When I reviewed the first 6 issues of Matt Rosenberg’s Punisher run, called ‘War Machine’, I likened it to such classic action movies as First Blood and Blue Thunder. The comparison still stands through the second arc, ‘War Criminal’, as this now sees Frank Castle bring the war back home to America.
The plot is brutally straightforward; The Punisher is still in possession of the War Machine armour, and now he wants revenge on Hydra leader Baron Zemo, but to get it he’ll have to run a gauntlet of all the Marvel Universe’s mightiest heroes and deadliest villains. I actually can’t believe quite how much action was packed into these five issues (#224 to #228); with the plot kicking into high gear straight from the get-go, and not letting up for the duration, making for another very tightly paced cat-and-mouse action thriller.
As with the previous arc, the action is inventive and relentless, but the script is peppered with cheeky black humour also. You almost don’t really notice that Frank’s characterisation here is completely 2 dimensional, lacking any real depth beyond ‘determined and resourceful sociopath’. If there’s a failing in the story therefore, it’s that there isn’t any emotional weight to it; and the reader doesn’t really invest in Frank’s mission. Whereas the anti-heroes of both First Blood and Blue Thunder were left profoundly changed in the aftermath of their respective adventures, the Punisher undergoes no particularly profound development as result of his own spectacular rampage.
Gripe aside, this is a hugely entertaining read, and along with the arc that precedes it, gets a strong recommendation to any action fans. After a decade of decompressed arcs from Marvel and DC, Rosenberg’s run is the definition of all-killer no-filler.
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