The Punisher (2018) #1 review Frank Castle PISS OFF the wrong side of the Marvel Universe

Ahoy Me Mateys Captain Cats here! Frank Castle AKA The Punisher is someone you don’t want to mess with and a person you don’t want to be on his ‘list.’ Over the years in the Marvel Universe The Punisher has killed over 48,502, which included the entire Marvel Universe twice, but this time in the 2018 reboot of The Punisher, he did what Iron Man couldn’t do. Written by Matt Rosenberg, the artwork was done by Szymon Kudranski and coloring were done by Antonio Fabela, and they did one hell of a job on this take of Frank Castle. If you haven’t read the comic yet just a warning SPOILER AHEAD!

The comic starts of in a cargo boat that is off the coast of Morocco and you see the ship is taking over by Hydra agents and then we are at Switzerland for some political jargon until Baron Zemo walk into the scene. Soon we are at shipping docks of Staten Island, and out of the blue, an all-out gunfight starts with an SUV being destroyed, and soon a car chase began. I love how it changes the pace here, not too fast, not too slow and also not too in your face action with the next page we see the Baron talking politics again to Mr. Agger at a small airport and back to the car chase. Then we see a biker driving slowly passing by the carnage, and we look for the first time Frank doing what he does, punishing people. After the chase ends we are back with Zemo and Mr. Agger; we are introduced to The Mandarin.

After that we are in a war zone with The Punisher going guns blazing with little to no dialog at all, just pure art and here is where this issue shines. You can see how Kudranski wanted to show this world that Frank Castle lives in all the time, it is not pretty, not easy on the eyes, full of raw emotion and energy in each page. The color work by Fabela brings it all together and to life and one of the best I have seen since the 2004-2009’s ‘The Punisher.’

Soon after we see The Mandarin in New York City talking to Tony Stark aka Iron Man, before making the statement that he has enough votes to make the nation of Bagalia be recognized. Here is where the issue gets very interesting. You see a bullet going towards The Mandarin and as he tries to use all the magic in his power to stop it, in each panel you see it getting closer and closer till his death. YES YOU ARE READING IT, THE PUNISHER KILLED THE MANDARIN IN PUBLIC! That was a bold and I mean bold move for Rosenberg to kill him off, but the real question is how will the payoff look like in the end and was it worth it? At the end of the issue all of NYC and Zemo wants Frank’s head and knowing Frank he welcomes it.

This is a great way to reboot The Punisher, and I can’t want for issue 2 to come out and see what this team can do.

Tell us what you think about issue 1, was it worth it or was it a pass? Let us know!