Some thoughts about Punisher #1

Frank Castle has been dead for a long time.

An organization is creating a new kind of drug that makes the users incredibly powerful and is up to The Punisher to stop them. However, once that he recognizes a familiar face, he will be forced to stop.

This marks the beginning of a new volume for the character. The Punisher had several incarnations over the course of the years and this time is handled by Becky Cloonan so how does it fares?

Well, I would say is okay but it doesn't go beyond that.

Cloonan goes for the classic route of how the death of Frank's family also meant his which is something that has been told since the early years of the character. Is not bad per se, is certainly on-point with we all know but at the same time it doesn't really explore new aspects of his characterization nor offers surprises about of his psyche. As far as Punisher's characterizations go, this is pretty standard.

In fact, most of the story is concentrated on a new character who seems to share a past with Frank. The man himself is interesting enough but again, is nothing particularly innovative considering the kind of people Frank has met over the course of the years (I also have a few problems about how Frank just let him go considering he VERY rarely does that).

Steve Dillon handles the artwork and is a pretty good effort. The characters look expressive and full of personality while the storytelling is pretty precise.

Yeah, is not a bad beginning but is nothing really great. Is a pretty basic Punisher issue to be honest.