The Culture

This book collects issues 1 – 6 of Punisher: War Zone. It was created by the fantastic team of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon – responsible for arguably the best run on Hellblazer, the fantastic Preacher and other Punisher stories.

When the Punisher hears rumours of the return of crime boss Ma Gnucci – a woman who had her limbs bitten off by polar bears and who was last seen being kicked into a raging fire by the Punisher (in the excellent Welcome Back, Frank) – he tracks down her only remaining ex-gang member and enlists his help to track down the truth of the rumours. Castle soon finds that the truth is more mysterious than the rumours and that they lead to a new incarnation of a criminal called Elite – the original was also killed in Welcome Back, Frank – who is seeking revenge on the Punisher.

I am a big fan of both Ennis and Dillon – as I said in the introduction they are responsible for two of the best storylines from Vertigo, outside of Sandman, a run on Hellblazer and the series Preacher. In this book he revisits some of the characters he used in Welcome Back, Frank – including Lieutenant von Richtofen from the Punisher Task Force. The book features the usual Ennis excesses – a Punisher who takes no prisoners and uses violence to excess with impunity, bizarre animal related mutilations, people having sex with vegetables. While not quite as good as Welcome Back, Frank it is still a worthwhile read for fans of Ennis’ humour and over the top story telling.