Punisher MAX #68

Duane Swierczynski's story of Frank Castle has some neat things going for it. Sine Punisher is drugged, it actually seems like the bozos he's going up against actually have a chance to take him out (even though we all know they won't). The story is pretty grimy, with a nice cast of unique villains. We get to see inside the heads of the villains a bit more this issue, and I am looking forward to seeing them all get capped. Except maybe the Viet Nam vet, he seems to not even really know what is going on around him. In any case, the villains are good enough for me to hate them and really be ready for Frank to start working his way through them. The setting is kind of fun too, sine we don't often see the Punisher operating in Philly. Frank is constantly annoyed that his last 6 hours are in Philly, a city without enough big-time criminals for him to go out in a blaze of glory with. That's a fun idea. While the story has some neat things going for it, it isn't without flaws. I'm a little confused between the mayor and his lawyer buddy, on exactly who is who. Then I'm also just not quite positive why the mayor is so worried about the Punisher in any case. I know the mayor's cousin was into a child slavery thing in part 1, but aren't there a lot of folks who know about it and would go to the press before the Punisher? The mayor probably didn't have anything to worry about if he hadn't gone and awoken Frank's anger.

The art this issue is my Michel Lacombe, a different artist than before I think. He handles the guns and shootouts pretty well. He handles the skeezy scenes pretty nicely too. Again, I'm having trouble telling some of the characters apart because of how similar they look. But overall, the art is fine.

Fair