Marvel's Supervillains Declare War On Punisher
Frank Castle, you've really done it this time...
The Punisher has been having an... interesting year, shall we say. Between suiting up in the War Machine armour in the present day and operating as the cosmic Ghost Rider in the future, it's fair to say that 2018 has divested from more traditional interpretations of the character, in favour of trying something new.
On the surface, however, Matthew Rosenberg and Szymon Kudranski's Punisher #1 would look to be a return to the vigilante's status quo. Gone is the Iron Man armour and Spirit of Vengeance - in their place has come the iconic white skull and leather jacket combo made famous during the character's forty year stay in the medium, and in occasional forays into the realms of live action and animation too.
Except, this isn't a return to the norm. Rosenberg and Kudranski's new #1 is actually one of the most exciting Marvel reads of the year, taking the traditional version of Frank Castle and placing him in an extraordinary scenario - right at the forefront of an international incident. Rosenberg and Kudranski also ask a really interesting question: when taken to the absolute extreme, what would the consequences of Frank Castle's crimefighting look like?
Obviously having Frank don the War Machine armour is the literal manifestation of that idea, but this new Punisher series is approaching the topic in a different way, by having Frank take on a criminal conspiracy to get the fictional nation of Bagalia (a safe-haven for supervillains and the brainchild of the Mandarin and Baron Zemo) international recognition. Castle is thoroughly aggrieved by the whole affair, and takes it upon himself to assassinate the conspirators. Simple enough, right?
Well, things take a turn for the worse pretty quickly. Frank gatecrashes the vote to recognise Bagalia and fires a magical bullet in Mandarin's direction, killing the Iron Man adversary outright and sparking a geopolitical storm in the process. Zemo declares war against Castle (a US citizen, don't forget), and the entire world holds its breath to see what happens next.
Whatever happens next, Rosenberg and Kudranski have sent Frank in a new and exciting direction. It's an arc Punisher fans in particular won't want to miss, and with 'World War Frank' set to dominate the next six issues at least, we can only begin to contemplate how the Marvel Universe responds, or indeed how Frank responds, with Zemo et al. now out for his head.