| Title | : | Punisher Noir |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0785139435 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780785139430 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 112 |
| Publication | : | First published March 31, 2010 |
It's the Roaring Twenties and mobster Dutch Schultz's iron-fisted reign is about to meet its greatest challenge in the form of a man sporting a familiar skull symbol and a gun in his hand. Because once the Punisher hits the scene, the mean streets are about to get a whole lot meaner.
Punisher Noir Reviews
-
Punisher: Noir contains issues 1-4 and is part of a Marvel Noir special series.
The standard origin story for the Punisher is that he comes home from war, has severe PTSD, sees his family murdered, and goes nuts vigilante style.
Punisher Noir has his dad come home from war, be fed up with the mob and teach him about street justice. Then pops is murdered and Punisher is all grown up to take his revenge.
The book is set in 1918 or so and the mafia runs the streets. Frank Castle Sr is a shop owner who is sick of paying dues to the mafia and decides to risk his life and family's welfare over it.
The book starts with our Punisher appearing to be in his pre-teen years. By the end of the book he's probably in his late 20s still seeking revenge on the same bad guys who haven't aged a day.
The book assumes you have some prior knowledge of Punisher lore. If you don't know who Jigsaw is this story would probably be even less satisfying. One of the only good parts of this whole book is when Jigsaw carves the Punisher up with the image of his skull (spoiler!)
My main problem with this book is that it's ultimately boring. The timeline is a little confusing which doesn't help but mostly I just really didn't care about Frank Castle Jr and his entire mission to avenge his father.
To be completely honest, for the first two issues I thought the dad was the Punisher and the kid was going to be killed, like the standard story. When the dad died instead it just made it that much lamer.
The true Punisher has some serious mental consequences from having his wife and children murdered. Switching that to having the dad murdered just puts him in the running for least powered of all the orphans running around Marvel's New York City trying to vigilante their way to parental justice.
The orphan thing is so played out.
It's only four issues long so it's definitely easy enough to get through if you're some sort of Punisher completest but if you're not I'd say this one is skippable. I haven't read the other noirs in the series but this one did not make me want to start.
The art is decent, and I liked the mood of having it set in the 20s. It just really should have worked more. It's utterly forgettable.
for more reviews and content please visit my blog
amanjareads.com -
It’s not great. It’s not bad. It’s Punisher: Noir!
Sure enough the title does indeed tell the story. With nods and generally well-done replications of the film noir style, a tale grimy with revanchism and post-great war grief spools forth from its roots. Laid down in the “War to End all Wars,” Frank Castle’s daddy comes home from the front to run a shop in this alternate take on the Punisher mythos.
When protection money payments are refused, the local don calls for the execution of this one-man rebellion. Of course, the hard-hitters are called in and we catch glimpses of the ever-present Barracuda, Jigsaw, and a certain mononymously known citizen of the previous U.S.S.R. Predictable predictableness ricochets along with the up-coming bullets and I’m sure you can guess what happens next.
With spoilers avoided and a mere two issues to go, the internal world that took two issues to build, has to wrap itself up just as quickly. Vengeance is blasted forth from loaded hand-guns and revenge takes the center stage from here on out. As such, this one man’s mission of highly personal vigilantism courses through Coney Island and desolate urban streets until it finally concludes at a local Zoo.
While nothing amazing on its own, neither does it find itself riddled with errors either. At best it’s an appetizer and at worst it’s (somewhat) pleasant bathroom reading fare. If you want the full course cinematically or graphically – stick to the source materials within the VHS tape and the comic – respectively. But, if a quick little snack is all you want, this is a good choice.
Bon Appetit. -
I would think placing the Punisher in a Prohibition / Great Depression-era crime drama would be a match made in pulp fiction heaven with a rat-a-tat Tommy Gun chaser. Well, the end result was just adequate. As noted by other reviewers there's a good twist with a villain's 'reveal,' and the main character's roaring rampage of revenge on a trio of assassins was entertaining in a squicky way.
-
Interesting take on The Punisher; re-set between 1918 and 1935. Several nasty pieces of work get their just desserts.
-
Ah.. wanted to like this but... could have been a lot better with the whole vibe and setting. It was just ok.
Won't hurt if you don't read it.
Nice artwork, and ok/meh story.. other than that, too predictable and nothing special. -
This has to be one of the better Marvel Noirs. To bad they didn't do anymore.
-
Pretty damn good. This takes the Punisher and sets him firmly in gangsterland of the 1930s, and it works even better than you'd expect. The only minor complaint I had is maybe a little too much tried to be forced in, as you had versions of The Russian, Barracude, Jigsaw, and Detective Soap all the in story. That being said, they were still cool characters and it mostly worked. There was also a major twist that I didn't see coming that provided a pretty shocking moment. The art is great as well and totally fits the story.
If you're a Punisher fan, read this ASAP! If you aren't so much a Punisher fan, but you like graphic novels and gangster stories, you'll like this one as well. -
Meh. Didn't enjoy this at all.
-
An Ok story it is. Punisher it is not. And once again injecting Hitler as a boogeyman into these is unwarranted. Seeing as how they ethnicized Frank Castle into Castelione, the smallest spark of creativity would have led to the use of Mussolini, but alas.
-
New York, 1920s, an a WW1 vet Frank Castelione Snr runs a grocery store with his young son Frank Jnr while meting out justice in the night time against the mobsters that threaten to overrun the city. Unfortunately after an encounter with two vicious assassins, Barracuda and Jigsaw, Frank Jnr is killed. Years later mobsters are being taken out by a masked vigilante. But will the Punisher find vengeance on his father’s killers and become the hero for the innocent his father wanted to be?
Like DC’s Elseworlds series, Marvel takes some of its best loved characters and puts them into an earlier epoch, a kind of “what if?” storyline, mostly focusing on the early twentieth century in this “Noir” series of Raymond Chandler-esque books.
This book is gangster heavy, as you would expect a Punisher book to be, but because of its setting in the 20s and 30s it feels like Max Allan Collins’ excellent comic book “Road to Perdition” than the contemporary Punisher books.
This book was well written and imaginative as well as fast paced and the artwork was very dark, very appropriate to a series titled “noir”. Dennis Calero’s covers are utterly gorgeous and are included in a gallery at the end. The Punisher with a skull mask also makes the series feel darker than average Punisher books as it looks like a serial killer than Frank Castle.
This whole series has been designed very well with smaller than average books, glossy covers with thematically linked covers and well imagined re-inventions of these famous characters in a less technologically advanced time. “Punisher Noir” is a great addition to a superb series and a good read. -
NICE! Solid story, and i like the twist they put on Punisher as a character. Also with the mysterious woman. Not going to lie...i was concerned where the story was going in issue 4 at the zoo, it got strange lol. Made up for it with how beasty the fight was....No pun intended. 4 stars!
-
There are some sniffy reviews of this which I read and respect but I wonder if the true fans of the comic engaged less with this less than people like me who know nothing of the history or canon. Almost nothing.
I enjoyed this enormously. Its beginning to look like the ‘Noir’ run of takes on the characters were more than a little awesome. Spiderman was great, both of the stories and this one is great as well. It has much more of a gangster feel to it and because the action is weapons based there is less nuance. Nonetheless it is still impactive and entertaining to read.
The art was brilliant in this comic and the story Solid. No it was not exactly the same story as the comic but it world on its own terms and I enjoyed it no less.
If you are not completely immersed in the world of the Punisher or, if you are, if you still have an open mind I would suggest you try this. Its a really fun read.
Its definitely Noir, but it is deftly handled. -
Ugh, this was a mess. I thought the Punisher would be a great and perfect character to place into a noir settings, among the mobsters of the '30s, and still this story has some good moments that show you the potential behind the idea, but in the end it fell quite flat, with a couple of really stupid and underwhelming moments!:/ Shame.
In the first 3 issue the art is by Paul Azaceta, and I really enjoy his style, but the artist changed for the "big finale" and it made things even worse! -
Fast, fun, good art. It was exactly as I wanted it to be.
This noir reimagining of The Punisher reads like the MAX series if it were set in the 1930s. Some familiar Punisher villains show up. Violence ensues. Overall, I was highly entertained.
It’s only four issues. There’s really not much more to say about it. I read this on MU, and it was a great way to spend 30 min. Anyone who loves Frank Castle will enjoy this. -
Solid story, good well-coloured art. The story played out in a way that completely fit my impressions of the 20's and 30's, and made me believe this is how punished would've emerged and behaved in those times.
Once in a while the dialog sounded a little Bugs Bunny tho. -
Not really punishing.
-
З Карателем найлегше зробити нуарну історію, бо вигадувати щось оригінальне не треба. Але автори трішечки погралися кольорами та сюжетними поворотами…
Жив-був Каратель-батя з татухою на всі груди та син його, малолітній бешкетник та хуліган. Під час першої світової війни батя гнув німців в ріг, а потім, повернувшись на Батьківщину, почав гнути покупців заради доляру. В баті була власна крамниця.
Якось приходить до баті мафія, та й каже, що тепер буде його дахом. Не стріхою, бо це ж Каратель (версія а-ля Джанго Фетт), а так, по питанню розподілення економічних вигод серед італійського пролетаріату. Але замість грошей на порцію макаронів мафія отримує люлєй.
Босу мафії набридає відрізати пальці своїм підлеглим (відрізалку заклинило), тому він відправляє до Карателя-баті трьох міні-босів (все дуже толерантно: це білий, чорний та жінка. В фіналі історія виявиться ще більш толерантною).
Каратель традиційно про помсту та вогнепальну зброю.
Дивна сцена з падінням Барракуди. Якщо вдивитися в кілька відповідних кадрів, то помітно, що бандюган ніяк не дотягувався до Карателя (версії а-ля Боба Фетт), відстань між ними завелика, але в результаті він все ж хапає Френка за руку, і вони разом падають вниз. Падіння, до речі, ніяк не вплинуло на Барракуду, він навіть пережив момент, коли на нього буквально "наїхало" оглядове колесо. Нуар нуаром, а мальописні умовності ніхто не відміняв.
Порівняно з іншими коміксами серії, тут чудова деталізація, це нуарний бойовик, в якому видно майже все.
Захисники тварин будуть обурені, якщо дочитають до фіналу.
Якщо вже порівнювати з іншими тайтлами в Марвелівській нуарній серії, то тут 3,5-4. Знову ж таки, в своїх рамках. Бо якщо брати до уваги інші нуарні коміксі, то й у Карателя все буде сумно. -
Generally badly written, but I want to specifically call out two things:
1. The writer incorporates characters from other Punisher runs (specifically Garth Ennis's takes on the character, which are actually good) in a superficial, thoughtless way that adds nothing but cheap nostalgia for people who are satisfied with that kind of thing. Dangling the comic book equivalent of jingle keys in front of the audience does not equal good storytelling.
2. The final chapter is largely devoted to pointless animal cruelty, to an extent that I almost didn't finish the comic. Why was it necessary for the Punisher and the Russian (another pointless call-back) to duke it out in a zoo, and why was it necessary for them to slaughter rhinos, chimpanzees, gorillas, and tigers? Why do we need to see the Punisher feed a tiger a grenade? Why do we need to see the Russian snap a gorilla's neck? Spoiler: there is no reason. It's just cruel, pointless stupidity.
Oh, and the comic ends with Frank deciding to kill Hitler or something...?
We get it, Frank Tieri, you're totally edgy and cool; whatever makes you feel better about writing a terrible Punisher story. I may hate Jason Aaron's run on PunisherMAX but I would rather read that than this schlock.
Don't read this. -
Страшно надоела такая завязка для сюжета мести, вариантов должно быть побольше одного всет-ки. Весь остальной комикс очень даже неплохой по сюжету, множество деталей. История похожа на каноничную, но прикольно изменена и читать интересно, понравились и диалоги и финал. Внутри одной мини-серии все также довольно логично и понятно. С удовольствием прочитал.
Рисунок тут не порадовал тоже. Нет в нем нуарности и грусти Сорвиголовы или отбитости Росомахи) -
Una interesante versión de Frank Castle, en los años veinte luchando contra gangsters en tiempos de la prohibición. Villanos clásicos como Barracuda y Jigsaw hacen su aparición. Lo único que no me gustó fue el final que me pareció poco elaborado, tal vez por falta de páginas, y eso lo hizo muy poco plausible, incluso en el mundo de Punisher.
-
Even if Punisher Noir didn't reaches the highs of some others Noir takes on "calssic" characters, it still good, especially in view of Punisher fan. I actually is quite good story, nothing suprising, but quality work. I really enjoy Paul Azaceta's art an Filardi's colours, it all suits the Noir styling very well.
-
It was good but surely could've been way much better.Doesn't really fit in the noir genre.It was just like a video game where you have to cross three mini villains to get to the main villian.The exception was the main boss really sucked and the last twist really didn't help either.
-
Si j'ai bien aimé le style et la nouvelle storyline des origines de Frank Castle (un père vétéran tué par la mafia) j'ai trouvé les affrontement trop rapides et un passage particulièrement trransphobe. Ça reste une bonne addition au personnage.
-
2.5/5
I thought Punisher Noir would be one of the best, if not the best, of Marvel's Noir series, but in end it's just ok. I saw the twists from a mile away, the pacing was all over the place and I didn't care all that much for the story. -
I like the artwork but the emergence of the punisher and how he becomes the character borders on disbelief. Still a fun read.
-
Excellent art for Noir, and the story was pretty solid too accept for what they did with the Russian.
