Meanwhile, in Vermont, a militia type takes a moment from abusing his young daughter Juniper, to tell his boys to get ready for the coming Punisher. He seems confident, because he's got a "special surprise" all set up:
Well, that is dark. One surefire way to write a Punisher story is to make sure the reader doesn't feel sorry for the bad guys in the slightest, so Frank can go to town on them, and mission accomplished there. Sadly, the great Steve Dillon passed away not long after this issue: I'm not positive he's the artist I've seen most on Punisher, but he could be.
Friday, April 16, 2021
Lot of set-up this issue, but my god, that cliffhanger.
From 2016, Punisher #2, written by Becky Cloonan, art by Steve Dillon.
This series didn't feature the usual grizzled-looking Frank from Dillon, but a more Netflix-ready version, looking like forty years younger! Working on a mercenary group, Condor; who are pushing new super-soldier style drug EMC; Frank is following clues left by an old Marine buddy and former Condor member. This leads to a drug deal set up by Face, Condor's main "hatchet-man." Frank guns down everyone else there, including a couple crooked local deputies, but when Face snorts up some EMC he's able to fight Frank to a standstill and escape. Frank is left fuming, as the cops and DEA are closing on him, partly because he's ruining their case against Condor by murdering them all. Well, boo-hoo.
Jesus...yup, Cloonan DEFINITELY accomplished that goal from the looks of it. I'm betting Frank saves her in the nickest of times, but maybe not. How often has Frank been forced to kill kids outside of his tours in 'Nam? Probably not too many. Even Ennis didn't go there...which you'd think a guy like him would be into writing.
ReplyDeleteI forgot Dillon died, and now I'm sad again about that.
I mostly knew him from his Preacher days, although I know him as well from his stints on Hellblazer and The Demon. More than likely though fans probably best remember him from his work on the Punisher, and I don't think he'd mind that all that much really.