Tag Archives: frank castle

Mondo’s The Punisher by Jock on Sale Today

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Today, Mondo has a brilliant new poster for The Punisher – the most recent entry into the Marvel/Netflix lexicon of shows. The poster depicts Jon Bernthal‘s dogged and stoic portrayal of Frank Castle, by the one and only Jock!

This is an exciting pairing of artist and subject as Jock’s gritty, visceral rendering style nicely captures the tone of the show and portrays Frank as a watchful and powerful force of nature. If you haven’t seen the show yet, we definitely suggest remedying that.

Pick up this poster today (12/1) at a random time via mondotees.com.

Review: The Punisher #11

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Writer Becky Cloonan serves up twenty plus pages of pure action packed power in issue The Punisher #11. There’s minimal dialogue here, but from the challenge gauntlet thrown down by Condor on the first page to the Street Fighter friendly FINISH HIM style final word bubble, this issue lays down the fire. There’s so much tension built up and so much 80s action film realism that it’s hard not to enjoy this intriguing romp through The Punisher’s escape and Battle Royal with the Condor team. The only thing missing from this issue is the agent gone rogue side story that has been running parallel to the current arc and, while it was noticed it wasn’t really needed to push this issue along. In fact, having that part missing from the story gives us some sense of hope for our ultra violent anti-hero that he might get saved by the female agent. The ending leaves possibilities for a strong ending to the arc wide open and even with bare bones dialogue, the story moves along beautifully, full of signature clever quips, snarky and sometimes scared villains and nemeses.

Matt Horak‘s lines make for the perfect template for Frank Martin‘s brilliant color scheme. The artwork is simple yet poignant. There’s a sense of darkness, perfect splatters of blood, well-defined punches and bruises in every panel. The Punisher #11 is drawn like the perfect storyboard for the action movie of your dreams.

The latest issue of The Punisher is one of the most effective placeholder/fill-in issues that I’ve read in a long time. There’s not a wasted panel or word contained in all of this issues 28 pages. While it doesn’t provide any new information, we all know that Condor is crazy AF and pretty much a grown up militia style ,bad boy, Lord of the Flies crew, this issue does give us an in-depth look at Frank Castle and how strong he is, mentally and physically. It also shows how hard he will fight to stay alive and make the bad guys suffer. There are moments in his fights with various Condor members that he uses excessive force, even when it isn’t necessary to get away from his captors. This issue is a case study in Frank Castle and, it’s everything you could ever want from a look inside his head, making it a good read from cover to cover.

Story: Becky Cloonan Art: Matt Horak and Frank Martin
Story: 8.9 Art: 8.8 Overall: 8.8 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

Review: The Punisher #10

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Becky Cloonan knows good Punisher style carnage and she isn’t afraid to write it. The Punisher #10 has Agent Ortiz on the hunt for Condor with a bloodied Face still getting the crap kicked out of him in the back seat while Ortiz pumps him for information on Condors location. We also see a really hostile takeover of Condor and Frank saving the wrong hostage leaving him in a world of trouble. This issue was non-stop awesome with a side of two levels of female badassery that had me begging for the next page like an EMC addict. This issue was one of the best-written issues I’ve read in a while and I’m so beyond here for it that I literally scrolled up a few times after it was all over hoping to discover a page that I missed just so that I could have more of it.

The artwork provided by Matt Horak was a perfect addition to an already amazing issue, it was simple yet well defined and felt reminiscent of 80s Marvel darkness and despair. Not to be outdone Frank Martin with some help from Guru-EFX turned up the color palette to glib making Frank of all people the brightest spot in the story. The way they made him stand out in the madness and chaos was killer and pulled focus to title character of the comic perfectly. Every bruise, blood trail and violent action feels real and is so well drawn with the color to match that it causes a real reaction. The shadows even speak to the omnipresent feeling that something sinister this way comes and the art really does become an extra character in an already amazing story.

This issue does a lot of things well, chief among them telling an amazing, believable and followable story. This arc is full of crosses, double crosses and mayhem so much so that it would have been easy for the writer to fall into a trap and leave Frank swimming in a convoluted story line that only served the purpose of raising the carnage count. Lucky for us that Cloonan is on point and giving us a focused Frank Castle doing what he does best and supporting characters that not only make sense but, are relatable and have their own agency. Double kudos to Cloonan for giving us not one but TWO kick ass ladies who are autonomous as part of a bigger story and can not only hold their own but, make you pity the poor person who crosses them because you know their vengeance will be swift and painful.

This issue is so well written that it can stand alone and even though it’s not the beginning of an arc, it’s easy enough to follow that it would make a nice entry point into the character and the story as a whole. There’s so much to love about this issue, from it’s easy to follow along with plot to its easily identifiable Gillian’s, to its characters with clear motives and personal agendas who don’t come off as one-dimensional, cookie-cutter bad guys. The only I didn’t like about this issue is that there wasn’t more of it and now I have to wait to see what happens next to Frank, Agent Ortiz and Condor as a whole. But, I know with Cloonan at the helm it’ll be well worth the wait.

Story: Becky Cloonan Art: Matt Horak, Frank Martin, Guru-EFX
Story: 9.4 Art: 9.0 Overall: 9.2 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel comics provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review 

Thomas Jane is Frank Castle Once Again

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Do fans of the Punisher finally get the movie they deserve (and shouldn’t be that hard to do)? Thomas Jane has put together a fan film of the vigilante character. The actor originally portrayed the character in the 2004 movie and I think Jane was the best of the actors to play the character.

I wanted to make a fan film for a character I’ve always loved and believed in – a love letter to Frank Castle & his fans. It was an incredible experience with everyone on the project throwing in their time just for the fun of it. It’s been a blast to be a part of from start to finish — we hope the friends of Frank enjoy watching it as much as we did making it. — Thomas Jane