The Punisher #48 (August 2007)



"Widowmaker, Part 6"
Penciller: Lan Medina
Inker: Tom Palmer
Colorist: Raol Trevino

Summary: Budiansky is interviewing Barbi, Anabella and Lorraine. They deny knowing Bonnie, even though all of their husbands were in business together and they were all in the same unlikely neighborhood. Then Budiansky hits them with the whopper: Did you five women band together to take out the Punisher? The girls are shocked but deny it. Annabella asks if they're under arrest. No, but as soon as Budiansky leaves he is going to verify that they knew Bonnie, then come back and arrest them. Outside Shauna is in a car with Curtis watching the whole thing.

Frank is on his feet. Jenny is surprised that he's awake considering his condition. She's going out to finish them off. She says the last man who saw her naked body threw up. Frank says he's just seen a lot of scars but Jenny says it's deeper. How she looks means nothing to him, all that matters is whats inside because thats how he decides if someone lives or dies and mentally they're twins. No one understands what the tragedies they've experienced do to them, how little life they have left after. Frank says he lives to do what needs to be done. It makes sense. Frank's a soldier so he gave himself a mission. But Jenny is no soldier, all she has is her soul spread over her face and cancer they can't quite get rid of.

As Budiansky leaves Shauna tells Curtis to follow him but not to do anything unless she calls him. Inside she demands to know what the widows told him. They say they stuck to their story despite his attempts to trip them up. Shauna knows that he figured it all out and it's only a matter of time before he catches up to them. And there are too many ex-John James Toomeys inside waiting for Shauna. She calls Curtis.

Budiansky is having lunch with his wife outside the hospital she works at. He's contemplating quitting the force. His wife sees Curtis approaching and wonders if he's her case or Budiansky. Arrest or detox? But Budiansky sees him pull his weapon. He opens fire on them, missing Budiansky but hitting his wife twice. Budiansky opens fire and empties his mag into the creep.

The Captain is furious. Sure it helps that both the cop and the victim were black, but emptying his gun into the guy is going to mean nightmares into the press. He orders a subordinate to talk to him instead.

The doctor tells Budiansky that his wife will live, although she faces a long recovery and her life will be different from this point on. But now Budiansky is suspended, although the shooting is so justified is won't be for long.

The widows see the news report. Annabella freaks on Shauna for trying to kill a hero cop. Barbi pulls them apart but Annabella knows they're done. Shauna thinks it's no problem, just some crackhead shooting at a cop, they won't trace it back to them. But John James Toomey is one of that crackhead's known associates and it will lead the cops straight to them. They need to leave the country. Shauna and Annabella start arguing again, and once more Barbi ends it by reminding them that on top of this problem they also have Jenny after them. So what the hell can they do?

At his home Budiansky gets an update on the shooting. Killer was a known associate of Toomey. He says it's a meaningless lead. He's asked about the Bronx shooting. He says it's a dead end. He hangs up and gets his gun out of the nightstand.

Jenny is about to finish the job. She tells Frank she needs to borrow something. After shes done theres one last thing she needs to show him. He agrees to wait. She walks out of the apartment wearing his shirt.

Observations: Boy are these ladies screwed. Shauna, who was brought in specifically for her street smarts and connections, has ruined everything by being compulsive and hot-headed. Her friendship with Annabella is ruined and Barbi of all things is the voice of reason.

Like all rogue movie cops, Budiansky has been told to turn in his badge after shooting. Except in this case the shooting was 100% justified, especially factoring the emotional element. With so much attention on the NYPD these days it's a plot that has only strengthened in the last seven years. And now he's going against orders with the spare piece he's not allowed to have to go bring down the bad guys once and for all.

Of course, he won't mean much if Jenny gets there first. Her adoption of the Punisher's insignia is a nice dramatic moment. These two characters have a deep understanding. While the relationship between Frank and O'Brien was a romantic one thanks to their similar lifestyles, Jenny and Frank's relationship is based on the mutual feeling of knowing what it's like to be dead inside. Frank passes his torch to her, temporarily at least, and agrees to stay for whatever it is she has for him afterwards. He trusts and cares for her, which is prying his shell open wider than it's ever been. And Jenny sums up Frank's pathology very neatly: He's dead inside, and to deal with that rotting life he has assigned himself a mission.

BTW, Tim Bradstreet's covers vary in how relevant they are to the story being told but this one is especially poetic.

A

The Punisher #50 (October 2007)



"The Long Cold Dark, Part 1"
Artist: Howard Chaykin
Colorist: Edgar Delgado

Summary: At his English mansion Yorkie is beaten and bloody. His wife lies dead beside him. Barracuda is searching his things. He tells Cuda that Frank will kill him. Not over him, but because he is going up against him. Barracuda is a joke in spite of it all and Frank Castle is the most dangerous man who ever walked the Earth. Yorkie's shelves are packed with medals, trophies and photographs. Cuda finds a letter in a safe. He holds his gun to Yorkie's head and pulls the trigger.

Frank has had a nightmare. The world didn't end in Central Park. They ended up not going. Now he is old and fat and slow. His kids and grandkids visit. He hears them ask why they have to eat their vegetables. It's perfect. Frank Jr and his wife are discussing a murderer's sentence. A killer only got five years, wasn't enough evidence for more. They ask Frank what he would do and he tries not to imagine things like that happening to anyone. His daughter warns him about carbs. He's somewhere between admired and indulged, which suits him fine. Later has had a drink with the men and espouses what he hopes is wisdom. Lisa's husband says Frank Jr told him about his tour in Vietnam. Frank doesn't like to talk about it. He didn't serve a full tour, caught shrapnel and went home early. He says he wouldn't advise young men one way or another about the military, he'd just advise them to go to the memorial and look at the names. On their balcony on a summer's evening he kisses his wife and wakes up.

His family was murdered thirty years ago. He keeps their memory locked away deep in his mind. But the dream unlocks it and forces him to confront it. He remembers using white phosphorus grenades in 'Nam. If they weren't careful a prisoner's wounds might re-ignite aboard the huey. The only way he can kill the dream is target practice.

He owns a stretch of wooded land in the Poconos for situations where he has buried two dozen people who can never, ever be found.

He picks up an AK-47 and starts firing. It's a good weapon. In 'Nam American forces used the M16, a plastic wonder weapon that cleaned itself. The M-16 got a lot of men killed. It's plastic, no good for beating people with. And the 5.56mm cartridge is weak (it's about equal to a .223 Remington, a round not suited for much more than target shooting and varmint hunting). A weapon chosen in exchange for campaign money. In Nam Frank would have used an AK-47 but troops can hear the different and he would have died by friendly fire. Nowadays the M16 has evolved to the point of adequacy and Frank is used to it. And the underslung 203 grenade launcher helps a lot (this is the configuration used by Tony Montana at the end of Scarface, if anyone is curious). Frank's final exercise is the Colt 1911. 100 years old, half the capacity of modern handguns but it has twice the impact with half the recoil of 9mm rounds. Frank finishes his shooting but the dream is still there.

In La Jolla (a neighborhood in San Diego) Barracuda strolls into a day care. Someone screams.

Two weeks later Frank is still dealing with the dream but he's back at work. Everytime the mob stands up he knocks it back down. Pat Migliorato was the final straw. Now all of the gangs are together trying to cut themselves a slice of the action. Someone called a meeting and the bosses are gathered in a penthouse. Frank is about to blow the place sky high when the mobsters start questioning who called the meeting. Nobody there knows. Just in case it's the cops Frank holds back on the explosives, although it's not likely. Whoever called this meeting had intel. Someone mentions The Punisher and the room goes cold, which Frank finds gratifying. Then the elevator door opens and Barracuda is there with an M60. Uh-oh, he's supposed to be dead. But Frank is in prime position so he takes aim at his head. He glances behind him and sees a claymore with a timer counting down. You don't put a timer on a claymore unless you want someone to see it.

Frank jumps down from the ceiling. Barracuda had set a trap for him: Rent the top three floors of the hotel, rig the top and bottom floors with explosives and hold the meeting in the middle. He knew Frank would be there. The bombs go off. Frank leaps behind a couch. Three hoods are huddling. At gun point he makes them stand up. They get shot, Frank runs. Theres a claymore on a stand in the stairwell. Frank throws a thuh into it to soak up the damage but it still hurts. Barracuda shoots him five times in the chest with a shotgun and knocks him out with the butt. Frank admits he played it just like he would.

Barracuda takes him up to the roof. Theres a zipline set up to another building. He hangs Frank's body from the line and sends it over. Frank wakes up cuffed to a chair. Cuda tells him it didn't have to be like this, they could have been allies like he said on the boat. Frank tells him to **** off. Cuda admits me was just messing with him. He starts to tell Frank how he's still alive but Frank just tells him to shut up and get on with it. Cuda tells him that it was no big deal to set the trap, it was an obvious move and with all of the top gangsters gone he could swoop in and take over. What got Cuda stuck was figuring out how to screw with Frank. Killing him was inevitable. Torture? Frank is hard enough that he'd disassociate and ignore it. He admits that Frank had done what no one else had: He beat him. And for that he needed something to really use against Frank and he got it in the form of an email. Barracuda is a mercenary so he has tons of contacts and one of them sends him a list of known associates. The only one living is Yorkie. Frank tells him he's being used but Cuda don't care, he's been used since he was recruited in 1975.

Anyways, Cuda goes to England and takes on Yorkie and tells him the only way his wife will live is if he gives up some info on Frank. So now Barracuda has this letter. Cuda asks Frank if the name "O'Brien" means anything to him. She's dead. True, but Yorkie knew her briefly and was getting awfully sentimental about it so he digs around and finds out she has a sister in La Jolla. The sister means nothing to Frank, but she wrote back to Yorkie. She said she was sad Kathryn was dead but glad shes at peace. But she needs to get in contact with Frank Castle because she's got something she has to talk to him about. Kathryn left her something...

Cuda goes into the other room and comes back carrying a baby. He laughs and says "Congratulations mutha****a. It's a bitch."

Observations: Barracuda is back! How? Who knows? He seemed pretty definitively dead but then again he's Barracuda so who knows. The point is he's back and Frank is in deep trouble. Poor Yorkie got killed right after retiring. Even worse, Barracuda is holding Frank's baby daughter hostage.

The issue starts with Frank being more melancholy than we've seen him yet. I think we've all experienced what he goes through, a dream of a life you desperately want to be real and throughout the day you just can't shake it. The interesting thing about the dream is that even though he says the difference is they didn't go to the park, the real difference is that he was barely in 'Nam and never became The Tyger. Is it his experience with Jenny Cesare that has him thinking like this?

Several arcs now have toyed with the idea of Frank facing his emotions. We saw his paternal instinct kick in during Mother Russia, we saw how powerful his devotion to his family was in UIDBIW, we saw how he came to care for O'Brien and we saw him empathize and pity Jenny Cesare. Now he faces the deadliest test yet: A child of his own. Frank Jr and Lisa's baby sister. How is Frank going to handle this? How can he reconcile being a father with being The Punisher? And if he was protective of Galina theres no saying how crazy he's going to get over this one.

The Punisher's war with organized crime is reaching its end. The events of Widowmaker killed the Italian Mob in New York. Now it's everyone else's turn.

This is an issue that is split for me. On one hand, I love the story. Frank wants more than anything to live a normal life. To be over the hill is paradise to him. It's really sad to see the happy fat old Frank and then see him as he really is: In incredible shape yet emotionally ruined.

On the other hand, the art is dreadful. I know Howard Chaykin is a legend but this is downright terrible. It just looks sloppy, and Barracuda is drawn off-model as well. The coloring is even worse. I follow Edgar Delgado on Twitter, he's a fantastic artist and colorist, but his work here is way oversaturated. Every color is 100% blue or 100% green or 100% yellow, etc. The airbrushing touches just make it worse, with a lot of black shading (NEVER shade with black!) that makes characters look muddy and dark (but still orange) against super vibrant overrendered backgrounds. This is the only issue of the series I can say has legitimately bad artwork and it's done by two otherwise excellent creators.

The art is a D, the story is a B so I give this a C+.

Frank's kills: One gangster.

Frank's injuries:
- Burst left eardrum
- Countless lacerations from shrapnel
- Five diminished shotgun shells to the chest
- Shotgun butt to the head

The Punisher #52 (January 2008)



"The Long Cold Dark, Part 3"
Artist: Goran Parlov
Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Summary: Frank is fuelling up at a California gas station when a frantic woman hands him a poster and asks if he's seen her son. He says he hasn't but he'll keep an eye out and tell her if he sees anything. Frank hadn't known the terror of parenthood for three decades.

Barracuda is in the back of a small airplane travelling over Monument Valley. The pilot asks if he knows how to feed a baby but Cuda raised his younger brother and sister. His brother is dead now and his sister is a crackwhore but what can you do? The pilot asks if the kid is his. Cuda says that for a "no-questions-asked" businessman he asks a lot of questions. The pilot says a child is pretty serious business but he doesn't want to know anything. He realizes Barracuda is going to kill him the minute they land, and that isn't long from now.

Frank remembers missing his family in Vietnam They were his way home. In the darkest moments of his third tour he could look at his pregnant wife and daught and be happy. When he got home he had to fight the fear every father faces. But in the end Frank was wrong. His war was at home and when they went to the park his family proved they really were his way home. He wonders if he is ready to face that fear once more.

Barb O'Brien notices how few cops are around their house. She takes it as a sign that they think Sarah is dead. Feeling like she let her sister down, she has to go out and think.

Frank finds her at a mall. With the cop surveilance he can't get near her. And with Barracuda surely watching he shouldn't go near her. He calls in a bomb threat and when the mall evacuates he drops a cellphone with a message into her bag. He looks at her face and sees Kathryn again.

Barracuda patrols the neighborhood in a red mustang. He tells that baby that she will be dead soon.

Hiding in her garage, Barb calls Frank. The message that came with the phone reads "Sarah's Father - 917-002-1101." She confirms Frank's identity and realizes The Punisher is on the case. He gave her the phone because her own are tapped. She hasn't told her husband or the cops about him because Kathyrn made her promise to never tell Sarah or anyone else who her father was. Makes sense to Frank. Had he been known as Sarah's father he would have been mentioned in the report. He asks Barb if she ever believed him to be the kidnapper. She hadn't because Kathryn said he was the only man on Earth she could trust. Even though she'd only known him a day she was certain of it from the look in his eye and trust was not something she gave lightly. She asks how Barracuda found the baby. Frank tells her about Yorkie. She says this is Kathryn's world, the place she'd never been brave enough to ask about. Frank says he can save Sarah. Barb has to leave the house tomorrow and make a spectacle of it. Say shes leaving for a couple of days. Frank will wait until nightfall and enter the house, Barracuda will follow. Then he'll get Sarah back and kill him. Barb doubts herself but Frank tells her it's Barracuda or the baby, this is the only way to do it. She can come hom in two days and Sarah will be alive. Barb asks what will happen next. Frank hesitates and says he doesn't know.

The next morning Barb plays her freak out. Her husband doesn't try to fight. Frank doesn't blame him, he knows what O'Brien women are like. The cop saw it all and followed her. At night Frank breaks in. He looks at the photos on the mantle of Kathryn and Barb together. They shake him, just for a moment, then back to business. He knows Barracuda's Achilles heel is his ego. The look on his face when he shot him last time said it all: "I can't believe I'm being beaten." Frank takes the meat in-between his teeth as an indication he's on his way to do it again. All he has to do now is figure out how to do it.

Barracuda enters the house. He holds the baby in front of Frank. He says Frank is a fool for thinking he can get the baby back. Frank just has one question: Did he talk to the people who tipped him off again? No. Good, that means they don't know about the baby. Barracuda puts his gun to the baby's head and pulls the trigger.

Observations: Frank's worst memory happens all over again. After an issue spending musing on the terror of being a parent Frank has his nightmare come true, right in front of him. It spells a very nasty fate for Barracuda. Frank is also haunted by the face of O'Brien. Just as the idea of what life he could have had with his family lingers, so does his unresolved feelings regarding O'Brien. He imagines himself without a lifetime of death and misery and sees her without it. I also thought it was funny that Frank empathized with Barb's husband, who has long since learned not to mess with an O'Brien.

Frank's plan was clever, as we expect his plans to be now. He again shows himself to be completely fine with disrupting the lives of hundreds of people for his own gain but in this case I think it's completely justified.

We get a little more insight into Barracuda's backstory. In Part One he mentioned he enlisting in the armed forces in 1975. Here he find out he was left to raise his younger siblings and they both turned out terribly.

Good issue, again more on the thoughtful side and with a killer ending. B

The Punisher #54 (April 2008)



"The Long Cold Dark, Conclusion"
Artist: Goran Parlov
Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Summary: Barracuda is beating Frank's face into mush. He's swallowed three teeth and his cheek bone is broken. Frank grasps for his gun and finds the multitool he was using to remove the claymore. He clamps the pliars right on Barracuda's nose and twists hard, tearing it right off.

Barracuda goes completely mental. He grabs Frank's AK and fires wildly at nothing, emptying the magazine in three seconds. Frank grabs the baby and runs. Barracuda pulls himself together and psyches himself up, reaffirming his identity as the baddest mofo out there. He calls a gunship that doesn't exist on a radio he doesn't have, saying he'll pop smoke to mark his target. He sees a wire fence that Frank clipped through: The perimeter fence to North Torrey Pines Elementary School.

As he makes his way across the field he remembers being a child, bullied by an older boy. He gouged his eyes out. Following Frank's trail into the school he sees the boy in juvenile hall who he castrated, sees the army recruiter. Sees him and his platoon making their way through a jungle. Sees a village burning and a bag of packaged cocaine. Sees an asian bar, with everyone murdered. Sees himself hand the police a severed head. Sees a small prisoner begging for mercy and getting his face smashed in a mirror. Sees his smiling reflection in the shattered glass.

Frank pops out of the shadows and chops at his right arm with a fire axe. It almost does the job. He swings again and takes Barracuda's left hand and chops it off. He swings back at the right and takes it off. He swings the axe one final time, deep into Cuda's chest. As he watchs Frank chamber a round on the AK Barracuda remembers what Yorkie told him: "He's going to kill you. Not over me. You're going up against him, so he'll kill you. Because you're a joke, in spite of it all. And he's the most dangerous man who ever walked this Earth."

Staring into the gun's barrel Barracuda tries to sputter his name one last time. Frank tells him to shut the **** up and blows his head to pieces.

Frank picks up the baby. He instantly stops being The Punisher. He checks her for damage. He's terrified of hurting her. Through her eyes he must look like an animal standing in another monster's gore.

He flees the scene and finally gets rid of the claymore. His hands shook at the idea of a thing like that in a child's world. The part of him that disconnects is gone. For the first time in decades he knows how it feels to be a human being. His only instinct now is to protect and defend her, not matter the cost or threat.

He imagines O'Brien sitting in a similar motel, wondering what to do. She chose Afghanistan and almost certain death. And if her life is ruined there was no call to inflict it on the kid. Frank spends the day with his baby, then makes the call. He tells Barb to go home.

The next morning he brings her the baby. He tells her that no matter how far he went someone would find him and she would be in danger. If Sarah ever wonders about her father it would be best if Barb lied to her and never gave her a reason to contact him. It will save her life. He tells her he'll wire her money but Barb refuses. Kathryn left an account to care for the girl. When she asked Barb to raise her baby Barb was hesitant but they both knew she would agree. They weren't close and Barb never really knew her. She asks Frank was she was like. The real her, not the killing. Frank says she was strong and sad. He tells her about their morning in Afghanistan. Frank saw O'Brien watching the sunrise and saw her without any of her violence or darkness. He tries to kill memories like that but Barb might have some use for it.

After a day and a half of sleep Frank rents a car and drives home. He wonders if he liked O'Brien or if he just went through the motions to convince himself he did, doing the things that the human being he once was would have done. The real reason he left Sarah with Barb isn't people coming after him. The problem is that no matter where he went, whatever life he built with her, he would watch the news and see something that needed to be done. He drives away from the sunset, through the shadows of America and the long, cold, dark night that he has made of his life.

Observations: What an ending. After over 50 issues Frank finally takes a look at himself and tells us what he sees: He was a human once but he chose to become a monster and it is not a choice he can undo.

There are a few ideas behind this. One is the simple reality that Frank Castle is a mass murderer with a body count in the thousands and that makes it very difficult to lead a normal life. Another is the psychological aspect. He sees himself as the same sort of creature as Barracuda. Both of them are violent monsters and he himself is a threat to Sarah. Not just a physical threat (through people looking for him) but an emotional one. While being with Sarah reminds him of what it is to be human, it is not a legitimate fork in the road. There is only one choice and, like the dream of his family and the face of O'Brien, the other is an illusion to remind himself of the Hell he has created for himself. He knows that he can't stop himself from being this monster and that he wouldn't be able to stop being The Punisher and would abandon her. When he's talking about the claymore he's talking about himself: Something destructive that has no place in the world of a child.

This arc gives us more insight into the emotional implications of Frank being what he is. He isn't an emotionally dead killing machine. Vietnam and the death of his family finished the job partway but he still grapples with humanity. He says outright that he wants to destroy his happy memory of O'Brien, and we finally get an explanation (or two) for his having sex with her rather than conforming to the normal asexuality of the anti-hero: Either O'Brien truly woke up his human side and made him behave like a normal person or he had sex to try and convince himself that he liked her, that part of him was still human. Whatever the truth is, she forced him to face a part of himself. The shell around his humanity is pryed wide and we can see is sad and lonely. He deeply wishes he could live a normal life but The Tyger does not allow it, creating an inner conflict that he does his best to ignore.

Barracuda gets more fleshed out in this arc. Last arc he was little more than treacherous mercenary with a lot of funny dialog (when I read his dialog I can only hear Patrice O'Neal). Here he gets more depth: A victim of seriously misguided domestic abuse, he is intensely focused on his own ego. In order to function he has to be assured of his supremacy, an ideal forced into his head by his father. We see that his life was spent proving himself to be the biggest, meanest lug around and partaking in extreme acts of violence to fuel his lifestyle. What Yorkie said is true: He is a joke, a mentally unstable fool obsessed with bravado. As freakishly strong and skilled as he is, he does not compare to the cold efficiency of Frank Castle.

Light and dark are prominent motifs in the arc. Aside from giving it it's title, darkness is associated with violence and daylight is associated with normalcy. The scenes with Barb take place in the day or at dawn, while Frank's encounters with Barracuda happen at night. Frank wakes up from his nightmare of happiness in the black night and in the end turns his back on the sun, while his one happy memory of O'Brien has her facing the sunrise on the last day of her life. He grants himself one happy day with his child, one day where he is not The Tyger, and then he goes back to the dark. As a capper, the animal motif from "Barracuda" returns one more time.

A triumphant final issue and a fantastic penultimate arc. A for both.

Frank's injuries:
- Several strong punches to the face
- Three knocked out teeth
- Broken cheekbone

Frank's kills:
- Barracuda

Tally for the arc: 1 (a new record!)

Next: Nick Fury and The Generals return for the grand finale to this modern crime epic.

The Punisher #56 (June 2008)



"Valley Forge, Valley Forge, Part 2"
Artist: Goran Parlov
Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Summary: Howe tells Geller why he joined Special Forces. In late summer of 1969 his huey suffered engine failure and went down in Laos. Charlie found the site, shot the wounded and took the survivers prisoner in an abandoned village. They tortured and killed the soldiers, throwing his hands and feet back in the cell. A day later Howe was the only one alive. They got off on making the soldiers anticipate their own doom. One knew the N-Word and liked using it. Howe realized he was powerless. Not just physically, but in his knowledge of the war, the enemy and the military.

He asks Geller if he'd ever been in combat. Geller was picked for staff work early on and has never been deployed.

Back to the story: The racist soldier opens the cell door to bring Howe out to his death and gets shot in the head. What followed was the very efficient destruction of the entire village, no posturing or flares or grenades or even speaking. These mean had the power Howe didn't have. He never found out who they were. Could have been a SEAL team or LURPS (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) doing some shady work in Laos who stumbled across the wreck and tracked it. Howe never even got a chance to thank him. As he gets cut out of the cage the soldier rescuing him asks if they should take prisoners. The commander says "No." Afterwards Howe joined Special Forces because he wanted to do it properly. He did his next two tours with the Green Berets and when Delta started in the 70s he was first in line. Since then he's pulled soldiers out of similar people. They're the jobs he's proudest of. Thats why Castle bothers him. He dishonors what they do.

The eight soldiers are hanging out playing pool: Lieutenants Wood and Stanway, sergeants Melinger, Giroux, Winburn, McGee and Rents and Corporal McDonough.

Wood figures the reason nobody has caught Frank is because nobody has really tried. Cops and FBI don't figure he's worth the effort. His general location and M.O. are well known and he should be easy to track. He works the same way they do: Gather intel and hit the targets until they're finished. They're going to set up in Brooklyn, wait for him to hit someone and stake out the operation's other locations waiting for him to finish the job. The only hard part will be going in undetected. He knows how they operate.

Chapter 3 of "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" takes Michael to the California beach house of John Chadwick, a cheery man andwho was tank commander in Vietnam with the call sign "Tusker Leader." He had what he considers to be a good Vietnam: He'd done well, managing to avoid death or disfigurement and gotten a promotion. Spending most of the war in a tank gave him a measure of comfort and reassurance. Most of the time he and his tank served as support for infantry, which was a huge boost of morale. And he admits a certain sociopathic thrill in unloading a 90mm flechette round at a sniper. He rarely felt like he was in danger, he suffered only minor inconveniences and he didn't lose a single man under his command. He didn't see any atrociities, fragging, rapings, etc.

On October 30th he was in charge of four M48 tanks. They were supporting the infantry on a supply convoy from Ahn Khe to Pleiku. The roads were often mined so what they'd do is move one take ahead 5-10 miles and if they didn't hit a mine it was all clear. If they did hit a mine then they lost a tread and needed a tow. On this morning Chadwick lost a tread and even worse his radio is dead. So while he was waiting for a tow Tusker Three pulls up beside him and says Firebase Valley Forge is screaming for help and asks what they should do.

In the lounge of their country club Kurt gets off the phone with Geller. Howe is onboard, he and the Delta squad head to Brooklyn tomorrow morning. He says Howe is keen to get it done and the risk is minimal since Castle won't fire on US Troops. Bobby reminds him that they're US troops and him trying to kill them is why they're doing this in the first place.

Two days later Woody and Steve check out a bar Frank hit. They can tell it's him, just because of how perfectly he did it. The bar belong to Arnag Chalikian, second-in-command in an Armenian family involved in narcotics, racketerring and human trafficking, if the rumors are true. Arnag's cousin Oksen is the boss. One of the soldiers is assigned to watch Oksen's house. The others are split into two teams covering two other bars. Woody and Steve will stake out one of his clubs. They're at this scene because they want to get a feel for Frank's work.

He waited until 4am to be sure the place is closed and the civilians are gone. It was just the thugs and their card game. He blows the door in to surprise and scare them, then opens fire. He drops four thugs with two shots each. He shoots two more in the storeroom but lets Arnag slip out the back, where Castle has rigged a claymore with a trip wire. Steve asks if Woody admires him. Woody says theres a line in Alien that always stuck with him: "I admire its purity." Steve asks if he's serious but Woody denies it.

John Chadwick reads the radio transcript. His ever-present smile is gone. He says that if Sgt. Mayne hadn't been short it might have gone better. Mayne was the senior N.C.O., the commander of Tusker three. He only had a month left and they liked to keep those guys out of the field so they brought in a new guy, who Chadwick only calls "Vince." Mayne was a marvel, a true leader. Vince was too insecure. He'd ask Chadwick for approval on everything. Chadwick tried to tell him that he was in charge and he tells them what to do.

The situation at Valley Forge was everybody's worst nightmare: Stuck in a siege with no help on the way. Vince's entire crew was screaming at him to call in airstrikes but he insisted on checking with Chadwick, driving all the way up the road to get him. As soon as Chadwick realized what was happening he got on the radio screaming for fight-bombers to move in. But by that time they were all gone.

A few pages later Goodwin was told Chadwick that there was a survivor and that he became the Punisher. Chadwick was unaware. The story that had circulated was that there had been no survivors. There had always been rumors about Valley Forge being a death trap and even worse rumors of what they found in the aftermath. He understands how The Punisher could come out of that.

When Chadwick came home didn't get spit on or suffer from PTSD. He stayed in the army for a few years but left. He knew people who had had a very good Vietnam and were looking forward to the next one. It would be their chance to rebuild the military and Chadwick didn't like the lights in their eyes. The military needed rebuilding but not so they could get better at doing Vietnam. The way they treated the army like a corporation was motivation enough for him to leave. He got married, started a business and was very successful. In the end his year of Vietnam was just another year in his life. The only pride he feels is for getting all of his men home. Vietnam wasn't worth a single life, whether they be American or Vietnamese.

Woody and Steve are staking out the club. Over the radio Steve reports as a possible sighting. Big guy, two blocks west, only got a glimpse. Steve moves West but can't find him. He can't be certain he saw- The line goes dead. Woody tries to reestablish contact but from behind him Steve says his name. Woody turns around and sees Frank holding Steve at gunpoint. He asks who they are. They've got teams on the Chalikian's places but they're not watching them. They're not law enforcement. Woody tells him they're military with orders to detain him. He asks if he's going to shoot Steve.

Frank kicks Steve into Woody and runs. They follow him into an abandoned building headed for the roof. Steve takes the elevator, Woody takes the stairs. When the elevator doors open Frank is waiting. He beats the crap out of Steve and takes his weapons. From the stairwell door Woody tells Frank to drop the weapons. The roof breaks and Woody falls through, managing to hang on by his finger tips. Frank tells him the same thing nearly happened to him last week. He knows Woody won't talk and Woody knows he won't let him fall so he cuffs him to a pipe and leaves. Steve pulls himself together and pulls Woody back onto the roof. He reports back to Howe: Target has fled but a tracer has been planted on his coat. Howe watches the signal on a map and orders the boys to come back in.

Observations: Lot of story here.

First of all, Goodwin's book. John Chadwick was the man on the radio in Born #4. Ennis has taken this one detail from a story written five years earlier and has built a new character around it. Chadwick is a foil to Frank. While Frank's Vietnam was disastrous, Chadwick did well and got a promotion. While Frank's Vietnam changed him forever, Chadwick's is just a very small part of his life. While Frank is arguably a stereotype of the violent Vietnam vet built in the same vein as Travis Bickle and John Rambo (Frank actually predates Bickle, as well as Rambo's cinematic counterpart), Chadwick defies all stereotypes: He is well adjusted, his tour was mostly uneventful and the war for him was a "typical" war with no controversies. At the same time, Chadwick knew Vietnam was a horror show and was disgusted and disturbed by the people who saw it as a profitable venture and wanted to do it again. Ennis is making it fairly clear that the current War On Terror is the second Vietnam they were after.

Chadwick's distaste for the people who would profit off of war ties into the Generals. Despite having never served in combat they consider themselves US Troops, which makes them unsure of how immune the Delta boys are. Geller has never seen combat either but Howe doesn't judge him for it.

Frank's encounter with Woody and Steve is fun. His insane level of competence allows him to be aware of the other six soldiers, detect Steve's presence from two blocks away and effortlessly take him hostage. Of course, he hits the stalemate twice. Since he can't kill them his only option is to distact them and flee. It's not a strategy that can hold up in the long term.

B

Frank's kills:
Arnag Chalikian and six of his men

The Punisher #58 (August 2008)



"Valley Forge, Valley Forge, Part 4"
Artist: Goran Parlov
Colorist: Lee Loughridge

Summary: Howe arrives at the cemetary. Geller radios for him, ignoring all privacy and call signs, for which Woody calls him a REMF (Rear-Echelon Mother ****er). Howe tells them to switch channels and stay quite. They're handling this themselves for now. He approaches Frank and introduces himself. Back at base Geller lets Kurt know he can't get ahold of Howe, which stresses Kurt out quite a bit. He doesn't tell the other generals.

Frank tells Howe that the generals aren't soldiers, they're executives in a corporation. He presents the list of names and asks Howe if he's working for them. Howe doesn't work for anybody, he follows orders from his superiors. Frank tells them that his predecessor was Barracuda and that they do business, and they're willing to do it with anyone which is why he's after them. He tells them to pack up and go home so they can stop wasting each other's time. Howe tells him to surrender because no matter what they're taking him in. Frank asks about Vanheim. He says he didn't kill him, but Marty was willing to kill a six-year-old under the orders of Howe's bosses. They would have been proud. Woody takes offense at the idea that Vanheim would kill a child but Frank just asks about the tape, which contains a 20 minute confession from Rawlins on Operation Barbarossa, including the hijacking of the plane the Russians shot down in 2005. He guesses the generals want him dead and the tape returned. Howe guarantees Frank that he will be unharmed in his custody and he will be safe until he is handed over to the authorities for trial. Frank knows he'd be dead by dawn. He doesn't care about dying but he does care about the generals going unpunished. He tells Howe that he'll tell him the location of a copy of the tape. He can watch it and decide then, but Frank is NOT going with him. He releases the dead-man-switch n the detonator.

We've reached the middle of "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" so we're presented with the photos section. In order: An aerial view of the base. A photo of Stevie and Mikey, Christmas 1969. Stevie holding a calendar showing how short he's getting, September 1971. Frank Castle loading his weapon, 1971. John Chadwick sitting on his M48 tank, 1970. Hueys in disrepair, standard condition at the firebase. A yearbook photo of Angel six months before being drafted. Stevie and Angel posing with the "DANGER SNIPER AT WORK DAWN TO DUSK" sign, 1971. Unidentified U.S. forward base understand attack by N.V.A. troops. F4 Phantom dropping napalm. Bill Torrance, 1971. Valley Forge today, a scarred clearing in the jungle, photo by the author.

The charges are disguised smoke and tear gas grenades. Frank makes his move but Delta are ready. They aim low and he catches a bullet in the shin. Taking cover behind a tombstone he throws a grenade at them. It takes them a second to see the pin is still in but that hesitation is enough to let Frank headbutt one of them. They come at him with batons but he fights them off. He meets his match with the taser though. Two barbs in the back of the neck and one jolt takes him to his knees. One soldier kicks him in the face but Howe calls him off and orders another shock. And another. They go in to cuff him but Frank breaks the guy's hand. He gets another shock but still stands. Another. And another. One more and he's finally cuffed.

Howe calls Kurt to tell him the good news. Kurt is extremely agitated and yells at Howe for ignoring him. When Howe says he's got Castle in custody Kurt asks if they've got the tape. They don't but they're working it. Kurt calls Howe "you ****ing stupid black ****" and Howe asks him to repeat himself. Theres an awkward silence (the look on Howe's face rivals Franks in terms of screw-off-your-head-and-crap-down-your-neck'ness) and Howe says he's going to interrogate Castle right away. Kurt thanks him and apologizes for his outburst.

Howe takes a moment to think and heads in to interrogate Frank. He tells the guard to keep Geller out of the room. He tells the guard in the room to take a break. Alone, he tells Castle that the generals do not fear him. It's the tape they're worried about. Howe thought it was a secondary issue until a minute ago, which now has Howe suspecting Frank was telling the truth. He knows Frank has made his life into a cold, black hell. He trusts no one, believes in nothing, shows the world no weakness, but he wasn't always like that. Howe says that he did three tours in Nam. His word means something. He asks Frank, soldier-to-soldier, to trust him.

Observations: The dynamics are shifting. Howe is establishing that, like Zakharov, his men are loyal to him. His relationship with the Generals has turned, with Kurt revealing himself to be a racist piece of crap (reinforcing what Ms. Morris said last issue). His relationship with Geller has also cooled considerably. While he was once warm and friendly he is now cold and dismissive and so are his men. Geller is a no-nothing loser like Vince back in 'Nam and he's a spy for the Generals. Between what Frank said and the entire situation with the Generals Howe's interests have shifted.

Frank's action at the cemetary was cool but sort of what we'd seen before. I think thats he point. While he can rig up smoke bombs and such theres a limit to what he can get away with in a non-lethal capacity, and with the Special Forces being his peers it only took a second meeting for them to turn the tables and figure him out. Frank is a tactical genius but he isn't Batman, he can't pull magic plans out of his butt. As a sort of apology, Frank might show the greatest display of toughness yet by requiring seven hits from a taser to bring him down. That's even more impressive than the seven stun rounds Micro used in #2, since a taser interferes directly with the nervous system and you have to be a total madman to take what Frank took.

No "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" this issue, save for the photo spreads. The most interesting one is the photo of Stevie and Angel at the sign. That is where Frank led the General to his death by sniper.

B

Frank's injuries:
-Shot through the right shin
-Kicked in the face
-Beaten with batons
-Tased seven times

Timeline info:

OK, here a big wrench gets thrown into the gears. So far the timeline has built up in a fairly clean way and looks something like this:

Early 2004: In The Beginning ("I've been in jail for 18 months" - O'Brien in "Up Is Down, Black Is White")
2004: Kitchen Irish
December 2004: Mother Russia ("The jet the Russians shot down late last year" - Frank in "Up Is Down, Black Is White")
September 2005: Up Is Down, Black Is White ("... His rampage of killing late last summer" - Newsreader in "The Slavers")
December 2005: The Slavers ("I killed two pimps and crippled another four that winter" - Frank)
January-February 2006: Barracuda ("In the early Fall ... A couple months later" - Frank)
Late 2006: Man of Stone ("That thing two years back!" - Rawlins in "Man of Stone,")
Late 2006: Widowmaker ("The things I did last year," - Frank, in reference to "The Slavers")
2007: Long, Cold Dark ("We were in the mountains late last year," - Frank, in reference to "Man of Stone")
Late 2007: Valley Forge, Valley Forge ("You have to go back around three years," - Howe, referencing Mother Russia)

Now apparently Mother Russia happened in 2005, something that was supported in Mother Russia itself (with "In The Beginning" happening "Early last year") but subsequent stories have dismissed it. In Up Is Down, Mother Russia was said to have happened "late last year." In Man Of Stone, Mother Russia was said to have happened "Two years back." And in Long, Cold Dark, Man of Stone was said to have happened "Late last year." A lot of the timeline is based on references to this event and the events around it but it's difficult to deny an explicit date like that.