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All right, so we are going to get into The
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Punisher Number eleven cover dated September of nineteen eighty eight,
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on sale May seventeenth, nineteen eighty eight. Title of the
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story is called Second Site, written by Mike Baron, penciled
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by Willis Potassio, inked by Scott Williams, lettered by Kenneth Bruzenak,
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and colored by John Wellington. Now, before we get into
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the story, let's talk about the main characters that are
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going to appear in issue number eleven. Of course, we've
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got Frank Castle the Punisher, no introduction needed there. We
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have a young Mexican woman Frank rescues from the group
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of violent smugglers. When Frank is temporarily blinded, she becomes
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his guide and helps direct his gunfire, serving as his
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literal second sight. We have Pepe and elderly man living
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on top of a remote rock formation in the desert.
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Pepe describes himself as a bru Hoe, a spiritual advisor
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whom some believe possesses second sight. After saving Frank and
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the young lady, he challenges Frank's narrow view of the
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world and encourages him to consider whether he can still
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reclaim some part of his former life, and finally the Smugglers,
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a ruthless group transporting people across the Mexican border. Frank
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begins hunting them after twenty nine migrants are abandoned inside
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a truck and left to die. When Frank interferes with
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their operation and rescues a young woman, the smugglers pursue
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them into the desert. So, as far as the story goes,
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we open in the heat of northern Mexico, where Frank
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Castle is staking out a ravine used by smugglers transporting
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people across the border. Frank has come here because twenty
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nine Mexican nationals, men, women, and children were abandoned inside
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a truck, left to die of dehydration when their contact
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never arrived. Frank intends to find the people responsible and
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deliver his own kind of justice. After spending hours watching
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the ravine, Frank briefly retreats into a shelter to escape
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the heat. He falls asleep and wakes near nightfall, angry
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with himself for losing so much time. But before long,
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another van enters the ravine and comes to a stop.
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Looking through his scope, Frank sees two men assaulting a
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woman while another man waits nearby. For just a moment,
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Frank thinks the woman looks like his wife, Maria. He
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moves in quietly, killing the first man with a knife.
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As he gets closer, however, he realizes the woman looks
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nothing like Maria. He cuts down another attacker, but the
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remaining man raises the alarm. Frank shoots him, grabs the woman,
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and heads for cover as the smugglers begin firing from
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the rocks around them. During the escape, a bullet strikes
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the stone beside Frank's face. The impact sends rock fragments
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into his eyes, leaving him temporarily blinded. Now Frank has
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to rely on the woman he just rescued. She leads
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him through the ravine as the smugglers close in. When
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Frank realizes they are gaining ground, he tells her to
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turn him around, guide his arm, and tell him when
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to fire. For that moment, she becomes what Frank calls
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his second sight. She directs his gunfire, but a bullet
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strikes her on the shoulder. She and Frank tumble from
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the ledge and crash into the ground below. The pursuing
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smugglers find them lying motionless and assume they are dead.
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Frank later wakes in the home of an elderly man
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named Pepe, who lives high atop a massive rock formation
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in the desert. Pepe tells Frank that the young woman
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survived and is being cared for by members of his household.
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Pepe describes himself as a brujo, a spiritual healer and
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adviser whom some believe possesses second sight. He also seems
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to understand far more about Frank than Frank has told him.
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When Frank explains that he punishes criminals, Pepe tells him
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that he also knows what it means to lose a family.
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As a child, Pepe watched government troops murder his father
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and attack his mother. For a time, Pepe wanted revenge,
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but he eventually chose a different path. He warns Frank
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that he sees the world through two narrow of a scope.
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Frank focuses only on the criminal directly in front of him,
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while Pepe believes all life is connected as part of
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a greater pattern. Frank soon realizes that something Pepe gave
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him to drink has altered his perception. Under its influence,
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he begins reliving the worst day of his life. He
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sees himself at the park with Maria and their children.
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He remembers the gunfire between rival criminals and watches his
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family die all over again, and Frank's mind that was
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the moment Frank Castle ceased to exist and the Punisher
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was born. Pepe tries to convince him that it is
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not too late to reclaim some part of his humanity.
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He tells Frank that he's still a family man, still
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needs someone to love the world. Pepe says already has
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enough killers, but before Frank can process any of that,
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the young woman warns them that the smugglers have found
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Pepe's home. Frank is still hallucinating and occasionally mistakes the
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woman for Maria. Pepe prepares to defend his home, revealing
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that among his possessions is an old Spanish cannon with
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limited weapons, and the smugglers approaching, Pepe loads the cannon
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with nails, gravel, and anything else that might turn it
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into a devastating blast. Frank attempts to lure the smugglers
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closer by claiming that Pepe has a fortune in gold
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hidden on the property. As the men begin climbing toward them,
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Frank suddenly sees or believes he sees his dead wife,
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Directing his attention toward the opposite side of the rock.
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Pepe insists that there is only one way up, but
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Frank is convinced Maria is warning him. He struggles to
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turn the cannon around, even as Pepe tries to stop
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him from aiming away from the visible attackers. Frank, however,
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fires the cannon. Blast reveals that another group of smugglers
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had found a hidden route and was approaching from behind.
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The shot tears through them and saves Frank and Pepe
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from being ambushed. The remaining smugglers attack. Pepe uses his
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rifle to take one down, but he is shot and
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killed in the fighting that leaves Frank facing the final gunman.
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The smuggler demands to know Frank's name before killing him.
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Frank simply answers, I'm the punisher. Before the man can fire,
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the young woman he had saved drives a pitchfork into
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the smuggler's back, saving Frank's life just as Frank had
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saved hers. What the battle over, Frank is left wondering
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whether anything he experienced was real. Was Maria truly guiding him?
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Was it only the drug or was his mind seeing
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something his eyes could not overcome With emotion, Frank begins
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to cry. He asks the young woman her name. She
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tells him it is Maria. Frank quietly tells her that
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Maria was also his wife's name. So yeah, overall, I
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thought the Punisher issue number eleven was interesting change of
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pace here, coming directly after that crossover with Daredevil, which
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had a lot going on and was much more action heavy,
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this one slows everything down, kind of gives us a
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self contained story out in the desert, and I think
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we probably needed something like that. It doesn't feel like
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a completely random detour, but it feels like a one
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off adventure. Frank comes into this situation, meets a handful
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of characters, and deals with the smugglers, and then moves on.
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Nothing here feels like it is going to dramatically change
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in the direction of the series. The opening gives Frank
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a very clear reason to get involved. Twenty nine people men, women,
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and children were abandoned inside a truck and left to
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die of dehydration. That immediately tells you the kind of
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people that Frank is hunting. These smugglers are willing to
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leave an entire truck full of human beings to die
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when something goes wrong. So yes, they absolutely qualify for
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Frank Castle's particular form of justice. The one thing I
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liked was Frank being temporarily blinded. The punisher is an
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incredibly capable person, but he's still human with no superpowers.
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Sometimes something completely accidental can put him in a serious disadvantage.
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And this is a bullet that actually strikes him either.
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I mean, this is a shot and it just hits
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the rocks beside him, causing debris to damage his Now
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that gives the young woman a real role in the story.
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Frank has to trust her to lead him through the ravine,
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put him in the right direction, and tell him where
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to fire. She literally becomes the Second Sight, which is
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a clever way of working the title into the action.
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Then we meet Pepe, who is where the issue starts
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to bring in mystical elements. Pepe calls himself a Brujo,
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claims that some people believe he has Second Sight, and
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gives Frank something to drink that sends him into this
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hallucinatory state. I would not say Pepe is a deeply
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developed character here. He's mostly there to challenge Frank's worldview.
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He's a strange, mystical old man out in the desert
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who looks at Frank and tells him that he is
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seeing the world through too narrow of a scope. Pepe
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believes everything is connected. He believes Frank is still a
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family man and still needs somebody to love, and maybe
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it's not too late for him to step away from
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being the Punisher. I don't believe that. Though Frank is
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way too deep in this path by now, there's still
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glimpses of his humanity, and this issue definitely shows that
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the pain of losing his family is still just right
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there beneath the surface. But I don't think he can
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simply decide to stop. Even if Frank tried to walk
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away live a normal life, I think something would happen
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that would drag him right back into the war. The
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hallucinatory sequence works within the story because it forces Frank
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to relive the moment that created him. We get his
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origin again, the picnic in the park, the mobster's opening fire,
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and his wife and children being killed. In some ways,
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this is another elaborate retelling of the Punisher's origin, But
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because Frank is under the influence of whatever Pepe gave him,
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it makes sense that his mind would return to the
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worst moment of his life. He's experiencing this trauma all
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over again. Now. The best visual moment in the issue,
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in my opinion, comes from the sequence where Frank it
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seemed as kind of like this healthy band, a bit
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of a smile on his face, and then he says
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that Frank Castle and the Punisher was born. We go
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from Frank's face to the image of a skull, a skeleton,
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and then we get a red outline of the Punisher
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with that skull across his chest. Beautiful piece of visual
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storytelling there. It shows us that in Frank's mind, the
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man he once was truly died in that park. I
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do like the ambiguity that surrounds Maria. Early in the story,
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Frank sees the young woman and briefly thinks she looks
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like his wife. Then when he gets closer, he realizes
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that she doesn't look like Maria at all. But once
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the drug begins to affect him, he starts confusing the
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two of them again. He believes he can see or
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hear his wife guiding him. We never actually get to
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see the ghost of Maria either. Here, there's no transparent
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figure standing beside Frank and pointing into the distance. We
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only see Frank looking at something outside the panel and
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reacting to it, So that kind of leaves the door open.
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Maybe it entirely the drug. Maybe Frank's instincts are working
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beneath the hallucination and his mind gives him those instincts
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in the form of his wife. Or maybe Maria truly
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is reaching out to him from somewhere beyond the grave.
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The story never really gives us a firm answer, and
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I think that's definitely the right choice here. The strongest
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moment involving the ambiguity comes with the cannon. Pepe insists
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there is only one path onto the rock, but Frank
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believes Maria is telling him to turn the cannon around
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and fire in the opposite direction. Pepe thinks Frank is
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out of his mind, but Frank is completely convinced. He
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turns the cannon, he fires it, and discovers the smugglers
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had another route and we're sneaking up behind them. So
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whatever Frank experienced, it saved their lives, whether that was
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a supernatural warning or Frank somehow putting the pieces together
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while under the influence. It's kind of left up to
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the reader, and as ridiculous as the giant antique cannon
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may look on the cover, I thought the story justified
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it well enough. It's an old weapon Pepe has on
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the property. They are trapped with limited resources, and they
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can only load it with whatever they can find. They
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are simply making do with what they have. Pepe eventually
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picks up his rifle and helps defend his home, and
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I don't think that underminds this message. These men are
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coming to kill him and everyone with him. Pepe may
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believe there is more to life than revenge and killing,
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but that does not mean he is going to stand
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there and let these people murder him. His death, though,
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didn't really have much of a tremendous impact on Mammy.
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We don't know him long enough for that. He's an
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interesting figure, useful part of the story, but when he dies,
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he's still just mostly Pepe, strange old man in the
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desert who saved Frank and gave him something that made
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him see things. The young woman saving Frank with the
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pitchfork was much more satisfying. Frank saved her earlier, and
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now she gets the opportunity to save him, And then
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we reach the ending where Frank asks her name and
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she tells him that it's Maria. That's obviously an enormous coincidence,
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and it could have easily felt too melodramatic, but I
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liked it. The entire issue has been connecting this young
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woman to Frank's wife. Frank mistakes her for Maria. She
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becomes the second site, and then he believes his wife
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guides him to fire that cannon in the right direction.
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Finding out the woman is also named Maria brings all
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of that together, and when Frank sheds a tear, he
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believes that Maria may have reached out and saved him.
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Then the woman standing in front of him, the woman
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he kept confusing with his wife, reveals that her name
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is Maria too. For just a moment, all of these
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strange coincidences and hallucinations connect, just like Pepe said, everything
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is connected. That may also be the strongest interpretation of
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the second site title. Maria becomes Frank's literal second site
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when he's blinded, and Pepe supposedly possesses second sight as
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a brujo, but Frank is also briefly allowed to see
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beyond his normal worldview for most of his life. Now
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Frank sees criminals, victims, targets, and punishment. During this experience,
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he is forced to look backward at his family, inward
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at his grief, and perhaps even beyond the physical world.
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The experience does not change him, and he is still
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going to be the punisher when the next issue begins,
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but for this one story, the book lets him step
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outside of that and confront the emotional wound underneath everything
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he does. As far as where this ranks among the
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first eleven issues, I would probably put it somewhere in
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the bottom half. I don't think it's a bad issue.
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The artwork is fantastic, mystical ambiguities, kind of interesting here.
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There are several clever ideas built around the phrase second sight,
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but it's still a one offf story and doesn't feel
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especially important to the larger Punisher run. In many ways,
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it's another version of Frank reliving his origin and being
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reminded of the family he lost. Now, the biggest thing
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that stayed with me all these years was the cover.
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I remember buying this issue at seven to eleven year
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my grandma's house, when I had to have been ten
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years old. I remember Frank holding what looked like an
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actual cannon. I thought it was a bazooka at first,
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but now reading the story again, yeah, it's an actual cannon.
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I remember that cover and that image far more clearly
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than I remember anything that ever happened in the book.
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Reading it now, I appreciate what Mike Baron, Willis Potassio,
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and Scott Williams were doing more than I did back then.
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There is more psychological and emotional material here than I remembered.
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But I can also understand why the story itself didn't
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stick with me. It's a decent Punisher story with an
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unusual atmosphere, some strong artwork, and an interesting supernatural question
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at its center. But that cover, for me, that's the
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real icon
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All right, so we are going to get into The
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Punisher Number eleven cover dated September of nineteen eighty eight,
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on sale May seventeenth, nineteen eighty eight. Title of the
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story is called Second Site, written by Mike Baron, penciled
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by Willis Potassio, inked by Scott Williams, lettered by Kenneth Bruzenak,
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and colored by John Wellington. Now, before we get into
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the story, let's talk about the main characters that are
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going to appear in issue number eleven. Of course, we've
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got Frank Castle the Punisher, no introduction needed there. We
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have a young Mexican woman Frank rescues from the group
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of violent smugglers. When Frank is temporarily blinded, she becomes
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his guide and helps direct his gunfire, serving as his
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literal second sight. We have Pepe and elderly man living
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on top of a remote rock formation in the desert.
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Pepe describes himself as a bru Hoe, a spiritual advisor
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whom some believe possesses second sight. After saving Frank and
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the young lady, he challenges Frank's narrow view of the
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world and encourages him to consider whether he can still
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reclaim some part of his former life, and finally the Smugglers,
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a ruthless group transporting people across the Mexican border. Frank
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begins hunting them after twenty nine migrants are abandoned inside
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a truck and left to die. When Frank interferes with
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their operation and rescues a young woman, the smugglers pursue
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them into the desert. So, as far as the story goes,
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we open in the heat of northern Mexico, where Frank
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Castle is staking out a ravine used by smugglers transporting
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people across the border. Frank has come here because twenty
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nine Mexican nationals, men, women, and children were abandoned inside
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a truck, left to die of dehydration when their contact
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never arrived. Frank intends to find the people responsible and
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deliver his own kind of justice. After spending hours watching
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the ravine, Frank briefly retreats into a shelter to escape
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the heat. He falls asleep and wakes near nightfall, angry
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with himself for losing so much time. But before long,
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another van enters the ravine and comes to a stop.
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Looking through his scope, Frank sees two men assaulting a
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woman while another man waits nearby. For just a moment,
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Frank thinks the woman looks like his wife, Maria. He
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moves in quietly, killing the first man with a knife.
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As he gets closer, however, he realizes the woman looks
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nothing like Maria. He cuts down another attacker, but the
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remaining man raises the alarm. Frank shoots him, grabs the woman,
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and heads for cover as the smugglers begin firing from
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the rocks around them. During the escape, a bullet strikes
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the stone beside Frank's face. The impact sends rock fragments
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into his eyes, leaving him temporarily blinded. Now Frank has
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to rely on the woman he just rescued. She leads
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him through the ravine as the smugglers close in. When
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Frank realizes they are gaining ground, he tells her to
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turn him around, guide his arm, and tell him when
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to fire. For that moment, she becomes what Frank calls
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his second sight. She directs his gunfire, but a bullet
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strikes her on the shoulder. She and Frank tumble from
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the ledge and crash into the ground below. The pursuing
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smugglers find them lying motionless and assume they are dead.
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Frank later wakes in the home of an elderly man
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named Pepe, who lives high atop a massive rock formation
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in the desert. Pepe tells Frank that the young woman
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survived and is being cared for by members of his household.
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Pepe describes himself as a brujo, a spiritual healer and
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adviser whom some believe possesses second sight. He also seems
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to understand far more about Frank than Frank has told him.
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When Frank explains that he punishes criminals, Pepe tells him
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that he also knows what it means to lose a family.
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As a child, Pepe watched government troops murder his father
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and attack his mother. For a time, Pepe wanted revenge,
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but he eventually chose a different path. He warns Frank
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that he sees the world through two narrow of a scope.
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Frank focuses only on the criminal directly in front of him,
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while Pepe believes all life is connected as part of
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a greater pattern. Frank soon realizes that something Pepe gave
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him to drink has altered his perception. Under its influence,
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he begins reliving the worst day of his life. He
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sees himself at the park with Maria and their children.
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He remembers the gunfire between rival criminals and watches his
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family die all over again, and Frank's mind that was
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the moment Frank Castle ceased to exist and the Punisher
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was born. Pepe tries to convince him that it is
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not too late to reclaim some part of his humanity.
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He tells Frank that he's still a family man, still
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needs someone to love the world. Pepe says already has
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enough killers, but before Frank can process any of that,
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the young woman warns them that the smugglers have found
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Pepe's home. Frank is still hallucinating and occasionally mistakes the
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woman for Maria. Pepe prepares to defend his home, revealing
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that among his possessions is an old Spanish cannon with
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limited weapons, and the smugglers approaching, Pepe loads the cannon
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with nails, gravel, and anything else that might turn it
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into a devastating blast. Frank attempts to lure the smugglers
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closer by claiming that Pepe has a fortune in gold
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hidden on the property. As the men begin climbing toward them,
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Frank suddenly sees or believes he sees his dead wife,
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Directing his attention toward the opposite side of the rock.
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Pepe insists that there is only one way up, but
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Frank is convinced Maria is warning him. He struggles to
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turn the cannon around, even as Pepe tries to stop
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him from aiming away from the visible attackers. Frank, however,
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fires the cannon. Blast reveals that another group of smugglers
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had found a hidden route and was approaching from behind.
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The shot tears through them and saves Frank and Pepe
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from being ambushed. The remaining smugglers attack. Pepe uses his
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rifle to take one down, but he is shot and
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killed in the fighting that leaves Frank facing the final gunman.
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The smuggler demands to know Frank's name before killing him.
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Frank simply answers, I'm the punisher. Before the man can fire,
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the young woman he had saved drives a pitchfork into
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the smuggler's back, saving Frank's life just as Frank had
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saved hers. What the battle over, Frank is left wondering
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whether anything he experienced was real. Was Maria truly guiding him?
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Was it only the drug or was his mind seeing
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something his eyes could not overcome With emotion, Frank begins
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to cry. He asks the young woman her name. She
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tells him it is Maria. Frank quietly tells her that
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Maria was also his wife's name. So yeah, overall, I
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thought the Punisher issue number eleven was interesting change of
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pace here, coming directly after that crossover with Daredevil, which
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had a lot going on and was much more action heavy,
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this one slows everything down, kind of gives us a
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self contained story out in the desert, and I think
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we probably needed something like that. It doesn't feel like
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a completely random detour, but it feels like a one
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off adventure. Frank comes into this situation, meets a handful
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of characters, and deals with the smugglers, and then moves on.
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Nothing here feels like it is going to dramatically change
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in the direction of the series. The opening gives Frank
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a very clear reason to get involved. Twenty nine people men, women,
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and children were abandoned inside a truck and left to
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die of dehydration. That immediately tells you the kind of
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people that Frank is hunting. These smugglers are willing to
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leave an entire truck full of human beings to die
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when something goes wrong. So yes, they absolutely qualify for
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Frank Castle's particular form of justice. The one thing I
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liked was Frank being temporarily blinded. The punisher is an
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incredibly capable person, but he's still human with no superpowers.
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Sometimes something completely accidental can put him in a serious disadvantage.
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And this is a bullet that actually strikes him either.
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I mean, this is a shot and it just hits
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the rocks beside him, causing debris to damage his Now
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that gives the young woman a real role in the story.
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Frank has to trust her to lead him through the ravine,
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put him in the right direction, and tell him where
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to fire. She literally becomes the Second Sight, which is
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a clever way of working the title into the action.
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Then we meet Pepe, who is where the issue starts
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to bring in mystical elements. Pepe calls himself a Brujo,
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claims that some people believe he has Second Sight, and
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gives Frank something to drink that sends him into this
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hallucinatory state. I would not say Pepe is a deeply
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developed character here. He's mostly there to challenge Frank's worldview.
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He's a strange, mystical old man out in the desert
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who looks at Frank and tells him that he is
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seeing the world through too narrow of a scope. Pepe
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believes everything is connected. He believes Frank is still a
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family man and still needs somebody to love, and maybe
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it's not too late for him to step away from
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being the Punisher. I don't believe that. Though Frank is
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way too deep in this path by now, there's still
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glimpses of his humanity, and this issue definitely shows that
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the pain of losing his family is still just right
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there beneath the surface. But I don't think he can
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simply decide to stop. Even if Frank tried to walk
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away live a normal life, I think something would happen
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that would drag him right back into the war. The
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hallucinatory sequence works within the story because it forces Frank
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to relive the moment that created him. We get his
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origin again, the picnic in the park, the mobster's opening fire,
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and his wife and children being killed. In some ways,
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this is another elaborate retelling of the Punisher's origin, But
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because Frank is under the influence of whatever Pepe gave him,
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it makes sense that his mind would return to the
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worst moment of his life. He's experiencing this trauma all
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over again. Now. The best visual moment in the issue,
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in my opinion, comes from the sequence where Frank it
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seemed as kind of like this healthy band, a bit
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of a smile on his face, and then he says
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that Frank Castle and the Punisher was born. We go
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from Frank's face to the image of a skull, a skeleton,
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and then we get a red outline of the Punisher
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with that skull across his chest. Beautiful piece of visual
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storytelling there. It shows us that in Frank's mind, the
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man he once was truly died in that park. I
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do like the ambiguity that surrounds Maria. Early in the story,
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Frank sees the young woman and briefly thinks she looks
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like his wife. Then when he gets closer, he realizes
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that she doesn't look like Maria at all. But once
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the drug begins to affect him, he starts confusing the
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two of them again. He believes he can see or
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hear his wife guiding him. We never actually get to
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see the ghost of Maria either. Here, there's no transparent
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figure standing beside Frank and pointing into the distance. We
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only see Frank looking at something outside the panel and
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reacting to it, So that kind of leaves the door open.
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Maybe it entirely the drug. Maybe Frank's instincts are working
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beneath the hallucination and his mind gives him those instincts
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in the form of his wife. Or maybe Maria truly
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is reaching out to him from somewhere beyond the grave.
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The story never really gives us a firm answer, and
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I think that's definitely the right choice here. The strongest
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moment involving the ambiguity comes with the cannon. Pepe insists
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there is only one path onto the rock, but Frank
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believes Maria is telling him to turn the cannon around
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and fire in the opposite direction. Pepe thinks Frank is
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out of his mind, but Frank is completely convinced. He
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turns the cannon, he fires it, and discovers the smugglers
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had another route and we're sneaking up behind them. So
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whatever Frank experienced, it saved their lives, whether that was
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a supernatural warning or Frank somehow putting the pieces together
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while under the influence. It's kind of left up to
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the reader, and as ridiculous as the giant antique cannon
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may look on the cover, I thought the story justified
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it well enough. It's an old weapon Pepe has on
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the property. They are trapped with limited resources, and they
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can only load it with whatever they can find. They
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are simply making do with what they have. Pepe eventually
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picks up his rifle and helps defend his home, and
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I don't think that underminds this message. These men are
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coming to kill him and everyone with him. Pepe may
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believe there is more to life than revenge and killing,
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but that does not mean he is going to stand
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there and let these people murder him. His death, though,
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didn't really have much of a tremendous impact on Mammy.
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We don't know him long enough for that. He's an
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interesting figure, useful part of the story, but when he dies,
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he's still just mostly Pepe, strange old man in the
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desert who saved Frank and gave him something that made
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him see things. The young woman saving Frank with the
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pitchfork was much more satisfying. Frank saved her earlier, and
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now she gets the opportunity to save him, And then
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we reach the ending where Frank asks her name and
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she tells him that it's Maria. That's obviously an enormous coincidence,
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and it could have easily felt too melodramatic, but I
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liked it. The entire issue has been connecting this young
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woman to Frank's wife. Frank mistakes her for Maria. She
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becomes the second site, and then he believes his wife
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guides him to fire that cannon in the right direction.
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Finding out the woman is also named Maria brings all
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of that together, and when Frank sheds a tear, he
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believes that Maria may have reached out and saved him.
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Then the woman standing in front of him, the woman
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he kept confusing with his wife, reveals that her name
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is Maria too. For just a moment, all of these
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strange coincidences and hallucinations connect, just like Pepe said, everything
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is connected. That may also be the strongest interpretation of
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the second site title. Maria becomes Frank's literal second site
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when he's blinded, and Pepe supposedly possesses second sight as
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a brujo, but Frank is also briefly allowed to see
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beyond his normal worldview for most of his life. Now
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Frank sees criminals, victims, targets, and punishment. During this experience,
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he is forced to look backward at his family, inward
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at his grief, and perhaps even beyond the physical world.
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The experience does not change him, and he is still
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going to be the punisher when the next issue begins,
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but for this one story, the book lets him step
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outside of that and confront the emotional wound underneath everything
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he does. As far as where this ranks among the
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first eleven issues, I would probably put it somewhere in
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the bottom half. I don't think it's a bad issue.
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The artwork is fantastic, mystical ambiguities, kind of interesting here.
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There are several clever ideas built around the phrase second sight,
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but it's still a one offf story and doesn't feel
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especially important to the larger Punisher run. In many ways,
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it's another version of Frank reliving his origin and being
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reminded of the family he lost. Now, the biggest thing
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that stayed with me all these years was the cover.
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I remember buying this issue at seven to eleven year
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my grandma's house, when I had to have been ten
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years old. I remember Frank holding what looked like an
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actual cannon. I thought it was a bazooka at first,
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but now reading the story again, yeah, it's an actual cannon.
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I remember that cover and that image far more clearly
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than I remember anything that ever happened in the book.
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Reading it now, I appreciate what Mike Baron, Willis Potassio,
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and Scott Williams were doing more than I did back then.
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There is more psychological and emotional material here than I remembered.
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But I can also understand why the story itself didn't
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stick with me. It's a decent Punisher story with an
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unusual atmosphere, some strong artwork, and an interesting supernatural question
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at its center. But that cover, for me, that's the
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real icon
