Punisher War Journal #11
Marvel Comics
Writer: Matt Fraction
Artist: Leandro Fernandez

After a dramatic and bloody stint of action down south, Frank Castle—everyone’s favorite mentally unstable, large-caliber-gun-toting vigilante—finally returns back up north riddled with guilt over his recent misbehavior and accidental killing of his best friend’s girlfriend. With that type of stuff going on in his head, is it any wonder Frank Castle’s borderline psychotic? But, anyway, after assuming the mantle of Captain America for a while and finding it ill-fitting, Frank shows up at the nation’s capital and, after a brief scuffle, hands over the Captain America uniform (and identity) to the Winter Soldier—Cap’s former sidekick, Bucky Haris—for safe keeping. For the most part, this is a transition issue that wraps up one story arc and begins another. And, more than that, this is the first issue of Punisher War Journal that doesn’t have Ariel Olivetti on pencils! A painful development, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

Fraction continues fleshing out his own particular vision on Punisher War Journal with this issue. He’s definitely got a method and an agenda and knows how to properly utilize “plant/payoff” writing. He enjoys “planting” seeds of possible action or development in early issues only to return to them later with a wonderful narrative “payoff.” If Fraction has a weakness, it may be an occasionally verbose disposition. There are lots of “chatty” moments in this issue. However, stylistically, this is nothing new to Fraction fans and the amount of dialogue isn’t enough to slow down or distract from the overall story.

And now it’s time to discuss the art. For all of those who’ve been following Punisher War Journal from the beginning, the outstanding presence and ability of Ariel Olivetti has been one of the most enriching elements of the series. Not to take anything away from Fraction and his writing, I’d be remiss if I said that it hasn’t been great seeing Olivetti’s wonderful style and attention to detail throughout the series. But, now, Olivetti’s gone—reduced to simply cover work—and a new stick jockey, Leandro Fernandez, picks up the baton. So what’s the verdict on the change? Well, in short, it’s like going from a Cadillac to a really good Honda: sure the Honda’s good enough to get you where you’re going, but, boy oh boy, do you miss that Cadillac! Fernandez has a very “average” style that suffers from a strange meandering and a slight inability to properly portray perspective as well as a weakness in regards to pacing. There were a couple of panels in this issue that seemed so ill-construed that I found myself wondering whether or not the editor was asleep when this came across the desk. But, not to be too hard on Fernandez, he’s not terrible by any means. But he’s definitely not in Olivetti’s league…sadly.

Overall: 3 out of 5. Olivetti’s presence is sorely missed!