Punisher: Year One # 2
"Post Mortem"

At Mt. Sinai Hospital, two assassins have tracked down their target, Frank Castle, who is grieving for his dead wife. When they approach him, Frank wakes up and attacks his two enemies, resulting in one being shot in the back by the other. Castle, insane with rage, chases the second hitman into the hallway, beats him into submission, and prepares to shoot him in the back of the head while screaming his wife Maria's name. He's stopped by Detective John Laviano, who promises Frank that he'll get the people responsible for his family's murder.

Later, in Laviano's office, Castle points out the men in the park from a book of mug-shots. Laviano takes this information to his Captain, telling him that Castle has fingered Bruno Costa and his crew - Allegre, Hannigan, Skinner, and Kolsky - as the shooters. This gives them the opportunity to not only nail Bruno but also his brother, Frank Costa, since Castle is eager to testify. Meanwhile, at the Daily Bugle, Mike McTeer convinces his editor, Joe Robertson, into letting him run with the Castle story. After the meeting, McTeer runs into photographer Peter Parker, who lends McTeer a camera; but when Parker turns his back, McTeer steals some film canisters from the photographer's bag and leaves.

McTeer goes to the Castle house, where he attempts to convince Frank to help him with the story of his family's murder. Frank is unwilling until McTeer lies to him, saying that his own wife has died and that he knows what Castle is going through. Thinking the reporter is a kindred spirit, Frank agrees to help him. Back at Laviano's office, the detective is told by his captain to drop the Castle case because Costa and his men all have alibis forthe time of the murders. Laviano is furious, telling his partner that he doesn't know how to tell Castle. Frank receives Laviano's phone call, informing him of the news, and Frank picks up a photo of his family and has an imaginary conversation with his dead wife. Castle gets a phone call from McTeer, who has also heard about the case being dropped. McTeer takes Frank to the Daily Bugle to meet with J. Jonah Jameson, the paper's editor-in-chief, but upon reading a phone message left for McTeer by his ex-wife Castle realizes that the reporter has been lying to him this whole time. Frank leaves the Bugle and returns home, where he removes a pistol from his trunk of military equipment and prepares to commit suicide.

Annotations:
This mini-series expands on material first introduced in Marvel Preview Presents: the Punisher # 2 and Marvel Super Action: the Punisher # 1, which contained the first appearances of Detective John Laviano and the Costa crime family.

Though there are no dates given in this story, the artwork clearly intends for it to be set sometime in the 1970s due to the styles of clothing worn throughout the series. However, the appearances of Peter Parker and the Daily Bugle staff in this issue mean that this story falls within the sliding timescale of the Marvel Universe. It is likely that the creators intended this story to be set in 1974, the year of the Punisher's first appearance.

According to The Punisher (1998) # 4, the murder of the Castle family was planned by Frank Costa, who was actually a demon from Hell named Olivier. Whether there was any truth to this revelation is unknown, but is now considered to be highly unlikely given that the source was Olivier himself, a demon that used a distortion of the truth and even outright lies to manipulate the Punisher.

Review:
Year One moves forward with Frank surviving an assassination attempt, McTeer being an asshole, Laviano getting a wake-up call, and one really bleak cliffhanger.

Jesus, this is one depressing comic book; when an issue ends with a suicide attempt, you can pretty much assume you won't be cracking any smiles while reading it. This series is unrelentingly tragic, and I could see how some readers just might not be able to take it, but it's exactly what this story has to have in order for it to succeed. We've been told countless times how Frank Castle became the Punisher, but this series makes us feel the reason why a man would devote his life to murdering every criminal he sees. Frank is failed by the police department, and personally failed by both Laviano and McTeer, the first due to corruption outside of his control and the second due to greed and unrestrained ambition. Frank's mental state is hanging by a thread here, just look at how many times he's shown flying into a berserker rage during this story, and after all the betrayals he's just been subjected to the next logical step for him is suicide. Why wouldn't a man who loves his family not want to be reunited with them in the afterlife?

Mike McTeer continues to be a douchebag throughout this issue, and in fact he's an even worse example of scum than the hitmen, mobsters, and corrupt cops. He's a man with not only no sense of shame, but no empathy for his fellow man; he manipulates Frank, who again is just a breath away from snapping completely, in order to get what he wants. And he steals from Spider-Man! Sigh, that Peter Parker appearance was such a major misstep for this series, and isn't as easily excusable as the Miles Warren appearance last issue. This isn't a story that should have superheroes running around, and while he's only seen in his civilian guise here, just the allusion to Spider-Man is horribly inappropriate. I don't care if the Punisher first appeared in a Spider-Man comic, it undermines the tragedy of the story by reminding readers that guys in brightly colored pajamas are there just off the page. It also totally throws off the timeline and setting of the story, with Parker suddenly showing up beside the bell-bottoms and hippy-hair sported by McTeer.

One thing that doesn't disappoint is the artwork by Dale Eaglesham and Scott Koblish, which is pretty fantastic. Eaglesham's heavily-detailed work is appropriately dramatic, but not overly so. The action is brutal, swift, and very violent while the emotions of the characters are right there on their faces in every panel. His interpretation of Frank Castle is gut-wrenching, while McTeer looks just as low-class as his personality. When this series was released, Marvel wisely went the distance on the production quality, allowing the artwork to shine on the high-quality paper.

This series has all the pieces to be a great, history-defining Punisher story, there's just some weird decisions being made by the writers that serve only to distract from the important bits.

Grade: B+
Review Date: 01/29/12