The women in the Punisher's life...
I will fully admit that I am biased when it comes to reviewing a Punisher comic book. Garth Ennis can almost do no wrong when it comes to writing Frank Castle in my eyes. Although I'll be the first to admit he has very little respect for the costumed crowd at Marvel, as evidenced when he used Daredevil, Spider-Man and Wolverine in Punisher (Marvel Knights). Thankfully we don't need to worry about that ever since this title was moved over to the MAX line.
Some people complained when this storyline started because it was 5 widows trying to take down the Punisher. I liked it because it plays on something that was established about Castle back in the first Punisher ongoing series (1987): Women always have a tendency to blindside him. As he would say... he can't tell when women are lying because they're too good at it. Hey... I didn't say that, Frank did.
Last issue finished up with Castle walking into a trap, and the reader was left thinking that he might be a little dumb for doing this. We usually always know what Punisher is thinking through those dialog boxes... because well, with no one around he tends to talk to himself a lot I guess. Last issue we didn't have that in the closing moments of the issue so we didn't know what he was thinking, this issue opens up in the same place, but this time we know what's going on in his head. I thought that was a nice move on Ennis' part.
The plot also thickens here as we find out a whole lot more about the mystery woman that is stalking the 5 widows, and it turns out she's a lot like a really screwed up version of Lynn Michaels. If you know who Lynn Michaels is without looking it up, then you know your a big Punisher fan.
Also to Ennis' credit is that each new story arc he has to come up with new characters, since the Punisher has no supporting cast to speak of. For instance the character of Detective Budiansky could have been a very stereotypical character, but he's anything but.
All around great issue, and it finishes where I have no idea what to expect next month.