The Punisher #8

Written by Becky Cloonan

Penciled by Laura Braga and Iolanda Zanfardino
Cover by Declan Shalvey
Published Jan 25, 2017

   Frank stares down the barrel of a shotgun, only this time the perp isn't quite as threatening - or is she. Ethel Bradford, an elderly lady at the farmhouse cleans his wounds and puts him up for the night.Back at Condor HQ, Olaf is chided by failing to stop the Punisher before being told to take care of their problem or else the boss will take care of Olaf.
   Back at the farmhouse, Ethel gives her passed away husband's Harley to Frank. As the goons are hot on his trail, they kill the restaurant manager after getting info on which way Frank ran. They track him through the woods. The DEA, who has some tips on Face's whereabouts, sets up a roadblock to stop the bus he stole. They fail, ad as Ortiz is being escorted away from the scene, she attempts to get info from the two "survivors" before being kidnapped by Face himself.
   The issue wraps with the goons finding the farmhouse and setting up for an attack. Their plans are foiled when one of them trips a wire triggering a massive explosion. The Harley comes flying down the pier with Frank driving and Ethel in the sidecar. She murders one of the attackers with a crochet needle before seeing Frank as a vision of her husband Jim and passing away happily. Frank captures the surviving member of the gang and gets the info out of him that he's been looking for - the location of Condor's headquarters. He lets a nearby bear, who magically doesn't have any instinct to attack the Punisher, seemingly maul the guy and with that the issue comes to a close.
   This title reminds me of some books that are good one issue and crummy the next. This was one of the good ones. I think this book is trending upwards as well, and what they've done with this story (although it's taken 8 whole issues to get here) is hopefully starting to wrap. I give this one a 7/10.

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