After a much-derided series in which the Punisher was given angelic powers, Marvel assembled the team of Garth Ennis, Steve Dillion, and Jimmy Palmiotti to bring the character back to his hardboiled roots — and the results have stood the test of time. A solid argument could be made — and I’m certainly not the first one to make it — for Welcome Back, Frank being the single strongest overall run in the Punisher’s history. Just about every issue of this run contains one element or another that would go on to inform multiple adaptations of The Punisher, from the iconic fight with the Russian to the hilariously ineffectual Martin Soap to Daredevil and Punisher’s rooftop encounter.
All of it is rendered beautifully by Dillon and Palmiotti. Many of the action sequences feature Frank largely stationary, picking the perfect rooftop vantage point to take a shot or else confidently strolling into a room with a massive machine gun (or flamethrower) to get the job done quickly. There’s a confidence to the way he moves that is extremely satisfying once you see how rotten these bad guys can be. At the same time, this makes the sequences that require Frank to be quicker on his feet feel even more frantic and tense, which is also aided by strong facial expressions and character acting. You can really feel when things have gone the wrong way for Frank from his body language and his ever-widening grimace.
The quieter moments also benefit greatly from Dillon’s strong posing and Palmiotti’s confident inks. I particularly love the sequences involving Frank’s neighbor Joan, who is clearly withdrawn and finds some inner strength to help Frank when he needs it the most. You see all of that in her face and demeanor, so even if the dialogue were taken away, it’d be perfectly communicated.
And let’s be honest: Has the Punisher ever looked quite as sleek and awesome as he does with this team?
Marvel
Some elements of Welcome Back, Frank have not aged quite as gracefully as the rest of the book. In particular, the character of Mr. Bumpo is mostly a bizarre non sequitur, seemingly only existing so the run can be peppered with fatphobic asides that don’t add anything of value to the story. The book stops dead on more than one occasion to show Bumpo being lifelighted after a coronary or getting his large frame stuck in a doorway. He indirectly helps Frank finish a fight late in the series, but it just feels like a long and needlessly cruel way to walk for that particular punchline. There are, of course, plenty of other offensive and over-the-top elements to the story (this is Garth Ennis, after all), including some sophomoric jokes that made me roll my eyes, but the conception and treatment of Mr. Bumpo is the only piece that feels distractingly mean-spirited.
That unpleasantness aside (and honestly, there’s plenty of other unpleasantness in this book that actually does work for me), Welcome Back, Frank feels in many ways like the perfect happy medium between the classic era of the Punisher and the post-9/11 gloom of Punisher MAX. There’s still a playfulness to the action here, and while there’s still humor to be found in Ennis’ later work on the character, it’s never quite as fun as it is here. Sure, there are some truly gruesome moments here, but a lot of the worst violence is largely implied. The ways in which Frank dispatches with his enemies also suggests that the ol’ Punisher still has a sense of humor about him. Punching a polar bear to encourage it to attack someone pursuing him may not be the most elegant move that this vigilante has ever pulled, but it sure makes for an entertaining set piece.
This series takes a few moments to really humanize Frank Castle, or at least remind us (and him) that he used to be a person with feelings. There’s a code of honor to the way he operates and he still seems capable of empathizing with strangers, even when he keeps them at arm’s length. The book also takes pains to differentiate the Punisher from other gun-toting wannabes, and while it’s not entirely successful on this front (at the end of the day, they’re all murderers with different excuses), it does make for an interesting hook with a hilarious payoff. Make no mistake, Frank Castle is still a monster who genuinely enjoys the terrible work he does, but this series is a little more focused on the beating heart beneath the skull emblem, which I greatly appreciate.
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