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Sometimes you just want to talk about a comic because
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you got time to kill. And that's an apt phrase,
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because I felt like I wanted to just talk about
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the first issue of the Punisher Ongoing series on Shells
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April of nineteen eighty seven. So let's start with our
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creative team. Here. We got Mike Baron writing, art and
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color by Klaus Jansen, lettered by James Novak, edited by
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Carl Potts. Now, before we get into the story itself,
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I think it's worth taking a few minutes to introduce
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the major players in these first two issues of the
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Punisher ongoing series. This opening story is basically Frank Castle
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following the cocaine trade backward, starting with a street level
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rockhouse in New York and working his way up to
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the bigger operation in Bolivia. So this is not a
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huge superhero cast. It's more like a crime slash action
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movie cast. You've got Frank, You've got a few criminals,
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you've got a couple of Vietnam connections, and then you've
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got the people caught in the middle of this whole mess.
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So we'll start with Frank. Frank Castle, the Punisher. Frank
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is the engine of this whole thing. He's a Vietnam veteran,
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a former marine, and a man whose family was murdered,
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which sent him into this one man war on crime.
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But what I like about these first two issues is
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that the book doesn't stop everything to retell his origin.
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It kind of assumes you know the basics, and then
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it just throws you right into how Frank operates. And
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right away we see that Frank is methodical. He's not
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just walking into a room and shooting everybody because he's angry.
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He lets himself get mugged so he can trace the
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attic back to the Rock House. He already has weapons
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stashed nearby. He has done the research is the house,
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he has the war journal. He's recording information and tracking contacts,
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building a case in his own punisher way. This is
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Frank as an investigator, soldier, and executioner all at once,
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and to me, that's the main thing. These first two
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issues established. He's not just a guy with guns. He's patient,
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he's tactical, and once he decides he's going after a
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criminal operation, he's going to follow it as far as
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it goes. And in this story, that means he starts
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in New York and ends up in Bolivia. Then we
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have Bruce Ayers. Bruce Ayers is important because he gives
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Frank the personal hook into this story. He's a Vietnam
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pilot Frank newback in nineteen sixty eight, and Frank runs
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into him at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. That scene is
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important because it ties this drug story into Frank's past.
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This isn't just Frank reading a file and deciding to
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go after some random criminals. Bruce brings some information about
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Curtis Hoyle, another Vietnam era figure and friend, that puts
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Frank into this larger drug operation. When we begin this story,
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Bruce is actually dead, but his death matters. The official
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story is that he killed himself, but Frank knows enough
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to question that. Bruce's role is basically to open the door.
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He points Frank towards Hoyle, and then his death gives
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Frank even more reason to dig deeper. So when we
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talk about Bruce Ayers, I describe it as the old
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war connection who pulls Frank into the bigger conspiracy. He's
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not the star of the issue, but without him, Frank
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may not find this particular trail. Now, Curtis Hoyle is
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one of the more interesting characters in this two parter
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because he's also tied to Vietnam, but in a very
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different way. His name is on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial,
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which should mean he died in the war, but Bruce
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tells Frank that Hoyle is still alive. That immediately makes
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him suspicious and kind of fascinating. He's a ghost from
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the war who has now resurfaced as part of the
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drug pipeline. Hoyle works as a pilot and seems to
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be involved with the train sports side of the operation.
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Load full transcript
He's the guy who helps get Frank closer to the general,
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and Issue number two gives Frank the chance to confront
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him more directly. What works about Hoyle is that he
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feels like a dark mirror of Frank's military past. Frank
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came out of Vietnam and became the punisher. Hoyle came
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out of it and became part of a criminal network.
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Both are men shaped by war, but they went in
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completely different directions, and I think that gives this opening
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story a little more weight than if it were just
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Frank fights drug dealers. There's a war veteran angle running
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underneath it. Wilford so Bell is the first major criminal
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Frank works this way toward. He's connected to the rock
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House operation in New York, and Frank identifies him as
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the owner of that operation. So Bell is not the
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top of the food chain, but he's high enough up
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that getting to him gives Frank the next set of contacts.
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So Bell comes across like a sleezy organized crime type.
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He's connected, he's comfortable, he's got his club dear as
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people around him. He thinks he's insulated, but he's also
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exactly the kind of guy Frank is built to tear through.
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His big role in the story is that he's a
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stepping stone. Frank uses him to get higher up the ladder.
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He gets names, numbers, and access. So Bell is important
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less because he's a great villain and more because he
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shows us how Frank dismantles an operation piece by piece.
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Belinda Foster is Sobell's girlfriend, or at least his main
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woman in this story. She's not one of the main villains,
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but she's important because Frank uses her as part of
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his escape after taking down so Bell. She's one of
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those characters who exists around the criminal world rather than
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necessarily driving it herself. What stands out is that Frank
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sends her away to Sweden afterward. That's a very Frank
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Castle kind of moment. He's ruthless with the criminals, but
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he's not just randomly hurting everyone in the orbit of
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the bad guys. If someone is useful or if someone
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is not his target, he handles them differently. Solina gives
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us a little glimpse of Frank's code. It's still a
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brutal code, but it's a code. Hector Gomez is Sobel's enforcer.
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He's one of the muscle guys in issue number one.
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His role is pretty straightforward. He represents the street level
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violence protecting Sobell's operation. He's not there to be a
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deeply developed character. He's there to show that Sobell has
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dangerous people around him and Frank has to work his
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way through them. Guys like Sobell make money off the
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drug trade, but guys like Hector are the ones enforcing it.
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Damasco is another one of the criminals in Sobell's circle,
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and he's important because he helps expose Frank's infiltration. Frank
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is operating under the name of Bill Messina, trying to
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work his way into the organization. Damasco is one of
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the people who starts testing that cover. He's part of
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the reason Frank ends up captured and tortured. So Damasco
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matters because he shows that Frank's plan is dangerous. He
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can bluff, he can scheme, he can put on the
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tuxedo and play the part, but these people are not
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complete idiots. There's always a chance his cover is going
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to fall apart, and when it does, Frank has to
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survive the hard way. And Bolivia, Frank meets Signor Valencia.
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He shows up an issue to and is basically the
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innocent man in the middle of this Bolivia operation. He
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is a Dea agent who has been captured and tortured
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by General Tran. When Frank is told to prove himself
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by killing Valencia, Frank instead shoots Fernando and rescues Valencia.
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That moment tells you a lot about Frank. He's willing
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to pretend to be a criminal to get close to
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the operation, but there is a line. He's not going
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to execute an innocent man to maintain cover. So Valencia
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becomes the test of Frank's mission. He's also there to
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show just how ugly trans operation is. This isn't just
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a business. It's torture, murder, corruption, and military style control.
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Fernando is one of trans men, and he's the one
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torturing Valencia. Again, not a deeply developed character, but he
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has a very specific function. He's there to demonstrate the
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cruelty of the Bolivia side of the operation, and he
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becomes the guy Frank kills instead of Valencia. I described
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Fernando as the torturer, the immediate face of Tran's brutality,
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and the guy Frank uses to flip the situation. The
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big bat of these first two issues is General Tran.
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He is the man behind the larger drug operation, and
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he's another character with Vietnam connections. Frank had believed Tran
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had been assassinated in nineteen seventy three, but it turns
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out he faked his death and became part of this
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international cocaine operation. Tran is important because he gives the
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story its sense of scale. We start with a rock
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house in New York, but by issue number two, Frank
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is dealing with a military style compound, armed men, aircraft, torture,
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and a major drug operation overseas. He's not just some
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local dealer. He's the source, or at least he is
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presented as the source Frank can reach in this particular story,
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and I think Tran works as a first major villain
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for this ongoing series because he connects Frank's war on
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crime with Frank's actual war history. This is crime, but
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it's also Vietnam coming back again in another form, and
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Hoyle and Tran both feel like pieces of Frank's past
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reservicing in the present. I'd also mention the rock House
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operation almost like it's a character itself. It's kind of
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where we start out in issue number one, and this
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is the criminal network Frank is attacking. It starts with
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the crack house in New York, then moves to Sobell,
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then Hoyle, then Tran. The structure of these first two
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issues is basically Frank climbing the ladder. Frank doesn't just
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walk into Bolivia randomly. He follows the chain. Street level
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drugs lead to organized crime. Organized crime leads to transport.
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Transport leads to the international supplier. These opening chapters give
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us Frank Castle as a planner, a hunter, and a soldier,
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still haunted by the world he came out of. Bruce
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Ayers pulls him into the case. Curtis Hoyle in general,
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tran connect the drug trade back to Vietnam. So Bell, Gomez, Damasco,
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and Fernando represent the different layers of the criminal machine.
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Melinda Foster gives us a small glimpse at how Frank
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treats someone who is near the crime but not necessarily
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as target, and Signor Valencia gives Frank a moral test
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once he reaches Bolivia. It's a pretty lean cast, but
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it does what it needs to do. Everybody here either
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moves Frank up, the latter shows us the scope of
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the drug operation, or reflects something about Frank himself. And
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for the first two issues of an ongoing Punisher series,
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that's a pretty solid way to start. Take Frank from
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the streets of New York, send him into the heart
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of the operation, and show the reader exactly how far
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he's willing to go. Let's get into the story again.
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The title of this story is called Marching Powder A
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released April seventh of nineteen eighty seven. So in this
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opening issue of the Punisher ongoing series, Frank Castle wages
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a one man war aggainst New York's drug trade, targeting
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a network built on crack cocaine and fortified rock houses.
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After stalking and taking down a street level attict to
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gather intel, Castle escalates quickly blasting his way into a
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heavily defended, drugged den with military grade weaponry and dismantling
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the operation with ruthless efficiency. From the wreckage, he extracts
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information that points him further up the chain, revealing a
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larger distribution system tied to powerful players along the way.
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The story grounds his mission in something deeper, briefly
connecting
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his present crusade to his past at the Vietnam Memorial,
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where he encounters Bruce Ayers, an old acquaintance now entangled
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in the very world Castle was attempting to tear apart.
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Shifting tactics, Castle goes under cover as Bill Messina infiltrating
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a higher level of the organization by manipulating paranoia and
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ambition among its leaders. His cover earns him a seat
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at the table, but suspision quickly leads to capture and torture.
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Even restrained, Castle turns the tables in explosive fashion, breaking
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free and brutally dismantling his captors from the inside. He
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eliminates the key figure Williford Sobell, spares a surviving witness,
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Belinda with a warning to disappear, and uses the chaos
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the position himself as a potential replacement in the eyes
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of the mysterious general running the operation. By the issue's end,
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Castle has forced his way deeper into the criminal aierarchy,
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setting up a direct conversation. The final beat pulls the
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threads together and hints it's something deeper. After Frank calls
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the General, Castle reflects on the voice on the other end,
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something about it feels familiar that suspicion lingers as Curtis
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Hoyle appears, now clearly moving with purpose and hinting that
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Castle's interference has forced their hand with a plan already
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in motion to deal with him. The issue closes by
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tightening the web was drawn closer to the top, but
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the enemy may be closer and more personal than he realizes.
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The plot of Issue to this drops Frank Castle into
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the heart of a Bolivian jungle stronghold under the guise
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of joining an old Vietnam acquaintance Curtis Hoyle, only to
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reveal it as a calculated infiltration of a drug empire
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by the supposedly dead General Tran, forced to prove his
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loyalty by executing a captive, Frank instead turns on trans Men,
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sparking an all out war across the compound, and this captive,
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by the way, was a DEA agent by the name
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of Valencia. Teeming
briefly with the doomed Valencia. Frank arms himself,
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embraces the Punisher identity by painting his skull emblem onto
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his body armor, and wages a one man assault, blowing
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up drug labs, commandeering an Apache helicopter, and annihilating trans
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Operation piece by piece. After a brutal final confrontation where
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trans past sins reservice and mercy is denied, Frank kills
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him and destroys the entire base, completing his mission at
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immense cost. The issue closes on a somber note at
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the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where Frank reflects on the lingering
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scars of war, the loss of airs, and the moral
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toll of his crusade, hinting that while one war may
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be over, another still rages within him. To start things out,
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let's start with the cover. In this opening issue of
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The Punisher, you basically got the Punisher hanging on a
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fire escape with a rocket launcher aiming to shoot inside
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of this building, this rock house as they call it,
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got the big title at the top, number one, first
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issue of an unlimited series. Hand you also have that
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weird Klaus Janssen skull. It's just different. Usually at the
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bars on the side of the teeth that come down
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off the I don't know what you call this cheekbones,
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but they point up instead of down, which is definitely strange.
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It's slightly off, but it's memorable. The cover is pretty
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ridiculous in the best way though it's subtle. It's not
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grounded though. It's Frank Castle about to fire a rocket
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into the building from a fire escape, and as a kid,
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that's really all I needed, to be honest. When we
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opened this thing up, we're slapped with probably some of
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the most how do I say this? It was definitely
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of the times. There's our first encounter as a guy
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who stabs Frank in order to get his next fixed
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because he's addicted to crack cocaine, and back in the
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mid to late eighties, that was a huge I mean,
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it's still something to be concerned about, but back then,
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the war on drugs, the just say no, that was
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something that I was aware of at eight to nine
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years old. The media portrayal of this you couldn't escape it.
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Crime danger, societal collapse at all surrounded the epidemic of
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crack cocaine, and this comic right out the Gate kind
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of taps into that fear. There is something to be
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said about Frank's code in this book. He definitely says
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in here that he will not pull the trigger in
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cold blood. So we're doing a good job of defining
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who Frank Castle is here if you just pick this
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up off the shelf. I mean, even throughout this he
276
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spares a model who was mixed up with this big
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time drug dealer. He does do a lot of interrogating
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first sometimes, and he also reacts when he's threatened. So
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he's a violence but he's not random, okay, And I'm
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gonna be honest with you. There's a aspect of this
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book that confused me even as a reader here at
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forty eight years old. There is a moment where this
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book dumps a lot of information. There's a good bit
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of text, and that was not something I was really liking.
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And sometimes it's kind of hard to keep track. There's
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a flashback scene which is not really labeled. You got
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to pay attention in order to figure out where you're
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at as far as the scenes that are taking place.
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There's just a moment where Frank flashes back to when
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he meets a guy at the Vietnam Memorial Wall, and
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there was a bit of confusion as to when that was.
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It was a little muddy for me. I had to
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go back and read it a few times, but I
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pieced together what was going on. I'm still not one
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hundred percent sure the book makes it totally clear. I
296
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had to figure out what the payoff was for these
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diamond tip fingernails that he pays on to himself. I
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couldn't figure out why he was doing this. At one point,
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he Frank puts some diamond tip
fingernails before he goes
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to meet Wilfred Sobell, and he even goes so far
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to scratch a mirror, so you know these things are
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going to hurt. When he gets hold of somebody or something, well,
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it ends up happening. He gets tied up and he
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starts getting tortured and he uses them to cut the rope.
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I could never tell, you know, initially, when I first
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read this, it's like, why is he doing that? I
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do tend to like the punchy punchy more than the setup.
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I'm an action guy. This is an action book, but
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this is also a crime drama, so I've got to
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give it leeway for that. And it is a bit
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of an espionage story too, with Frank doing his infiltration.
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But I'm here for the punisher being the punisher in
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our final act of the book, I mean, Belinda is spared,
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she sent away. I think she's sent with some money,
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or at least Frank sends her off straight off into Sweden.
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Frank begins to manipulate the cocaine systems that he's in
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right now. He's trying to make his way up the ladder.
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We get a mysterious figure named the General. He that
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we don't really get much revealed. We just know that
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one of the characters that was thought dead initially, and
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Frank pieces it together that Hoyle is a bit further
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up the chain in this drug ring. Well they both
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knew each other from Vietnam, and sure enough, that's who
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he runs into and Hoyle recognizes him immediately. So yeah,
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I mean, that's kind of me writing where you're thinking
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that Frank is going to be portraying this guy by
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the name of Messina. Well, she does pretty well here
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in this first book, this first issue, but now that
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covers blown as soon as Hoyle shows up. So look
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at that, you know, looking back at this now, I
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think there's a lot going on in this issue that
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probably went over my head as a kid. The crime network,
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the Vietnam connections, who's working for who, has a lot
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to keep track of. But what's stuck with me then
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and still works now is the action. The rocket launcher,
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the rock house assault, the escape from the torture scene.
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That's the stuff that defines this book for me. Klaus
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Jansen's art really sells that gritty tone, and even with
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all the violence, you can tell Frank has a code.
340
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It definitely feels more like a crime drama than a
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superhero comic. And while I may not be fully locked
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into all the plot details, the ending does a great
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job of pulling me forward, especially with Hoyle recognizing Frank
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right away. So yeah, I'm in. I want to see
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where this goes. So my thoughts on issue too, and
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kind of like the story as a whole here as
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we wrap it up. I mean, this is a step
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up from Missy One for sure. I mean, we go
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from Frank dealing with some drug dealers in the city
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to him flying into a jungle compound in Bolivia, going
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up against what is basically a small army. This is
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full on escalation, and honestly, I'm okay with it. It
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didn't feel like too much. I felt like a natural
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progression into something bigger. Now tone wise, this issue really
355
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walks an interesting line because on one hand, this is
356
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absolutely over the top eighty style action. You've got helicopters, explosions,
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Frank taking on dozens of guys at once. I mean,
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there's a moment where he literally jumps out of a helicopter,
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falls through some trees, lands on his feet, and that's
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pushing it a little bit. But at the same time,
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I feel like the book knows what it is. It's
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aware of how big and bombastic it's getting. It kind
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of reminds me of something like Rambo three, just that
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one man army jungle warfare vibe. The difference is the
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comic still wants you to buy it because it's Frank Castle.
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It's not just some random action hero. This is a
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guy who plans, who prepares, who's been through war, and
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that's where I
think the book does a good job
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keeping things grounded just enough, because underneath all that action,
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there is some character work going on here, especially with
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Frank's mindset. There's that line where he thinks this whole
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thing might be an elaborate suicide scheme, and I thought
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that was really important. That's not just throwaway dialogue. That's
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Frank being aware of what he's doing. He knows the
375
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kind of situations he's putting himself into, and he knows
376
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how this could end. And then he get to the
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end where he says, I'm sick of the war. I
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quit Now. Do I buy that? No, not for a second.
379
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This is issue number two of an ongoing Punisher series.
380
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We all know he's not hanging it up this early.
381
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But I do buy it in the moment, because this
382
00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.279
is the guy who's been through Vietnam, lost his family,
383
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and is now throwing himself into another war, whether he
384
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wants to call it that or not. So yeah, I
385
00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:38.599
believe that he's tired. I believe that for a moment,
386
00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:43.079
he thinks he's done, but it just doesn't last. And
387
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that kind of ties into the Vietnam angle that runs
388
00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.079
through this story. I don't necessarily think the book is
389
00:22:48.119 --> 00:22:51.440
saying that the war never ended for Frank, not in
390
00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:54.160
a literal sense. But what it does show is that
391
00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:57.599
Frank understands what war does to people. You see it
392
00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:01.559
through Airs who couldn't handle it, through Hoyle, who went
393
00:23:01.960 --> 00:23:05.119
down a different path. You see it through General Tran,
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00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:09.119
who took his experience and built this entire operation. Frank's
395
00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:12.960
seeing what the war does, He's seeing how it breaks people,
396
00:23:13.200 --> 00:23:16.039
how it changes them, And even if the book doesn't
397
00:23:16.039 --> 00:23:20.480
fully dive into how it's affected him internally, you can
398
00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.279
tell that it's there in the background. Now, speaking of
399
00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:27.000
General Tran, he's fine as a villain. He serves his purpose.
400
00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:29.960
There's a shared history between him and Frank, and you
401
00:23:30.599 --> 00:23:33.200
could have probably done more with it, maybe built him
402
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:36.880
up into more of a mirror to Frank, But honestly,
403
00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:40.039
I don't think that was the goal here. This wasn't
404
00:23:40.039 --> 00:23:42.920
about creating a long term villain. This was about the
405
00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:46.440
mission Frank infiltrating and taking everything down and getting out,
406
00:23:47.039 --> 00:23:50.519
and for that purpose Tran works. Same goes for Valencia.
407
00:23:51.279 --> 00:23:53.440
You kind of know from the jump this guy isn't
408
00:23:53.480 --> 00:23:56.720
making you out of this issue. He's a temporary ally,
409
00:23:57.559 --> 00:23:59.839
But what he does add is a bit of contrast.
410
00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:02.599
Here's a guy I think he said he was da
411
00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:05.359
I believe he's trying to do the right thing, trying
412
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to take down Tran, and he doesn't survive it. Frank does,
413
00:24:10.119 --> 00:24:12.599
And that's kind of the difference, isn't it. Frank operates
414
00:24:12.599 --> 00:24:14.319
in a way where he's willing to go further, do
415
00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:17.720
more cross lines that other people won't, and that's why
416
00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:20.720
he walks away when some others don't. Now. One thing
417
00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.960
I really liked in this issue is how it handles
418
00:24:24.000 --> 00:24:28.240
Frank in terms of control versus chaos. Because on one hand,
419
00:24:28.279 --> 00:24:31.440
he does plan like he's stashing weapons in the jungle,
420
00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:37.039
thinking ahead, setting himself up for escape routes. He's not
421
00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:40.160
just running into things blind here. But once things do
422
00:24:40.319 --> 00:24:44.200
go sideways, and of course they always do, it becomes
423
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less about the plan and more about whether he's ready
424
00:24:46.400 --> 00:24:48.680
to act in the moment, and that's kind of what
425
00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:52.240
defines him here. He's not just a tactician. He's a
426
00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:54.240
guy who prepares as much as he can and then
427
00:24:54.279 --> 00:24:57.480
survives whatever chaos comes his way. So if I had
428
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to sum up issue number two in one sentence, I'd
429
00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:03.359
say this. This is an action movie with just enough
430
00:25:03.440 --> 00:25:06.599
character work to keep it grounded. It's big, it's loud,
431
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.319
it's over the top, but it never completely loses sight
432
00:25:09.440 --> 00:25:14.079
of who Frank Castle is. There's still that mindset, that weariness,
433
00:25:14.359 --> 00:25:19.079
that understanding of what all this violence actually costs, and
434
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for issue to and of an ongoing series, pretty solid
435
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:24.359
in my opinion.