Written by Garth Ennis, Illustrated by Steve Dillon.
Issues 1 - 12 (one story) of Punisher volume 3 collected into one Trade Paperback.

Sometime back in 2000 one of the world's top writer/artist duos was brought in by Marvel to kick off volume 3 of the Punisher comic under the Marvel Knights label. Garth Ennis & Steve Dillon, the pair responsible for the fantastic Preacher, gave us a 12 part tale that's collected in this book. First things first though, if you come to this expecting the fully adult visual and textual crafting of Preacher then you're going to be slightly disappointed. The Marvel Knights line, whilst aimed at the older reader, was still not willing to give the creators the freedom found in the DC "Vertigo" books (such as Preacher & Transmetropolitan). There are mature themes presented here but the violence, though harsher than you'd find in Wolverine (for example) at the time, is still toned down. There's no swearing to be found either, something that's certainly not essential but is an integral part of the atmosphere portrayed in Ennis' Preacher dialogue.

The collected tale involves the Punisher's crusade to bring down the Gnucci crime syndicate. Frank's interaction with the blissfully unaware characters in his low profile apartment block, the hopeless task of two police officers trying to bring the Punisher & "Ma" Gnucci in and the bloody actions of three other would-be vigilantes all intertwine with the main story throughout its 12 issue arc. Ennis keeps all of the different threads alive throughout the book without any of them feeling forced. He does not need to resort to focusing on a subplot for an entire issue just to maintain its momentum, they all roll alongside the main plot happily. The stories are not complex, they are simple yet well constructed ideas that have been wound into a greater tale by Ennis.

Snappy and amusing dialogue between characters was an ever present staple of Preacher and Ennis brings it over with him to the Punisher. The book is, as you'd probably expect, noticeably less talkative than Preacher but that doesn't stop him bringing us crisp and accomplished dialogue when needed. This includes his successful brand of dark humour. Though impeded by the greater level of censorship (which I think prevents it from reaching the laugh-out-loud quality of Preacher's) it's still suitably black and amusing. Part of the humour comes from cast of supporting characters, most of whom are well written and have at least some, if not all, aspect of their situation or personality that leans on the bizarre side. Steve Dillon's vibrant visualisation of the cast is a vital part of this.

The art here is what I'd come to expect from the talented pencils of Steve Dillon. Thankfully ignoring whatever art style was in-fashion inside Marvel at that time, Dillon brings his usual excellent blend of realism and expressionism to his characters. His art is not as detailed and wild as his early work but he has refined the slightly more simplistic approach from the end of Preacher. His action scenes are as accomplished and enjoyable as ever and the appropriately dark mood of the comic is largely due to his wonderful tone-setting work.

The book does suffer from the obvious constriction implied by working with a well established character like the Punisher Frank Castle. Whilst Ennis & Dillon do their best to add their own flavour to the book, it was never going to be as good as their own creative endeavour. To bring their best out of somebody else's character and setting would have required another year's worth of comics. That said, it's still all easily identified as their work whilst maintaining the identity of the Punisher's book and without turning into a lesser version of Preacher. The characters are well realised and enjoyable to read about. The story, whilst nothing original, is well put together and well told. It has a definite flow to it that could so easily have been lost. The random guest appearance by Daredevil, however, does seem rather forced. Ennis does his best to make it seem like a logical progression of the story but it still feels too much like someone said "hey, we should really throw another established Marvel character in here". However, I'd recommend this book to just about anyone who reads the more mature end of comics. I had no real familiarity with the Punisher before this but that didn't stop me from really enjoying the read. In the same way, you don't need to be familiar with Ennis & Dillon's work to appreciate it here. It's not one for the "top ten of comics ever" but it's good solid fun and certainly deserves a place in your collection.

Written to Eminem - Rabbit Run