Issue #3 of Punisher: Red Band was a brutal escalation, a violent turning point before an even larger storm breaks. Punisher: Red Band #4 comes out this week, moving closer to Frank Castle’s revenge on those who seek to control him. But first, he must gain his freedom, which is where we left off last issue.
Punisher: Red Band #4 opens with Spider-Man seeing the explosions in the tunnel where so much chaos went down at the hands of Punisher. Through captions, writer Ben Percy points out that animals in nature go quiet when predators are nearby. Juxtaposing Spider-Man, police, firefighters, and later Jessica Jones gives us the sense that when Punisher is at his most powerful, even the most powerful sense it. It’s a foreboding moment that establishes how far Frank will go to take down his enemies in this issue.
From there, the issue cuts to Frank, where we last left him. He’s in an ambulance demanding the EMTs take the device out of his neck, or else they’ll all blow up. It’s an intense sequence, first because the EMTs are scared and unsure if they’ll even live, and later, we get a beautifully rendered montage by Julius Ohta of the many enemies of Punisher. Panels give us close-ups of disparate seconds to convey Frank going in and out of consciousness, further showing how dicey this situation is, leading to an explosive and intense finish.
Frank is pretty beefy.
Credit: Marvel
And that’s just the start, with the rest of the issue focusing on Tombstone and his goons, who immediately end up closer to Frank than anyone would want to be.
Once again, Ohta and Percy hammer home the monstrousness of the villains – in this case, Tombstone. In his scene, he’s cutting up a whole pig, demanding his goons do as he says. Further bringing in the horror is the gore, which hits very hard in this issue. If you were hoping for the issue to live up to the “red band,” it certainly does.
All of these scenes culminate in Punisher getting his full mojo back, while setting up an army coming right for him. Ohta draws Frank Hulking, with characters reacting to him with fear, you can feel in your bones. Given the opening, Punisher is like a force of nature, elevating him from just a guy with guns.
Punisher: Red Band #4 is a masterclass in escalation—taking Frank Castle from survivor to inevitability. Ben Percy’s pacing and Julius Ohta’s ferocious visuals work in lockstep, transforming familiar crime beats into something closer to modern horror. It’s vicious, cinematic, and purposeful, setting the board for a collision that feels truly unavoidable.
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