PUNISHER NOIR PREM HC

Review by: TheNextChampion

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

3
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Avg Rating: 5.0
 
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WRITER: Frank Tieri
PENCILS: Paul Azaceta
COVER BY: Dennis Calero

Size: pages
Price: 19.99

While I have not been a huge fan of the Noir line for Marvel, I will say that they are definitely trying to give an ‘original’ experience for the reader. X-Men Noir wasn’t the best story ever written but it was a nice Elseworlds-lite story for the characters. For Punisher Noir, it’s practically the same but with a 1920’s twice. But what Frank Tieri is able to do is quite astonishing.

Not only did he do a bang up job writing the Punisher in a Noir setting, but he made it down right entertaining. Granted this feels more like an Action/Thriller then a Noir but I’m not gonna complain. If anything Tieri has a perfect voice for a 1920’s setting. He has the sayings down, the locals right, and he is somewhat historically accurate. Since it’s a Punisher story it does have some simplicity to it. You’re not going to get a mystery or some meaningful story out of it. Just a comic with a lot of guns, action, women, and blood. One minute we’re in New York City at a local restaurant, the next we’re on top of a speeding train in Germany. Although there are some cliches here and there, Tieri definitely knows how to entertain an audience.

If there is one certainty out of this story, other then it being entertaining, it has the best art for the Noir line. Paul Azaceta is a damn good artist and he just nails the grittiness of the characters. He made some of the more Punisher enemies look unique and different for the setting. The locals are pretty accurate, especially Coney Island, and the action sequences are superb. That sequence, again, where the Russian is attacking Castelione on the train is well done. If I do have a tiny nitpick, it’s the coloring. A bit too brown or dark in some places. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to tell what I’m looking at. But all the same, this is a very beautiful looking book when you get right down to it.

I’m sure many people will say the X-Men Noir book has been the best so far. But to me, even if I am a Punisher fan, I think you are going to get a lot of entertainment from this mini. Considering how this thing ends with a huge tease I want Tieri and Azaceta to come back and tell me more about the Noir Punisher. Even if it really isn’t Noir when you look at it.

Story: 5 - Excellent
Art: 4 - Very Good

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