Punisher: No Escape [コミック]

When a crimelord decides to do some violent housecleaning of some low-level mobsters who've been doing him wrong in the drug trade, he goes too far and eliminates their families as well, in a series of bombings. This attracts the wrath of the Punisher. But when the Punisher tries to get to the man responsible through an underling who still remains alive, that fellow--after an intense chase and gun battle atop a moving train--jumps to his death rather than risk his boss's vengeance, the Punisher sees all avenues leading to any kind of retribution drying up fast. All the lowlevel vermin he'd been keeping tabs on to get to the bigwigs are dying off!

The crimelord, or mobster, or druglord if you prefer--named Mangano--goes on the offensive by offering a super-powered mercenary-type named Paladin to kill the Punisher. Paladin is a favourite minor Marvel character of mine, so I was a bit shocked to see him take a contract from a mobster, but Mangano does use the argument that the Punisher himself is a wanted criminal, and he's right.

Meanwhile, the Punisher has his colleague and all-around computer whiz called Microchip start looking for new leads to the bomber or bombers. But this backfires rather spectacularly; Micro doesn't know the leads he finds are honey traps, with Paladin waiting at the other end. And to make matters worse, Washington's Commission For Superhuman Affairs sends their prize puppet, John Walker aka US Agent, to capture the Punisher. But even that does not go smoothly. The US Agent has been developing a mind of his own, and when he attacks the Punisher, our (marginal) hero with the skull on his chest does some fast-talking to get John Walker over to his side, at least until a few crimelords have been permanently shut down. Then they'll settle up.

This is not a classic Punisher tale, and the dialogue is wooden, but I've liked Tod Smith's art since his Vigilante days at DC; I think he does fights, chases, and shootouts very very well--and his angry men look exceptionally angry. There are some cool twists and turns in between the skirmishes with Paladin, and even some, dare I say it, noble heroics when Punisher and US Agent team up to save some lives. Then there are all the killings, of course, but he is the Punisher after all. He doesn't leave people in a web-ball for the police to pick up.

The final fight between Paladin and--not the Punisher but rather--the US Agent, is quick but exciting (Paladin looks pretty impressive througout this story until things slowly start to turn against him). And the Punisher must tread very carefully as he closes in on Mangano the murderous mobman on the creepo's own turf, because Mangano has proven to be capable of anything, and he's got Microchip as a hostage (Paladin, a busy fellow indeed, had snatched the poor geek).

This is a noisy, fast-paced affair with some decent attempts at being clever. But it's really only a variation on Punisher vs. the Mob, and that's familiar territory.

Punisher has another contract put on him by mobsters. This time a gun-for-hire with enhanced body and weapons called Paladin takes the job. And the guy who was taking over for Captain America is sent after him too. Another enhanced person known as U.S. Agent. These three mix it up hard many times. Lots of good fighting and surprises.

straight forward tale of the vigilante punisher being pursued by the goverment (super solider u s agent) and the mob (genetic modified super crim.... palidan!) written by greg wright , he gives this all a sense of fun and good art too by todd smith make this not a half bad buy.....