You may not know this, but the Punisher was inspired by the "Executioner" series of men’s adventure novels by Don Pendleton. Both Frank Castle and Mack Bolan lost their families to crime and vowed vengeance. Bolan fought against the Mafia, while Castle fought against almost everyone. Over time, their focus had to change and broaden as they ran out of stories to tell within that framework and people to kill. Today, books featuring Mack Bolan are still being published, but he is a globe-trotting anti-terror soldier of fortune. The Punisher has been an angel, a Frankenstein monster, War Machine, a version of Captain America, a Thunderbolt, the leader of the Hand, and a warrior in Weirdworld. For the last three issues, he has been a puppet of the Kingpin. Or is he?
His Own Man Again
For the last three issues, Frank Castle has been back in New York carving a bloody path through the territory of Tombstone. This sounds like business as usual. It mostly is, except for the fact that Wilson Fisk, the former Kingpin of Crime, is the one in control right now. We are not told exactly how he accomplished this, and apparently it does not really matter. Fisk pulled Castle out of Weirdworld and implanted a chip in his neck that allows control over the actions of the Punisher.
In addition, Fisk also has the old ally of Castle, Microchip, strapped to a machine that allows him to use the knowledge Microchip has of Castle to keep him in line. The details are all very vague. However, it is all moot now, as Castle uses the threat of a bomb to get two emergency medical technicians to remove the chip from his neck. Therefore, the Punisher is back in his own driver’s seat again. He is still going after Tombstone and his men. You do you, Frank.
Blood is Good, But Swearing is Bad?
Since the Punisher is not exactly hiding the fact that he has returned, it is not long until a bunch of his old dancing partners take notice. In the first few pages, we get glimpses of both Spider-Man and Jessica Jones seeing that their old friend is back and destroying the underworld as if he never left. That last point is one of the things that is really distracting about this book. It is a Marvel Red Band title. Buckets of blood, brain matter, and other visceral imagery are allowed. However, swearing is not permitted. We have to use symbols instead of the actual words because, apparently, children might be reading this. It is such a questionable decision. Either this is a Red Band adult book or it is not. The creators should not seek a middle ground on this issue.
Distracting language decisions aside, the story being told is fine. It is the Punisher versus a criminal organization, which is a premise that has been seen before. Hopefully, the creative team has some tricks up their sleeves for the last issue as well as for the already announced ongoing series that will follow in February.
One major complaint is the characterization of Wilson Fisk. At the end of the run by Saladin Ahmed on Daredevil, Fisk had a sort of religious epiphany after having been possessed by one of the Seven Deadly Sins and then finding religion in the aftermath. He had performed a major reversal and decided that he wanted to become God. Now in this book, we have Fisk talking as though he is a devout man. He even strips down and whips himself at one point, yet he is waging war with Tombstone like any other crime boss. None of this fits with how he was established at the end of Daredevil. Therefore, when Daredevil relaunches, there will probably be some continuity gymnastics required to figure out how these books fit together in the Marvel timeline.
The Men in the Van
Benjamin Percy and Julius Ohta are the creative team on this book, handling writing and art duties respectively. Percy has been hanging out in the darker side of the Marvel Universe for a while now. He has written Ghost Rider, Wolverine, and many of the "Predator Versus" titles. He is a solid writer. Nothing he puts out is going to set your world on fire, but you are not going to be sorry you read it either.
Ohta has done work previously on books like Venom, Carnage, and Iron Man, which is evident in his style. Everyone is just a little too big and too much larger than life for what are supposed to be ordinary people. He subscribes to the same school of thought as Dan Panosian over on Marvel Knights Punisher when it comes to Frank Castle himself. He draws Castle as a hulking brute who is almost hilariously larger than everyone around him. I am not sure if it is the doing of Ohta or Yen Nitro on colors, but almost everyone in this book looks like they have a red nose. It is almost as if they all had really bad colds at the same time.
Welcome Back Again, Frank?
The Punisher Red Band series has not been a bad book. It is just not really anything special either. Its continuity is shaky, the language issue is very distracting, and frankly, the Red Band violence is just a gimmick. This is further illustrated by the fact that the ongoing series will not be a Red Band title. If you are a big fan of the Punisher, you will be thrilled at seeing him explode heads and shove people into the backs of garbage trucks. If you can take or leave the character, nothing here is going to change your mind.