GUEST-STARRING DAREDEVIL!
As Frank wrestles with devils within and without, Maria Castle finds more and more of her memories returning, including ones of those fateful days when her husband first returned from war. Or did he?
PARENTAL ADVISORY
I couldnt help but leave The Punisher #7 wildly impressed. This was by far the best issue of the run so far. Punisher #7 was emotionally charged, incredibly heavy, hard to digest, intricate, and completely alter the Punisher and his family and I loved every minute of it. Read Full Review
Punisher #7 delivers a rich, thoughtful character piece about a soldier struggling with life after the smoke of war has cleared. Unfortunately, Frank Castle's pre-Punisher life is doing nothing to further the present story, and it's slowing the momentum of the arc to a crawl. Read Full Review
There remains an abundance of goofy retcons and barely existent themes regarding violence and war, but the character at the center of this story is clearly realized for the first time and accompanied by some excellent Azaceta sequences. Read Full Review
Seeing Daredevil here was nice and his interactions with Frank were done well, in my opinion. I especially enjoyed the end of their fight, in which he realizes that Frank isn't even corrupted, making all the more terrifying to him. While that was pretty good, Maria's ongoing story throughout the issue is the best part of this book. Her, for just a moment, somewhat getting the husband she had always wanted only for him to slip right out of her fingers was heart-wrenching to read.
This strikes me as an all-around solid issue, extending the volume's run of good storytelling. And there are some extra-good bits that drive my rating up:
Maria taking over the PoV in the flashback segments was great. Her thoughts/dialogue are terse, natural, and full of feeling.
Paul Azaceta's flashback art is particularly impressive. It makes me appreciate the different kinds of detail an artist can deliver. Mr. Azaceta doesn't do fiddly scene-setting details. But he DOES make strong, substantive contributions to the story by blocking his panels around meaningful sights and nudging the reader's eye to them.
This series has had some misses, but also some really good moments. This issue was very solid. The Maria parts were the best.
Daredevil tries to stop Frank from making the same mistakes he did leading the Hand, but Frank came in with different motivations, and now he's too deep. Parallels are drawn in flashbacks as post-Vietnam Frank attempts to reenter civilian life.
Better issue than what I've expected. There are good moments, but this doesn't feel like a Punisher story.
Long gone are those days when he went after the bad guys and punish them, now it's too much complicated with unnecessary nuances added by Jason Aaron to justify what Frank Castle is.
The basics here - this is not Frank Castle. That's the major problem leading up to and including this issue. He was a great father and great husband. To think otherwise is to dismantle the character. It would destroy everything if Maria and the kids were afraid of him. Then there is his new power set. He can fly?! WTF. I'm just about over this storyline. It has some good art and good fight scenes, but it's pushing the envelope too far. I think I'm going to jump off this ride.
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