaphysical cult and interact with literal gods again. Seeing Ares as a villain once more feels satisfying as well, since I always had a problem accepting him as a member of The Avengers or a hero of any stripe. Aaron’s story has a lot of balancing to do with these varied premises and set pieces, and while it doesn’t always quite work (a rant by the Archpriestess about Americans’ proclivity for violence ends up being a clunker), it succeeds more than I expected it to.
BOTTOM LINE: I’M TORN
On the one hand, The Punisher #2 is a story about a mass-murderer joining up with a mass-murder cult, with retconned barnacles that are hard to believe and a price tag of $4.99 for no discernable reason, but on the other, it’s beautifully drawn, dramatically vibrant and unlike many Punisher stories that have come before, shaking down to a better-than-average 3.5 out of 5 stars overall. As a long-time Marvel reader, I can’t help but be reminded of the much-maligned ‘Angel Punisher with magic guns’ story back in 1999, wondering if anyone else makes the connection between that story and this one, and how they might respond when they do.
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THE PUNISHER #2
Attaching a mythological scope to The Punisher doesn't seem like it should work, but the combination of really good art and a story that absolutely commits to the premise make it work better than I expected.
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Writing6
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Art9
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Coloring7
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he’d be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that’s not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.