This is just a big summer blockbuster to me. There is nothing deep with this comic nor is there anything stupid about it. It’s just a violent and, more importantly, fun time to anyone wanting to read a Noir book. Maybe this entire line of Marvel books have something going after reading this mini.

The majority of this issue is just Castelione Jr. trying to get revenge on the three people who killed his father. Now with this kid turning into Punisher it shows the parallel of Batman all the more obvious. I mean it’s a no brainer to see the comparison before hand, but because the kid is avenging his father’s death by a group of criminals, kinda hard not to see it. Still there was a wealth of good sequences in this. Punisher’s fight with this Barracuda is a bit far fetched but still entertaining. I’ll say that I never have seen Punisher (any version) kill an innocent like this in that fight. The way he says ‘Oh god–‘ just feels real and Tieri just has the voice down for Castelione. There is a moment in this where Tieri calls himself out again on some uneven writing. Like the Russian fight; he makes Jigsaw say ‘sounds like a stall job to me…’ and in the end that’s what it was. Maybe Tieri did that on purpose or not; either way it was kinda stupid Jigsaw still let Punisher ramble and not outright kill him. Still, I can’t really say anything bad about this issue because it’s just too much fun to read.

The art by Paul Azaceta has really improved in every new issue. This might be my favorite artist to do a Noir comic, because it just looks so good. Everything just fits well with the time frame; the outfits, weapons, and even the streets of NYC look like the 1930s. Just having a set peice at Coney Island is a joy for me; I love that place to death. Azaceta’s version of Jigsaw might be the best for me, it just looks realistic and the scars always stay the same. Usually people have a hard time with keeping the scars the same in every panel, but he has it down. What also helps is the colors in this. It’s by Nick Filardi and he has a good filter of brown and black in this. It doesn’t look too muddy but it keeps the Noir feeling intact. There’s a great use of red in this as well and the colors he uses for nighttime look great. Overall, stating it again, this might have the best artists used for a Noir book.

Again there is nothing special about this comic in terms of story. It just is a fun comic book, like what a Punisher comic should always be. Now I haven’t read all of the Noir books, but I find it hard to believe there is anything better then this Punisher version. I’m sure none of the other Noir books have a great pencils and colors used as well. If you missed this series out in issues, then this will be a good trade to read just for fun. All I know is that Tieri probaby has something big planned for the last issue; which is fine by me.