All this year I'll be posting Punisher comics. Most of them will be from the pre-Ennis era, but some will be from the Ennis era. Expect at least 1 storytime per week.
Over the weekend I posted Chuck Dixon and John Buscema's "Conan With A Gun" (aka "Barbarian With A Gun" as it was called in the TPB collection). This was from the era of The Punisher War Zone after the "Suicide Run" "event" where War Zone was turned into an "Untold Tales of The Punisher" series with stories taking place before "Suicide Run", but after Dixon's first run on the series. Anyway, it's fucking awesome and few people draw The Punisher (or comics in general for that matter) better than Buscema, so check it out here: if you haven't already.
The next arc up on The Punisher War Zone is a collaboration of Chuck Dixon, and, of all the people, JOE FUCKING KUBERT, doing some of the very little art he ever did for Marvel.
It's called "River of Blood" and it features at least 1 particularly memorable cover (that you see to the left) and some of the most must see art on any Punisher comic ever.
The story is about The Punisher travelling to the post-soviet-collapse shithole that was Russia at the time and getting involved with a bunch of supporting characters. I don't wanna spoil anything, but trust me, it's fucking awesome and you really need to read this shit because both the writing and the art are top notch.
It's also among the darkest stories of the entire pre-Ennis era and features what might be the single coldest characterization of The Punisher outside of MAX. This is possibly the best mix of the more brutal version of the character with the old school action hero that you're ever going to read. HIGHLY recommended.
