Garth Ennis run on Punisher was one of the greatest achievements in the industry. We like to say ‘wow Robert Kirkman has been on Invinicble for 51 issues, we need to praise him’ while Ennis is the quiet man in the corner who has been on this title longer then anything Kirkman has done. Ennis is the best Frank Castle writer period, each title was better then the next and he knew when to add drama and character development other then just violence (oh but what violence there was in this). But now that he’s gone it’s hard to know what is going to happen to this title. Right now it is in charge of a ‘famous’ crime novelist and although I never heard of him….he’s got big shoes to fill.

Well after reading the first issue of the new creative team….it’s not bad. It’s certainly not as good as Ennis (yet) but we got quite a ways to go before I can say anyone is good as Ennis. We have Punisher getting ask to go across the border to figure out why a group of people are kidnapping and killing the women of a town. It’s basically a set up issue here where the real fun should begin in the next issue. But Castle seems to be written well here, we feel his angst and hardship as he sees all the terrible stuff on the street while thinking about his deceased son. The art is pretty well too, although it get’s really dark…even in day scenes. Maybe it’s suppose to fit the tone of the book but it’s alittle weird that in the middle of day team it looks like dusk…

This is a soild first issue for the new guys and it’s given me hope for the next couple of issues. The title might never reach a form of glory like it once was, but hey as long as they follow Ennis’s ideas and make the title bloody…then we should all breath a sigh of relief for this title.