Writer: Jason Starr
Artist: Roland Boschi
Color: Dan Brown
The Punisher is one of my favorite characters of all time. That is why his books are some of the only titles that I get from Marvel. The first time I was introduced to the Punisher was in the Amazing Spider-man vol. 1 #135. When I saw this vigilante dressed in black with a large skull on his chest, I was immediately interested.
Let’s fast forward to 2012. I just read the Untold Tales of the Punisher Max #1 and I was very impressed. For those of you who do not follow Marvel, the Max titles are the ones with explicit content and are not suitable for minors. Issue #1 tells the story of a man named Jimmy who is asked to kill someone to clear a debt he has with a loan shark. If he doesn’t do it by midnight the next day they will come back and kill him. The comic shows the anguish going through his mind and follows him throughout the 24 hours he was given. Well, eventually his decisions lead to a meeting with the Punisher. And for those of who know how the Punisher operates, you know that can’t be good.
For those of you who don’t know the Punisher, he is an ex-marine as well as ex-law enforcement that lost his entire family in a mob hit. He swore to his wife and kids, that those who do wrong will be punished. You commit a crime, you’re going down and if it’s the Punisher that’s after you, you’re going down 6 feet under.
Jason Starr did a great job in writing this story. The traditional Punisher story is told from the Punisher’s point of view, a war journal if you will. The way this story is written, you really got into the mind of Jimmy as well as getting consumed by the story. You are actually in Jimmy’s head. This story was so good that I was actually saddened when I reached the end of the issue. I wanted more. The art by Roland Boschi is also top notch. Overall this comic knocked it out of the park. I cannot wait until issue #2!
