I don't usually read these comic-book adaptations of comic-book movies, as I generally don't want things spoiled for me, but this first issue doesn't really reveal much more than what we see in the trailers for this flick. Will this be a satisfying read for fans of the character and of the film? Not entirely, no, I don't believe so. But there is an audience for this book, and that's for younger readers for whom the film would be inappropriate. This is a toned-down, far more palatable look into a violent world. Milligan's script maintains a big-screen tone while Pat Olliffe's linework filters big-screen intensity through a softer lens.
Undercover FBI agent and Desert Storm veteran Frank Castle has decided that he's doing one last job for his employer -- a weapons-smuggling sting -- and he's getting out of his violent world for the sake of his family. The problem is that his last job has a casualty, and that's the son of Miami's most feared and powerful crimelord, Howard Saint. Saint is on a mission to exact vengeance and he has the considerable resources necessary to learn who he can blame for his son's death.
I've thoroughly enjoyed Pat Olliffe's lean and simple style since I first spied it on Kurt Busiek's Untold Tales of Spider-Man. His style doesn't suit the over-the-top violence of the Punisher that well, but I honestly think that's the point. This book strikes me as the kids' version of The Punisher movie, and given that notion, Olliffe is an excellent choice of artist. He distinguishes between adult and teenage characters quite well, and that's an important element here. The colors here could have been a little darker, though.
Milligan manahes to capture a big-screen, action-movie feel in the dialogue throughout this comic book. The script never crosses the line into outright corniness, but there's an edge and coolness to it as well.
What I enjoyed most about the book was the plot. The key scene that sets things in motion, beginning on page four, achieves the perfect note of mystery. There's a plausibility to it as well. The story is ultimately going to embrace an orgy of unbelievable violence, but the catalyst is far more understated. Where the plot fails is in its effort to explain the title character's costume. Castle is given the skull shirt because the story needs him to have it, and the explanation is more than a little lacking.
