Posted in: Comics, Marvel Comics, Review | Tagged: avengers, black widow, frank castle, hydra, Lee Loughridge, Marvel Comics, Matthew Rosenberg, punisher, sci-fi, stefano landini, superheroes, war machine, winter solider
The Punisher #227 Review: Hunting Hydra with Black Widow and Winter Soldier
Punisher, Black Widow, and the Winter Soldier are gearing up for their assault against the prison holding high-value Hydra members. After gearing the War Machine armor, the trio go to the prison and find Hydra launching their own prison break. Frank, Natasha, and Bucky must tear through the Hydra soldiers if they want their prize, and things worsen when all inmates are let loose.
This is another Hydra-murdering issue for Punisher, and, as we established, Nazis are easily the most acceptable targets for the Punisher.
Oddly enough, one of the most memorable moments in the comic must be Frank Castle being an absolute dick to the Winter Soldier. I love Bucky more than any other superhero, but even I have to admit that Frankie gets some good burns in on my beloved James Buchanan Barnes. It's genuinely funny and amazingly sassy for a man who speaks an average of 50 words a day.
The prison assault is an action-packed grindhouse too, between our murderous protagonists tearing through Hydra flunkies like warm butter and the D-list supervillain fest that is unleashed upon them inside the prison. It turns into a "I'm not stuck in here with you, you're stuck in here with me" moment between Frankie-War Machine and the inmates.
Stefano Landini helms the art on this comic. The sequencing focuses less on direct cause-and-effect and more on giving general ideas of what is happening over the course of the book. The paneling primarily splits each page into four horizontal panels, which does become a little visually repetitive over time. Landini gives less facial detailing and focuses more on environmental detail, which does work well for the purpose of the book. It does look a bit off on one page where Bucky looks like he's just stuck on the side of a hill as opposed to actually sitting on it. That's only one particular odd moment.
Lee Loughridge is the color artist, and he provides pale and faded shades that give the impression of a somewhat sickly world. That is definitely fitting for Frank Castle, so I can't help but appreciate it.
Punisher #227 is another Nazi ass-kicking romp guest-starring Black Widow and Winter Soldier. There is a lot of action and fun one-liners of Frank ripping on Bucky. This one gets a recommendation. Check it out.