The greatest thing has happened in comics. Jason Aaron is writing a Punisher comic. Not just any Punisher comic, the comic done on the MAX line! Free to do whatever he wants, we can now see Aaron at his most violent with a character that has no boundries. Hearing Steve Dillon was going to be the ongoing artist was just the cherry on top of a great sundae. What fun and (more importantly) violent ideas will Jason Aaron give us?

I was surprised to see that Aaron wrote a very good mobster story in this. Apparently the mob is getting tired of Punisher (gee that’s original) and they have the ultimate idea to finish Frank Castle once and for all (again so original). Well obviously I didn’t think this was looking so fresh at first when reading, that is until Wilson Fisk walked in. The idea of reintroducing Kingpin in a fresh way was really entertaining to me. He’s just on the low end of the spectrum and I guess this story is going to show his rise to power. I love that idea, and Aaron is definitely going to make mob politics very interesting.

This is a very violent comic to say the lease. Almost like an Ennis comic, which Jason Aaron totally reminds me of. Seriously, some of the ideas in this feels like Garth Ennis. Most notably the mob guy and his eyes….That’s gonna haunt my dreams for a couple of weeks for sure. It’s a bit funny though, again showing more of a Garth Ennis style of humor. It’s gonna be violent and hectic for sure, but Aaron is great at adding dark humor into his work. If you loved Garth Ennis’s run of this MAX series, then I can totally see you guys loving this first issue.

Steve Dillon is a great artist and I don’t see many people talk about him recently. His style is one of the more unique pencils in the industry. It looks so cartoony but when the violence rears its head it’s so realistic. Well I don’t think a man’s eyes bouncing around by the nerves is realistic. But still, his touches to make the violence even more horrible is shown here. I also like how every single character looks different even if the faces look so simple. Your not gonna confuse the mobsters from one another nor will the Punisher mix in with the crowd. Again I have a hard time explaining Dillon’s style into words, but let’s just say that he is perfect for this title. I wish we could’ve seen him sooner with the MAX line, or at least after the ‘Welcome Back Frank’ storyline.

This was a great first issue in a lot of ways. The writing was pretty spot on for a Punisher comic, Aaron does a great job making the side characters have personality, it’s violent as hell, and the premise is interesting. There’s going to be more to this comic then just violence and if your a fan of Aaron you’ve probably known that already. Then add in Dillon’s artwork and…..well I already used that sundae metaphor. So we’ll go with that again. If this is how the first issue read for me then I cannot wait to see where this series takes us. It’s going to be a violent ride.