Written by Becky Cloonan
Penciled by Kris Anka
Cover by Declan Shalvey
Published Jun 28, 2017
Cover by Declan Shalvey
Published Jun 28, 2017
In Brooklyn, a few teenagers walk to school and one playing with a tablet, nearly walks through a crime scene. Looking up, a body swings from a lamppost and they know - the Punisher is back in New York. Meanwhile, Frank Castle opens a hidden door and inside lies a saferoom layered with weapons. He notices some missing and goes to his computer to review some surveillance footage. All is it takes is a quick look and he has the thieves on tape.. and they look an awful like the kids in the beginning of the issue.
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| Live from New York... |
The next day after school, one of them heads out the door and this time, he's confronted by the Punisher. He shows him photos of the boy in the act, and he squeals. Later he walks into a trashy pawnshop and Frank confronts the shady dealer. It's one thing to buy a gin, but another to buy one from a kid. Further, he sold the gun to a pretty lady from Bensonhurst.
Frank waits for the woman outside a brownstone and asks her about the gun. She lies and her purse being stolen and slams the door in his face. Frank walks across the street and climbs atop a billboard. There he waits. He sees a car pull up and a guy gets out. Putting a pistol in his wasteband, he walks across the street and climbs up the fire escape. Frank comes down from the sign and some other perps climb out of the car. They tell him that Casey has business inside, and a few words later, try and hit him with a bat as well as shoot at him. Frank quickly gets the upper hand, shoots one of them and orders the other one in the trunk.
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| You can try. |
Inside, Casey argues with the lady and she pulls the Punisher's gun she bought from the pawn shop. Frank kicks in the door and he shoots at him, of course missing. The fight continues down the stairs and wakes up the woman's sleeping child. Casey pulls a banister off the staircase and misses, later being hit in the face with a toy fire truck. He sneaks Frank, and as he's on the ground, gets the gun from his estranged girlfriend. He points the gun at the Punisher's head and as he pulls the trigger it backfires, blowing his fingers off. Frank knocks him out.
The issue wraps with Frank carrying him outside and putting him in the trunk. Next to the other member of his gang, the Punisher slams the trunk shut and zooms off. The problems are over. New York is a little bit safer and with that, this issue is completed.
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| Peace! |
I'm conflicted on this book. It really could be so much more but they keep it as simple as possible and that's irritating to me. While Frank Castle is only human, so is Batman. He fights crime and aliens and all kinds of crazy threats. Becky Cloonan's Punisher just kills people and keeps this title as banal and vanilla as possible. That's frustrating. I don't know how long Marvel wants to try this experiment, but it's wearing thin and for me, time is running out. I give this one a 7/10.
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