Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Punisher #16

By Dan Horn
April 30, 2010 - 16:24

After last month's thrill-ride of brutal violence and unrelenting action, the graphical freight train of bad-ass-ery that is writer Rick Remender's Punisher charges full-steam-ahead into the climax of the "Frankencastle" arc.

After dispatching droves of Hellsgaard's Japanese underlings, Frank puts his sights on the bigoted machine man himself, but may have bitten off more than he can chew. Can even the shrewd and calculating Punisher take down the powerful Hellsgaard?

As is usually the case, Remender makes great use of narratives throughout this issue, and his pontificating diatribes from Hellsgaard are absolutely brilliant. All the while, the scribe continues to pick away at the Punisher's fragile psyche, giving readers grim insight into the world of "a man who is wholly vacant." It's really interesting to see how Remender's writing, though sometimes masked by tongue-in-cheek savagery and bravado, often borders on poetic and heart-rending.

Even though Roland Boschi's artwork was nothing short of astounding in #15, it's very good to see Tony Moore back on the series. Moore's art on the Punisher is every bit as good as it has been throughout his and Remender's Fear Agent comic from Image. The years of chemistry between Rick and Tony is palpable within these panels, and the payoff is some of the coolest artwork and storytelling in comic books today. Remender's magnificent Punisher run continues to be the best series Marvel can muster under the weight of its own bloated mass of crossover convolution. This is a balls-to-the-wall, nonconformist, grade-A tale: the best "idea" the House of Ideas has had in a long, long time.

Rating: 10 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12