Taking place (apparently) after the events of Frakencastle (which was never referenced) Frank Castle takes a shot at Norman Osborn and ends up getting sent to Prison. Frank also replaced his old Friend, Microchip (now recently resurrected), with a young kid named Henry, After this initial page of explanation, the comic kicks in full force with Frank Castle killing three skin heads to interrogate the man they were beating. Planting a bomb in the prison, calling in a bomb threat to the prison telling the warden he only has enough time to evacuate the guards, Frank then tells the man that he can die by the bomb or from the broom that he had killed the nazis with... His choice. Frank wanted to find Microchip and the rest of the Hood. The man tells Frank that he doesn't know where the Hood is, but Microchip has a base set up under the man's old HQ. Frank then shoots the man telling him that half an answer gives him half the pain as he leaves the prison and hops on a motorcycle with an extremely ridiculous Punisher logo windshield. The book then cuts to Microchip, drunk, talking to a dead SHIELD agent who he claims to have shot. A news report catches him off guard reporting that Frank Castle had blown up the prison he was in. After the report, a man walks in behind Microchip, tells him he must be terrified, then pistol whips him. Back to Punisher who's back at HQ where we meet Henry, and it's his birthday. His mom sent him some presents and a letter telling him that she sobered up and Henry decides he's going to move back and help her out. Frank tells Henry that he doesn't get sick leave, it's full time, all the time, or he can piss off. Henry leaves. He goes back home to discover that his dad, Jigsaw is back in town, and he's got a plan to bring Frank down. He leads Henry to believe that Frank is coming after all of his old sidekicks. Frank also goes hand to hand with a woman dressed in what looks like leather ninja attire. She ends up getting away.
Issue two starts with Jigsaw revealing that he's working with one of Frank's other ex-sidekicks, Stuart. After some dialogue, the brainwashing of Henry begins. He now believes that Frank is coming to kill him. Frank is now shown going crazy and killing everyone trying to get a lead on the Hood without a partner. Henry leaving is obviously bothering him. After a few killings, he ends up in a club and gets the aid of a very fat woman who claims to know something about something. Scene then goes to Jigsaw taking Henry to his pent house while Stuart plays clips of Punisher's recent kills, and tells Henry that Frank's out looking for him. Microchip is now shown chained up in a room with no windows while looking at a picture of his dead son. His son had, apparently, been resurrected just so Frank could set him on fire and kill him again. He then hints that he wishes his family and Frank's family could be resurrected and this whole thing could end. Just then, Stuart opens the door to bring Microchip a sandwich and to tell him that Frank's looking hard to find him and kill him. Stuart and Microchip then go into a conversation about the differences between the two of them as Frank's sidekick as Stuart eats Micro's sandwich. The end of the scene shows Microchip licking the tray clean. Frank is now shown in a strip club with a gun pointed at Venom. Oh wait, after hitting him in the head, the mirage ends and it's revealed to be Mirage. Just as Frank is about to get answers, the leather clad ninja woman appears and kills Mirage. Frank goes after her and pulls his gun. She then dares him to shoot and leaves. Frank then reveals the woman to be his dead wife. End.
This is my first time experiencing a decent Punisher story outside of the MAX universe. I knew nothing about the characters but was able to hop on pretty quick. The end of issue two really threw me through a loop. I especially loved the love for the Dead Kennedys and 7 Seconds. I'm extremely curious to see where this book goes next.
In the meantime, I still have a LOT of books left to review and all that noise. I'm ComicBookGuyMark87, and I'll see you next time some mother &^@$3*$ are getting killed!
