Punisher War Journal #26

So, this is apparently the last issue of this series... OOOOOK... This is one of the comics I subscribe to, so I knew something was up when it arrived and had one of those ride-along papers with it. By the way, the ride-along paper was pink, which in a way seems wrong to me, this is a Punisher comic book! Shouldn't the ride-along be black, or a dark blue or something? Anyway, I had heard this series was ending, but I didn't expect it to end so soon...

The remaining 4 issues of this subscription are being transferred over to,(drumroll please)Punisher! Whu-huh?!?! But, didn't Marvel just cancel Punisher War Journal? Oh, I get it, this is one of those deals where you end a series and then start it over again from issue #1 to get extra people to buy it. I don't know why Marvel doesn't just number every comic as #1 and just change the month. You know, something like Punisher #1(Jan. 2009), followed by Punisher #1(Feb. 2009)and then Punisher #1(March 2009), etc. Then again, if the Powers That Be over at Marvel hear about this idea, they might just do it! Anyway, enough complaining(for now...)here is the review for Punisher War Journal #26

Overall- What a decent little Christmas story this was. I really, REALLY enjoyed it. The story dealt with 5 real bottom dwelling losers, a bunch of petty thieves and the like, except for one of them, who killed a cop and broke out of prison. Besides him, the rest are a real bunch of young idiots. Well, one of these idiots winds up finding Stilt-Man's old armor. Just so you all know, Frank offed old Stilty back towards the beginning of this series. The idiot decides he wants to use the armor to become the new Stilt-Man.

Frank Castle(the Punisher, for those not in the know)sits waiting on the rooftop of an adjacent building with a Gatling gun, waiting for the 5 morons to walk out of the bar they were in so he could pick them off. The idiots can't decide which one of them should get the "honor" of being the new Stilt-Man, and begin to fight each other. Frank sits on the roof hoping they all kill each other so he doesn't have to waste the bullets on these idiots. The cop killer pulls a gun on the other 4 and tells them that he gets to wear the armor, or else. Before the cop killer can get into the armor, another one of the idiots pulls a gun and throws the cop killer out, telling him since he can't work with the group, he had to leave. The cop killer storms out of the bar, and Frank blows him away once he gets far enough away from the bar.

The idiots in the bar now decide to vote to see which one "deserved" to be Stilt-Man, reasoning that since this is America, they should settle things with a vote. The idiots unanimously elect the guy who found the armor to be the new Stilt-Man, with the rest of them operating as his henchmen. They even begin to discuss wearing matching costumes, so everyone would know they were members of the "Stilt-Man Gang". Holy s###, this is f###ing hilarious!

Frank continues to sit on the roof, waiting for the morons to emerge from the bar so he can take them out. While waiting, who walks onto the roof of the building Frank was on? The Rhino, complete with a Santa Claus hat on his horn! This just keeps getting better! The Rhino, who was there to feed Vulture's pigeons(!), asks Frank what he was doing, and Frank tells Rhino he was preparing to kill the new Stilt-Man. Rhino walks over and listens to the hearing device Frank was using to eavesdrop on the the idiots with, and asked Frank why he would kill these guys, telling Frank that they really sounded like a bunch of morons. Frank tells Rhino #1 that with that armor they could potentially be dangerous, and #2 to get lost!

Rhino tells Frank that he is supposed to kill the guilty, not the stupid, and the losers in the bar were just idiots with delusions of grandeur. Rhino then takes Frank's gun and presses it to his own throat, telling Frank that if he wants to kill the idiots, he'll have to kill Rhino first. Frank hesitates, and Rhino invites Frank inside, saying Merry Christmas, and offering up some eggnog. Frank tells Rhino to go back inside, or he would, "pour battery acid into your eyesockets and use your head as a toilet." Rhino, thinking he had offended Frank, pauses for a moment, shrugs and says, "Happy Hanukkah?" Now, I'm really in stitches!

Frank tells Rhino to get lost again, and Rhino finally leaves. The idiots emerge from the bar with one wearing the Stilt-Man armor, staggering down the street, while the other 3 happily chase after him. Frank watches in utter disgust, but realizes that, for maybe the first time ever, Rhino was right, and his job was to punish the guilty, not the stupid. With that, Frank leaves and this comic series comes to a close.

I really can't express just how much I loved this comic! The whole idea that someone would actually WANT to be Stilt-Man was funny enough, but the fact that 5 idiots were willing to kill each other to wear armor that was basically a metal suit with stilts was down right hilarious! The story had me laughing out loud at times, and the artwork was really good as well. I wish Andy MacDonald(artist)had been working on this comic in the prior issues, because his artwork is heads and shoulders better than Howard Chaykin's work, which was so bad it actually would hurt the story being told at times.

Matt Fraction(writer)should also be commended, because this was a really funny comic. It touched on many of the things that had happened previously in this series, like Frank killing Stilt-Man, blowing up Stilt-Man's funeral(which was held in a bar!), as well as his relationship with Rhino. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this comic to anyone looking for a good Christmas story, or just a funny self-contained comic book period. The part of this comic where Rhino wishes Frank a Merry Christmas and then, thinking he'd offended Frank retorting with Happy Hanukkah really had me laughing! All around, this was a great single issue and I'd have to score it at the very least a 9 1/2 out of 10... Who knew I'd enjoy this comic as much as I did???

Punisher War Journal #25

Overall- This is Part 2 of 2 of Punisher's "Secret Invasion" crossover. The issue opens with Stuart Clarke, the villain formerly known as Rampage, but now Punisher's weapon smith, discovering that Punisher killed his innocent girlfriend several issues back while Punisher was under the Hatemonger's mind control. Frank seems at peace with Rampage's decision to kill him in retribution, since Frank has been harboring guilt over killing the girl for a while now.

Before Clarke can kill Frank, G.W. Bridge and a Skrull crash the party, and the three humans join forces to kill the super powered Skrull. Clarke goes after Frank again, but is halted by a Skrull sniper, who was trying to pick off the three of them. Bridge gets clipped by the sniper's bullet, as does Frank. Clarke, with his Rampage armor realizes that he is the only one of the three who has a chance at getting to the Skrull sniper and makes a break for it while Bridge and Frank lay down cover fire.

While waiting for Clarke to either die or return, Bridge tells Frank that he never imagined that Frank would be working with a cop killer like Clarke. Frank is shocked by this info, and asks what exactly that meant, and Bridge informs Frank that Clarke killed a cop while he was trying to kill Tony Stark. Frank becomes infuriated by this news and rushes after Clarke.

Clarke manages to reach the Skrull sniper and kills him. Clarke then grabs the Skrull sniper gun and tries to find Frank in the street, only finding Bridge though. Frank surprises Clarke and the two battle, with Frank grabbing some exposed live electrical wires and shoving them into Clarke's face. While this is going on, some Skrulls blow up the building Clarke and Frank were battling it out in. Bridge ends up finding Clarke a bloody mess in the street. Clarke faintly asks if Frank was dead, and Bridge tells him that not only wasn't Frank dead, he was still battling the Skrulls.

The issue ends after the Skrull invasion has been put down. Bridge visits Clarke in a prison hospital, and we see that Clarke's face has been horribly scarred thanks to Punisher driving the electrical wires into his head. Clarke sits cuffed to the bed and ominously tells Bridge that he has big plans and that he has his whole life ahead of him to carry them out.

Matt Fraction and Rick Remender have done a pretty good job with the writing of this comic the past few issues. However, I still can't stand the artwork of Howard Chaykin. This issue the artwork looked a little better than usual, but I still believe that the sub par art hurts the overall story in this book. I have 6 issues of this comic book left on my subscription, and I can honestly say that I'm not sure I'll be spending the $20 to renew it. Even though I've been enjoying the last couple of issues, I have to cut some comics, and I get the feeling P.W.J. will be one of the comics I'm currently collecting to end up on the chopping block. Unless of course the next 6 issues absolutely blow me away. For this comic though, I'll give it a score of 7 1/2 out of 10. Once again I did enjoy the story, but the artwork hurt this book for me.

A very Punisher Christmas.

Aww, even Frank Castle is in the holiday spirit.

Punisher War Journal 24

Not another "Secret Invasion" crossover...
Story- Stuart Clarke was the super villain formerly known as Rampage, but reformed and had been assisting the Punisher up until Frank's incarceration. However, Clarke finally discovers that the Punisher murdered his girlfriend in Mexico during a mission a while back. Of course, what Clarke doesn't know is that Frank was brainwashed at the time and didn't have a choice when it came to the murder. Clarke decides that now he has to hunt Frank down and kill him in retribution. He remakes his old Rampage armor, and wades through the streets of New York, killing Skrulls as he goes, figuring he'll find Frank where ever the largest explosions are.
When the Skrulls invade and destroy all of Tony Stark's technology, Frank's prison shuts down and he walks out, since the jail was fully automated. Seeing the Skrull ships filling the skies, Frank realizes that it is time for the Punisher to return to punish the Skrulls.
While this is occurring, SHIELD tells GW Bridge that since he is the resident expert on Frank Castle, they need him to recapture Frank, before he causes anymore deaths. Bridge catches up to Frank, by following his trail of destruction, but the two are forced to fight side by side against the Skrull legions. Just as things are looking bleak for Frank and Bridge, Rampage arrives to destroy the Skrulls who were about to kill Frank and Bridge. Rampage then demands to know what Frank did to his girlfriend in Mexico.

Overall- AAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!! Not Skrulls in this comic too!!!!! I just can't seem to escape this damn "Secret Invasion"! To make things even funnier, the cover of this comic didn't even have the "Secret Invasion" banner on top, so I didn't even realize it was a tie-in until I started reading it! The story was good, except for the needless appearance of the Skrulls, and I was glad to see the writer, Matt Fraction, finally allow Clarke to discover exactly what Frank did to his girl in Mexico. I actually have the old Champions trade paperbacks, so it was cool to see Clarke don his circa 1970's Rampage armor. I always liked GW Bridge and enjoy his interaction with Frank, so I was happy to see them fighting together again.
One complaint(besides the Skrulls!)is the artwork. Howard Chaykin's artwork just hasn't grown on me like I kept hoping it would. I guess he's going for a gritty look, since the Punisher's world is a gritty, dirty place, but I just don't like the scratchy way the artwork looks here.
Other than that, I liked this issue, and I look forward to Rampage's confrontation with Frank next issue.

Punisher War Journal 21-23

I have such a huge pile of Marvel comics sitting around my place since I've begun to devote myself to reading and learning about the DC universe. I mean, literally 3-4 months of Marvels. For me that amounts to something like 70-100 comics or so. So, basically, I figured I'd grab a random bunch of Marvels and give em a quick read. The first one's I pulled were Punisher War Journal, which is one of the few Marvel comics I can say I whole heartedly enjoy. First off let me start by saying Matt Fraction seems to have a great feel for the characters in this comic and that fact was very evident in these three comics. The artwork, I wasn't so high on. But the writing was top notch.

We start in the middle of a story line revolving around Jigsaw, who has finally had enough of his obsession with the Punisher(Frank Castle) and has decided to discredit and kill him. To discredit him he created his own "Punisher" some wanna be cop who he brainwashed into thinking he was the Punisher. He then sent his Punisher out to kill people who were not criminals, which leads SHIELD to assign GW Bridge(of Cable/X-Force fame)the task of taking in the Punisher.

Jigsaw hires the assassin group the Hand to kill Punisher, but they prove to be unsuccessful thanks to the timely interference from Bridge and his operatives(who include Domino and Silver Sable). Unfortunately, Punisher was pretty badly damaged by the Hand, and barely escapes into the subway while SHIELD wraps up the Hand members above ground. In the subway, Punisher runs into Jigsaw's pseudo-Punisher, and with all the wounds he has already suffered, isn't much of a match for the pseudo-Punisher. Before the Faux Punisher gets the chance to kill Castle, Bridge and a battalion of SHIELD agents arrive on the scene to arrest both Punishers.

When Castle is well enough to be moved from a hospital to a maximum security prison, Bridge and his operatives begin to transport the Punisher across the Brooklyn bridge, where they are ambushed by Jigsaw who hired Thor's old enemies the Wrecking Crew to finish off the Punisher. The Crew cut through the SHIELD agents, but before they can take out the Punisher are stopped by Spider-man's old foe, the Rhino, who was called in by the Punisher's ally/weapon maker, Stuart Clarke. Rhino buys the Punisher enough time to get his hands on the Wrecker's enchanted crowbar(yes, I said enchanted crowbar)which allows him to beat the tar out of the Wrecking Crew, before confronting Jigsaw, who is the one foe the Punisher has consistently allowed to live. Before delivering the killing blow to Jigsaw, Castle surrenders to Bridge, deciding he needs some time to sort through his mind and reevaluate why he feels compelled to punish the guilty.

The Good-Matt Fraction did a great job of showing the reader what was driving the three main players in this story(Punisher, Jigsaw, and Bridge). Castle was lost in his role of the Punisher. He had become a "human gun" as Bridge put it, just pointing himself in the direction of those he felt needed to be punished and proceeding to punish them. Castle himself realized this was true at the end of the story when he couldn't even remember the way his wife's face looked(originally Castle began his crusade to punish the guilty after his family was gunned down in a mafia shoot out). Castle realized that he had become The Punisher completly, and that Frank Castle and his original crusade had become lost in the Punisher's bloodlust. Castle decided that some jail time might be able to help him separate Frank Castle the man from the Punisher the killer. Jigsaw on the other hand, felt that as long as the Punisher was alive he would continue to obsess over him, and would never become the crime lord he wanted to become. Jigsaw's ranting in issue 23 was hilarious, as he was imploring the Wrecking Crew to kill the Punisher, while also screaming that he loved the Punisher and didn't want him to die. It was very clear that Jigsaw's psyche was as mangled as his face, as he continuously shouted how he needed the Punisher and loved him, but also wanted to see him dead. GW Bridge on the other hand came out of retirement just to capture the Punisher after he had failed to do so in earlier issues. Bridge's whole life revolved around his pursuit of the Punisher as he felt he had to erase his earlier failure.

The Bad- I really wasn't too fond of the artwork, at times it actually took away from the story. Other then that, I really didn't have very many complaints. The story seemed well thought out, and ended in a manner that made sense. That's really all I can ask for when I open up a comic. A good story with a fulfilling conclusion.

Overall- If you are a fan of the Punisher, then this story is a definite read. Even if you really don't care for the Punisher, it might be worth picking up just to hear GW Bridge really get into Frank Castle's head and cause him to question why he is the Punisher. This story line had all the violence you'd expect from a Punisher book, but also had some intriguing looks into the minds of the characters as well. I'd definitely recommend it.