Shaping up to be one of The Punisher's must-read adventures.
There are a lot of critically acclaimed series out there. Though I like to keep up on the books that receive positive word of mouth, I just don't have enough money to pick up everything the professionals rave about. Even when I do; when I find good starting point (X-Force: Dark Angel Saga) or a high profile issue to a series receiving good word of mouth (Fantastic Four 607-608 featuring Black Panther), I find that my enjoyment rate of recommended books is only around 50%. Even then I tend to only give a chance to the stories with characters I already have some affinity for. In my own experience, I am much more likely to enjoy a low selling off-the-radar book featuring characters that I connect with, rather than following the big name writers as they move from project to project. If I sound defensive, there is a good reason for that. I feel the need to explain myself for being silly enough to not be reading Rucka's Punisher up until now. If War Zone #1 is any indication, it is just too good of a series to overlook.
The Punisher is a character I don't care about, I understand why he exists and what his motivations are, but I just don't usually find his stories interesting. I was totally engaged the whole time reading War Zone. Maybe in that respect this issue benefits in my eyes from focusing so much on the perspective of the Avengers. This is still very much a Punisher book, fans will not feel that Frank is getting the short end of any stick, but there is just as much interesting character work with the rest of the cast. Spider-Man in particular serves as an important catalyst in this issue, and it may just be the first time I have ever seen Spidey be intimidating (Don't worry, I don't mean that a dark, early 90's Spawn sense or anything. This is still regular old good-intentioned joke cracking, 616 Peter Parker. But pit against a non-powered man like the Punisher, Rucka makes it very clear just how big a threat Spider-Man can be).
The art here by Carmine Di Giandomenico is equally notable. Di Giandomenico has been in the industry for awhile but he has never been on my radar before. I could see him becoming much more prominent in the years to follow because of his work here. The interiors of this issue appear to be a career highlight for Di Giandomico. His art style, while certainly western, has a definite anime influence as well. In that way, his style reminds me of fellow Italian artist Stefano Caselli. That isn't to say Di Giandomenico isn't a distinct and very unique artist in his own right. He even draws a great looking Spider-Man, who is probably the most often butchered character by comic book artists on an ensemble book. The only criticism I have about the way this book looks is that the anime influences along with Rucka's choice to give Punisher an eye patch and beard makes Frank Castle look a little too familiar to Metal Gear's Solid Snake.
If you love comics, you should check this miniseries out. It is well written, well drawn, and shaping up to be the thinking man's answer to major title crossovers like Avengers Vs. X-Men. You don't need to come into this with a prior understanding of Rucka's Punisher run (although if you do have that you'll probably enjoy it even more). I came in fresh, and though this series won't hold your hand to slowly explain the recent status quo to you before jumping head first into the next chapter, I had no trouble keeping up.
