“Is this the return of Frank Castle - or the start of something else? Frank Castle has disappeared, but evil will always need to be punished. With all-new threats rising to claim innocent victims, criminals will need to beware of a dangerous vigilante hunting them from the shadows. Who is the new Punisher? What put him on his path of vengeance? And when the smoke clears, will he even make it out alive?” - Marvel
Is it The Punisher the symbol on the chest, or is it the man behind the skull? Is it simply the knowledge that there is a wronged man out there with a large arsenal and a mission of revenge?
"The Punisher Is Back, But This Is Definitely Not Frank."
Writer David Pepose, along with his team are the ones intent on writing a new Punisher legend, and making it all connect. Artist Dave Wachter, colorist Dan Brown, and letterer Cory Petit, this team have recently released their inaugural first issue of Punisher #1, without Francis Castle.
Our newest man with a death wish (but not for himself) is John Garrison. Targeted by the cops, targeting those who have done him wrong, and teaming up with those who seem to not have a moral compass, John is out to take revenge on those who killed his family (shocking, right?) and potentially clear his name, since he is also the number one suspect in his family’s death.
David Pepose, the Ringo Award-winning writer behind Savage Avengers, Moon Knight: City of the Dead, and many other-than-big-two titles, is setting up the “new” Punisher quite nicely by leaving the reader in the dark about Frank Castle’s whereabouts, and even how John Garrison is even alive after being the target of a deadly bombing that took out his innocent family.
One thing that I always worry about with new Punisher comics is the look of the costume, how it will change and the team behind his new look making these changes for a reason, and it is clear that they are.
Despite the controversy surrounding Frank Castle’s classic Punisher skull look, David Pepose and Dave Wachter are doing an excellent job of making obvious differences to Garrison’s look, but also not making it glaringly different so that it’s too much of an off-shoot. Even the enemies of the Punisher in issue one are confusing Garrison for Castle’s Punisher.
Wachter and Dan Brown are creating an awesome new look for Garrison’s Punisher look. His enemies, with their enigmatic color scheme that screams alien drugs, enhanced beings, and a mere man battling against it all to find the answers. Even Garrison’s souped-up arsenal has a kinetic look to each weapon that makes even the environment turn weapons into unique set pieces.
As a fan of The Punisher, this feels like an exciting time for whoever shakes out as the new Punisher, and David and his team are the right ones to take a new dark and gritty storyline into the depths of Garrison’s personal hell to see what lays in wait as his true enemy.
