The Punisher, Issue #2 continues the story of Frank Castle - the Punisher - murderously attacking the producers and distributors of a drug called EMC. EMC turns regular people into super soldiers, making them stronger, faster, and less sensitive to pain. The gang making and selling the drug is called Condor, and one of their members, who seems to survive the Punisher more often than he should, is Frank Castle's old Marine buddy, Olaf. Introduced in this issue is Face, a brutal man in charge of guarding the EMC production facility in Vermont.
A hero is only as good as his villains. I'm a boxing fan, and I'm mourning the loss of Muhammad Ali. Much of what made him great was his antagonists: Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, Ken Norton, George Foreman, the American government, and finally Parkinson's Syndrome. I didn't know what to think about the first issue of The Punisher by Becky Cloonan and Steve Dillon. Sure, I liked it, but I didn't know if I'd continue reading it. I have about 15 unread comic books, dozens of trade paperbacks, dozens of hardbacks, and dozens of manga volumes.
Because The Punisher is such an historically well-produced title, I decided to give it another go. See, in Issue #1, Olaf came across as a little weak, but now he's more of a badass. And Face is just plain evil. He only got four pages in this issue, but he is very well established as the next villain. DEA Agent Ortiz doesn't get much pagetime in this issue, but he's proving to be an interesting character as well, siccing the police on Castle with an All Points Bulletin. The Punisher is a title I'll look forward to reading in coming months.
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