Written by Becky Cloonan
Penciled by Matt Horak
Cover by Declan Shalvey
Published May 17, 2017
Cover by Declan Shalvey
Published May 17, 2017
Finally facing off against his old army buddy, Frank Castle squares up against Olaf on a glacier. Slamming him to the ground, the Punisher grabs his hand. Telling him he should have killed him years ago, he headbutts Olaf, who in turn pulls a knife and slashes him in the arm. Frank counters him, and shoves his face against the frozen glacier, later tearing the skin off as it sticks to the ice.
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| When you strike out with the writing, just throw some more blood in there. |
Frank punches his face into a bloody mass while Olaf stabs him in the side. Meanwhile Ortiz arrives at the glacier near the burning freighter. Drawing a pistol off one of the bodies, she approaches while Olaf doses on yet another syringe of EMC. She tells them to freeze but the brawl continues. Frank stabs Olaf in the arm but being high, he just pulls it out and stabs the Punisher repeatedly in the chest.
Olaf finally picks up an ice boulder and is just about to smash Frank's head when Ortiz shoots him in the knee. Frank sees his chance and picks the boulder up in kind but Ortiz explains to him that Olaf is under arrest and his victims deserve justice. Frank tells her that if he doesn't get justice, he'll get punishment, and he dives off the iceberg and into the frozen waters below.
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| Also when writing is striking out, just throw some full pages in like this to eat up space. |
A DEA boat pulls up as Ortiz silences Olaf once more. The agents ask her if that was the Punisher. She confirms it but explains he got away. They joke around with the paperwork that'll be required, but for once Ortiz welcomes it. Panning out we see the destruction as well as one final panel of Face tied to a forklift.
Back in New York, 2 gangsters pull up in a hoopdie near the rivers edge to ditch a body. A Jersey Shore goombah leans out the car telling them to quiet down. Just then the Punisher arrives with guns blazing. The juicehead freaks out, saying the Punisher was supposed to be dead. Frank tells him he's never felt more alive - and with that, this story is finally concluded.
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| And nothing makes Frank feel more alive than full one panel pages. |
I'm almost convinced now that Becky Cloonan is challenging herself to write these stories as fast and as vapid as possible. This is the emptiest version of Frank Castle I've ever seen. Maybe there was a time when his character was this hollow but I can't remember when. This comic could literally be 10 pages of him killing people and there could be just as much substance. Either way, I'm just happy the Olaf/EMC storyline is wrapped because I couldn't take much more. I give this one a 4/10.
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Until next time, thanks so much for reading.
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