PUNISHER FRANK CASTLE MAX #68

Review by: TheNextChampion


Size: pages
Price: 3.99

I havent lived in Philadelphia for over ten years now. But I still know how horrible of a city it has become. Not to turn this into a rant but Philadelphia has turned into one of the worst cities in America. The crime rate has gone up incredibly, it isnt a clean city by anyone’s imagination, and most of the people living there…..ugh. My first ten years of my life I lived in some of the worst parts of Philly and I can say without hyperbole that those were some of the scariest years of my life period. I still have to go there every once and awhile and I still hate going there.

After typing that out you can sorta tell why I like Swierczynski using Philadelphia as the setting for this Punisher arc.

For the most part of this arc so far we havent really had good views in the city. I mean we have seen some of the famous skyscrapters and some terms only a person in Philly would know….but really the plot doesnt focus on the city more on the characters. In this issue more use of the city is used in a bunch of different ways. I recognized the subway entrance Castle uses to escape the police. I understood right away what KYW means for the mayor (it’s the local news organization in the city). I’ve even been to the towns and cities Dre (the female lead here) has been too….and I swear the man in page where people are doing cocaine reminds me of a certain mayor…

Still Duane S. decides to focus more on the plot and less on the city itself. It’s probably for the better since you could probably do a whole arc on just Castle fighting everyone in Philly alone….not just a group of high class criminals in the city. I still like where Duane S is taking us here and I am starting to love that Vietnam vet and obviously him remembering Castle during the war is gonna cause problems in the next issue.

Lacombe and Staple has just been doing a fantastic job on the art. Again Lacombe hasnt done much (if wiki is to be believed) so I hope this arc takes him places in the future. His faces are just beautiful to look at (no one looks the same especially with all the detail) and he doesnt hold himself back in the violence. You want to see blood? You got it here and then some. I’ve been told recently Val Staples does the colors for Criminal and other Brubaker crime comics. If that’s the case then it’s more incentive for me to pick those series up. I dont think I have been this happy with colors in a comic book for years.

I really hope this arc gives Duane S. his own long run on this title in the near future. I believe once this arc is done we get another creative team on board. It’s a shame cause Duane S. definitely has the right voice for Castle and he’s done a hell of a good job with the story so far. But with a good creative team on board for now, I can be one of the few on this website to still enjoy the violent world of Frank Castle…..even if it still has that idiotic name change.

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 5 - Excellent

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