It's about time Frank Castle took a vacation. After a good few decades taking it upon himself to wage a one man war on the crime of New York City, he followed the trail of a new killer drug across to the other coast, he's since been hanging out in LA where there's apparently a load more undesirables. The new series written by Nathan Edmondson and illustrated by Mitch Gerads has been a breath of fresh air for the character, who's either gotten marginally less psychopathic, or else involved him dying and being resurrected as a patchwork monster who was honestly called Frankencastle. Yes, that happened. It probably doesn't hurt that Gerards is one of the most interesting artists tasked with drawing The Punisher in a good long while, with his slightly more sketchy, stylised work more in line with Alex Maleev and Ashley Wood. Doing a good cover and being able to tell a sequential story are two very different things, but Gerards manages to nail both on a regular basis. He got off to a good start with the first issue of his and Edmonson's relaunched Punisher series, which saw an ominous Frank Castle (complete with skull insignia) juxtaposed against the palm trees and California sunshine.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
