So we have a woman writing The Punisher now, color me intrigued. Frank Castle has always been such a violent, testosterone rich character that I was very interested to read a female writer's take & we now have one w/ Becky Cloonan & Steve Dillon's approach. I've started every Punisher book since the great Garth Ennis' departure from the title, but never was able to stick w/ any new version. Ennis, I thought, ruined the future of the character for me. His Punisher was just so damn good. Well, Cloonan's Frank feels more than a little bit like the Ennis one. There still, however, are some cracks. This Disney owned Punisher comes w/ a Parental Warning on the cover & all bad language implied w/ this kinda stuff - &%%#@!!!. Ennis run included cussing, not as much as one would think, but it was there & added to the realism. Oh well, I get it, those days are long gone at Marvel. Still, Cloonan starts out pretty strong out the gate & the bodies pile up. I found it short-sighted on her part to intentionally send Castle into a huge fight scene w/o any body armor, wearing only his signature black tee. Made no sence. I'm a Dillon on The Punisher Fan, have been since the beginning. His art here, really takes me back.
Bottom line, I already think Cloonan's take has potential. More so that the last 7 or so writers have shown. W/ Ennis writing so many "other versions" of The Punisher for other companies, I do sorta wish he's just come home to Castle & pick up where he left off. He won't, I asked him, at least not for a while, so I'm hoping Cloonan's semi-strong start leads to some glory issues.
