PUNISHER KILL KREW (Marvel Comics, January 22, 2020 release date) Writer: Gerry Duggan. Artist: Juan Ferreyra. Letters: VC’s Cory Petit. Trade paperback, 128 pages. ISBN # 1302910932 / 9781302919030
Summary on the Goodreads website . . . . .
The War of the Realms may be over - but for the Punisher, the conflict never ends!
To combat Malekith's invasion, Frank Castle raised his own personal army. And now, in the war's aftermath, Punisher's crew has some scores to settle!
The Punisher has stolen Thor's flying goat and is traversing the Ten Realms on a mission. But his first stop is...Counter-Earth?!
He made a promise of vengeance - and Frank keeps his promises. But a van full of orphans is about to make that vow a lot more complicated. And while Frank has picked up some unlikely allies for his Kill Krew, can he keep them alive? It's an action epic unlike anything you've ever seen from the Punisher before. One team. Ten Realms. All-out war! COLLECTING: PUNISHER KILL KREW (2019) #1-5, MATERIAL FROM WAR OF THE REALMS: OMEGA (2019) #1.
My review on the Goodreads website . . . . .
Marvel’s Punisher (when it’s properly written) is one of my guilty pleasures. I shouldn’t like this as much as I do, a book that could easily be seen by some as a glorification of guns and violence. There’s more depth and more heart in this character than that, as readers more familiar with Frank Castle can attest.
There’s something about a wronged person taking justice into their own hands that appeals to my imagination, even though I realize it is not applicable to the real world — where the rules of law should and must be upheld. My favorite version of Frank Castle/Punisher is as a vigilante avenger using only his wits and combat skills to take down vicious criminal gangs. I’m not as interested in reading stories where he fights super-powered foes or gets monstrous or armored or uses enhanced weapons.
I passed on the storyline where Frank gets use of the War Machine armor, but I did enjoy the recently concluded war between Frank and Baron Zemo
where some super-powered characters joined the battle on both sides. (Matthew Rosenberg was writer on both series).
So, the idea of Frank Castle going into battle against Frost Giants, a spin-off from Marvel’s War Of The Realms epic didn’t really appeal to me - - so I didn’t pre-order the book. Still, I’m a impulsive buyer when I’m visiting a comics shop, so I picked Issue #1 off the shelf, scanned the contents and made a snap decision to check it out. I was especially interested in the art of Juan Ferreyra.
I didn’t expect to enjoy the story as much as I did. PUNISHER KILL KREW is a light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek story of a determined man (Frank Castle) going head-to-head with some huge and powerful Frost Giants and their demonic minions, and with the help of some super-powered friends, bringing them to justice. He shouldn’t be victorious, but he is.
An innocent family gets caught in the crossfire of the War of the Realms series, and only the father (Jones) survives. An empathetic Frank Castle promises to avenge his family and stakes become higher when he’s introduced to a van full of young children, orphans of the War.
I read this in the monthly single issues, where each installment became more outrageous (especially when the quest takes them off-planet), and more hilarious considering the absurdity of it all.
Here are a few highlights:
ISSUE #1: There is a double-page spread detailing a panorama of battle images with a grim Punisher in the center that is a showcase for the art.
ISSUE #2: There’s something about a inhuman war criminal with navigation skills padlocked to the front end of a van and being pulled by a giant Norse goat (Toothgnasher) through outer-space that appeals to my funny bone. I never would have considered attorney Foggy Nelson (“I can’t be in space! I have court in the morning.”) to become an accomplice on this mission. Yet there he is, and he finds a way to contribute later in the story.
ISSUE #3: More double-paged mayhem combining multi-page horizontal panels with smaller rolling panels to enhance the illustrations. Juggernaut joins the team and can barely fit his huge frame into the back seat of the van.
ISSUE #4: The Black Knight and his Ebony Blade join the team. There’s a panel where a helmeted Punisher breaks through the Frost Giant Barriers while exclaiming “Time To Die” that recalls an iconic image from the film version of Stephen King’s THE SHINING.
ISSUE #5: There’s a little twist one week after the mission is completed when Frank senses something while updating Jones, the surviving father now confined to a wheelchair. The funny nature of the book ends, and Frank has a serious conversation with Jones and passes some heart-warming advice to him. No glorification here.
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