Punisher Noir GN-TPB

Punishment, 30s style, 27 Aug 2011

By 

Sam Quixote –

  

New York, 1920s, an a WW1 vet Frank Castelione Snr runs a grocery store with his young son Frank Jnr while meting out justice in the night time against the mobsters that threaten to overrun the city. Unfortunately after an encounter with two vicious assassins, Barracuda and Jigsaw, Frank Jnr is killed. Years later mobsters are being taken out by a masked vigilante. But will the Punisher find vengeance on his father’s killers and become the hero for the innocent his father wanted to be?

Like DC’s Elseworlds series, Marvel takes some of its best loved characters and puts them into an earlier epoch, a kind of “what if?” storyline, mostly focusing on the early twentieth century in this “Noir” series of Raymond Chandler-esque books.

This book is gangster heavy, as you would expect a Punisher book to be, but because of its setting in the 20s and 30s it feels like Max Allan Collins’ excellent comic book “Road to Perdition” than the contemporary Punisher books.

This book was well written and imaginative as well as fast paced and the artwork was very dark, very appropriate to a series titled “noir”. Dennis Calero’s covers are utterly gorgeous and are included in a gallery at the end. The Punisher with a skull mask also makes the series feel darker than average Punisher books as it looks like a serial killer than Frank Castle.

This whole series has been designed very well with smaller than average books, glossy covers with thematically linked covers and well imagined re-inventions of these famous characters in a less technologically advanced time. “Punisher Noir” is a great addition to a superb series and a good read.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews 

Was this review helpful to you? 

|

 Comment