Welcome Back, Vengeance
Writer Carl Potts and artist Jim Lee deliver Constrast in Sin another Punisher issue which ties into Acts of Vengeance. Following the atrocious two-parter with Doctor Doom and the infamous Fabergé egg, things get incredibly better when Punisher goes up against the Marauders' Bushwacker.
If one reads my reviews regularly, you'll know I have no love for the Punisher and his tie-ins to many of the events I've reviewed are usually among the ones I don't enjoy much. My problem is simple. Punisher is a very flat character. As a supporting character or an antagonist, he is fine. As the star of his own book, it just doesn't work for me. Punisher has no personality, and while some may find that to be the appeal of his book, I don't. I find it one-note.
But... this is actually an amazing Punisher issue. If there was ever justification for Punisher having his own book this is it. We start with two scenes playing out side-by-side (annoying to read as these scenes always are but we can live with it), one as the Punisher kills a bunch of drug smugglers and the other as Bushwacker executes a mutant artist. As transparent as it is, this is a decent enough way to set up the theme of this story - the similarities, and differences, between the Punisher and Bushwacker.
The issue mostly dwells on Bushwacker's pathetic life and his insecurities which lead to him being manipulated by the Cabal's masterminds into attacking the Punisher. The Punisher takes a backseat for a lot of the story, which actually works well, and the few character bits we get from him are actually fairly decent, if overused, Punisher characteristics (i.e. he religiously goes to the place his family were murdered on the anniversary). However, it also brought up one of the lamer (and I don't think ever referred to again?) development that Frank Castle was once a member of the priesthood! This seems mostly a means to again contrast him with Bushwacker, who was also one-time a priest, and in terms of Frank's character (what there is of it), it seems out of the blue. Although, I suppose that's part of the thing with Frank Castle... we never really knew Frank Castle before he became the Punisher. So, I guess it's not too outrageous a notion.
We also get the beginning of the epic, and amazingly drawn, fight between Bushwacker and Punisher as the two begin "jousting" on motorcycles (it's...honestly...not as ridiculous as it sounds) and ends up in close quarters which leads us into next issue. As I said, Jim Lee's art here is ridiculously superb. I'd even say this is better than his acclaimed X-Men work.
This is just a fantastic issue and a really worthy tie-in to Acts of Vengeance. Fantastic art, great writing and a solid villain who is given enough personality by Potts to likewise match his moderately interesting visual power (his hand morphs into guns). It's insane to think on one hand we had Doctor Doom and the Fabergé egg and then we have this. A brilliant story and, maybe even, the best Punisher story. Certainly my favorite.