PUNISHER FRANK CASTLE MAX #71

Review by: TheNextChampion


Size: pages
Price: 3.99

‘Welcome to the Bayou’ has a strange charm to start things off for Victor Gischler on this title. Have you ever watched a horror movie and thought: ‘Why isn’t the cop smart enough to know bad shit is going down in the house behind him?’ Well it seems Gischler is taking the perspective of horror genre and see what happens when the cop is replaced by Frank Castle.

This title has had three creative team changes and it’s getting a bit annoying. On one hand, I want to have a team stay for more then an arc. But on the other hand, these creative teams (for the most part) have been so fun to read and the art has been really solid. With Gischler he sort of brings a bit more humor and navitiy to Castle. With lines like: ‘This place looks like a fucked up version of cracker barrell’, and the female lead being a bimbo blonde….It certainly seems like he’s going for laughs. When we get to the meat of the situation, of inbred hicks killing off a group of college students, then it seriously gets horrifying. Again sort of taking a horror aspect to the story. We get a bunch of teenagers (of course two of them has to be sexy co-eds), a group of hillbilles, and a naive hero; it feels like Gischler is paying good respects to the genre. For a set up issue it has a strong voice for Castle, a group of scary villains, and sets up tension for the arc….Sounds like a good story for me.

What also helps with this new arc is the fantastic art by Goran Parlov. Never heard or seen of his work before, but now I want him to be full time on Punisher. I seem to be saying that the last couple of Punisher arcs, but man if anything Marvel is getting some good artists to fit with a Punisher title. In a lot of ways it reminds me of Steve Dillion; with some weird wrinkles on the face and ‘swollen’ lips. But it has a nice clean look to it, sometimes cartoony in a way…Castle certainly looks a bit like a cartoon character in certain panels. Parlov also seems to be one of millions of artists who can draw gorgeous looking women. Considering the predictaments two of the three women are in now, it certainly isnt cheesecake.

For a first issue, Gischler and Parlov has certainly give me some interest. I dont know if this type of plot can warrant five issues; but they hooked me in on the creepy aspects of Louisiana. With a nice call back to a particular genre in horror, and a nice voice for Frank Castle: This could be a fun little story for Frank Castle.

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 4 - Very Good

Comments

  1. I too really enjoyed this issue. I know a lot of people haven’t been happy with the MAX title since Ennis left, but this new arc in particular tickled my fancy.

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