Comics / Comic Reviews / Marvel Comics

Punisher: In The Blood #5

By Dan Horn
March 31, 2011 - 20:38

The conclusion to Rick Remender's Punisher five-part miniseries, Punisher: In the Blood, hit shelves this week. It's a bittersweet finale, both in terms of the story contained within and of the fact that this is Remender's departure from the character, at least for the time being.

This story probed part of Rick's monthly Punisher run, which was the resurrection of the Castle family and Frank subsequently lighting them on fire. Remender's Punisher always had strong familial undertones, but In the Blood definitely ups the ante here, positioning Henry Russo right between his real father, the psychotic criminal Jigsaw, and his surrogate father, the psychotic vigilante Frank Castle. There are plenty of other twists sneaked in, but in case you're not read up on this mini-series, I'll try not to spoil any of it for you.

This culminating issue is mostly blood and guts and fire and brimstone, but Rick and company would have erred if this closing chapter had been anything but brutally violent. It really deserved a vicious send-off, and it got it in spades. However, Remender, as always, infuses it with great dialogue, plot twists, and copious amounts of drama. The ending even sent a genuine chill up my spine.

It's great to see Roland Boschi back to drawing Punisher. His Jigsaw is impeccably mutilated and grotesque. His action sequences are riveting, even jaw-dropping. The bone-breaking and gut-busting are palpably horrific. For a book that only gets a parental advisory, In the Blood is gloriously grisly.

For fans of Rick Remender's always terrific writing and of the Punisher, this is a must-read. Punisher: In the Blood is a fantastic companion to Punisher: Dark Reign and should not be allowed to fall through the cracks into obscurity.

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12