The Punisher #221

WAR MACHINE pt IV

Written by Matthew Rosenberg
Penciled by Guiu Vilanova
Cover by Clayton Crain
Published Feb 14, 2018

   Some Chernayan fisherman check their haul and discover the Punisher among it. They remove his mask and he gasps for air, telling them he needs to get back to land immediately. Once there, he stalks some former SHIELD agents through the snow before kidnapping one who stopped for a pee break. He questions the man and eventually walks him to their old facility, tying him to a tree and walking inside.

Now don't go anywhere, ok?

   He easily infiltrates, later returning to the woods and killing another guard. Leading his prisoner through he complex, Frank desperately needs to repair his armor when suddenly, a message from Nick Fury pops in. Once he informs the Punisher his hostage is just a low level peon, Frank executes him and employs another goon to fix his suit.

You save some people, you shoot some people. Some people you save, you still have to shoot.

   As they discuss, Fury informs him he needs to take out Petrov and the rest of the rogue agents. In return, Fury will monitor the local technician to make repairs. He does so, and Frank begins to take out the Chernayan leader's lieutenants one by one. Some he flies up. Some he drives into trees. Some he pulls into frozen lakes. It seems no one is safe from the Punisher War Machine.

Looks like you caught a big one!

   Finally Fury breaks in and shows him a message from Petrov threatening to unleash his countries' nukes. He tells him to leave immediately. Frank sees an opportunity. Now that he knows where Petrov is, he takes off to find the isolationist leader. What happens next? We'll have to wait and see as this issue is left to be continued.

That guy was only half Chernayan.

   The thing about this series that concerns me is that it's light on plot details, nearly in stark contrast to the television series. I bet that when Becky Cloonan passed this title to Matt Rosenberg, it was probably with a wink and something like "Hey don't worry about having to actually write anything". Either way, if you can get past the limited story, you're in for a treat. Don't expect War and Peace, but do expect war. There's plenty of it. I give this one a 7/10.

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