Punisher Targets Norman Osborn
The Punisher sets his eyes upon Norman Osborn as he attempts to take him down from four miles away with the use of a Skrull gun. Osborn's life is saved as the bullet is stopped a few inches before it hits his face by the Sentry. During the Punisher's escape from the Sentry he is aided by a man named Henry who he later teams up with to take down The Hood. From there the Punisher begins to hit different warehouses acquiring some weapons he uses in his battle against The Hood. He comes into contact with Microchip who was brought back to life by The Hood. The Punisher escapes as The Hood begins to resurrect an army to deal with the Punisher.
My Thoughts:
This was the beginning of a new Punisher series after the cancellation of Punisher War Journal. The writing is done by Rick Remender who had teamed up with Matt Fraction on the previous Punisher series. Remender wastes no time as he starts the series off with a bang by sending the Punisher after none other than Norman Osborn. While the attempt is unsuccessful (of course) it was still an awesome idea and seemed like exactly something the Punisher would do. But when I saw the Sentry jump in and stop the bullet, I figured it would only be a matter of seconds before he stopped the Punisher. I mean come on, a man with a gun against someone with the power of a million exploding suns?! I thought it was a little unrealistic that he managed to get away.
What I did like was that after the Sentry's part was done it was just street level characters in this comic. That made it a little more realistic. While The Hood does have powers he still operates in the streets and I want to read the Punisher in that type of setting. What some readers may find repetitive is that the Punisher always seems to have a Microchip kind of character that helps him out. Remender added this new character Henry that is very much like the original Microchip while also adding the first Microchip to the mix. Maybe it's time to take the Punisher in a different direction and stop adding these kind of characters. It just becomes a little to predictable when writers do this.
The art is by Jerome Opena who does a very good job setting the tone for this comic. The art is perfect for this dark, gritty, action-packed series.
It seems this was only the beginning of the battle between the Punisher and The Hood. At the end we see The Hood resurrecting an army so it's safe to say the next volume should be action-packed as well. I enjoyed this volume but I felt it lacked something. The action was nice and the surprise addition of Microchip was a good idea as well but there was something that didn't quite do it for me. Still worth the read, just not the best Punisher comic I've read.
Rating: 3.5/5