Comic Summary III (The Punisher Survival ISH 1)

Frank Castle is on the Run from... Somebody. I have no idea who, it's implied that it's some sort of a military organization that did something bad. That's the problem with starting to read a comic that's in the middle of a grander story. I only picked up this comic because I wanted to see The Punisher fight a bear.
Everything else he does is just moot to me. And indeed he doesn't do a lot of other things, he's in a bar with his military buddy from Vietnam day, talking about breaking into some obscure military base. And given that there in Alaska I keep expecting them to run into Wolverine . Though I don't think such a thing will happen, at this point I'm not even sure the Punisher has connections with other comic book characters. Except for maybe Spider-Man but everybody has establishments with Spider-Man. Anyways a group of local toughs come up to the Punisher and his War buddy and try to assault them for no good reason. As you can imagine a fight with Frank Castle doesn't end well for anybody.

We do get to see Frank Castle monologue about his appreciation for old school ashtrays. Commenting that they're made like bricks and that's ideal for breaking the hands of Alaskan rednecks. In fact that's what half this magazine is, Frank Castle narrow reading about what he's doing. Especially once he gets into the woods.

Frank and his War buddy are in some small aeroplane flying over the Canadian Shield , when they're attacked by strange unmarked military helicopters. They attacked the plane and Frank is left stranded in the middle of a forest, with none of his equipment, a sprained ankle and the onset of a fever. The rest of the comic is just Frank trying to survive in the wilderness. Talking about the animals he's hunting, the tools he's making and how even in the most desperate of situations he won't kill a porcupine. Because it's the most lame of game. And only the most amateur of hunters go after a porcupine.
At some point Frank gets the break he needs, finding a wild deer he wants to attack for its hide. So he can have the proper clothing to leave the forest. But unfortunately he's attracted the might of a giant grizzly bear who starts to attack him. In fact the comic literally ends with the Punisher jumping off of a cliff proclaiming that if he's going to die he's going to do it his way. Like a very out of context Frank Sinatra.

It's a relatively amusing comic, with good pacing, a solid story and artwork that is serviceable. It reminds me of why I like the Punisher in the first place. The simplicity, Frank Castle at the end of the day is just some guy with a gun who hunts the bad guys. He doesn't have a massive character Arc. He doesn't have a crap ton of resources and his moral code is very minimal.

And in the hands of a decent writer he's not written like a demigod.
My biggest complaint about the Punisher in the hands of subpar comic writers is when they turn them into some Unstoppable killing machine. Making him able to attack and defeat Spider-Man or even having the ability to take on Doctor Doom. Now I can foresee that Frank might get lucky when fighting Doctor Doom once in awhile, but in almost every situation he should be obliterated by any of the halfway decent comic book villains.

It also has a wonderful advertisement for the up-and-coming Sam Raimi Army of Darkness movie.

Cover analysis: I don't really like it. The artworks not particularly good, there's nothing in the background and the angle of the bear is kind of off. The penciling reminds me of those mid-to-late 80s Japanese comics that went on to be so prominent for a time. And then there's all the random Punisher skulls as if we're not going to know what the hell are reading.