The Punisher #224-226

PUNISHER: WAR CRIMINAL pts I-III

Written by Matthew Rosenberg
Penciled by Stefano Landini and Guiu Vilanova
Covers by Clayton Crain
Published May 16, May 30, and June 13, 2018

   Welp, Frank Castle is back stateside, and he's brought the War Machine armor with him. Hot on the trail of Bullseye and Rhino, he's suddenly hit from above by none other than Captain Marvel. The fight gets intense as they argue the points of whether the Punisher is a good guy or bad. Eventually he shakes her but runs right into old friend Daredevil.

Aw man... what that was?!

   He takes off but is later hit with a tracer arrow compliments of Hawkeye. Later from outside his safehouse, Danvers orders him outside but Frank has no plans of going quietly. From there, a team effort hops to bring the Punisher down. This time he's a bit more outmatched, and returns fire until he's able to escape once again.

That's what I wear when I ride the NYC trains too.

   His pursuers will stop at nothing to find him, but each time they track him, they get there too late. Trying to find the Tinkerer to repair the armor, he finally comes across an AIM splinter cell. He, um.. convinces one of them to help remove the tracking nanites. After a conversation with Nick Fury, Frank decides to take the law into his own hands and hunt down Hydra care of the CIA.

Arriving in style.

   He raids the records room and the computer downloads everything the spy organization has. From there he takes off to find Baron Zemo in hopes of becoming a good guy.. or at least, kind of a good guy... i guess. When he gets to their hideout, he rakes down troop after troop until he comes across Taskmaster, Crossbones and Ghost.

"Finally, Taskmaster in a Punisher book..." said no one ever.

   The Punisher has finally met his match, and though he escapes many close calls, Ghost finally fries the armor into near oblivion. But just as Zemo and Taskmaster are about to execute him, Bucky, Mockingbird, Hawkeye and Black Widow show up to save him.

The Avengers R-Squad.

   The issue ends with Zemo and his associates making their escape. Frank picks up the damaged armor when an argument ensues... Clint points out it wasn't his armor to take. Eventually Natasha tases her partner and Mockingbird. Telling Frank to grab the armor - because there's men to kill, we're left to be continued.

Natasha is hardcore.

   Every time a new story comes out, I fear the writers are going to take the Punisher's war machine armor and I'm sorry but at this point, that's just unacceptable. After the last few issues, I don't think there's anyone in the Marvel universe that could do more with this suit, and I can only hope Tony Stark makes that realization as well. I guess there's only one way to find out though. I give these three issues a 10/10.

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