the dying years

drive-by readings

Punisher: Noir #2 (Marvel) "Punisher & Son" Frank Tieri Paul Azaceta Nick Filardi Joe Sabino Tim Bradstreet (cover) Dennis Calero (variant cover)

the Noir flavor of Marvel is getting a good push, and its probably a good thing not to overload the market with Noir titles just to capitalize on sales numbers (if ever) - but you never know with these marketing geniuses. Punisher is the perfect candidate for the Noir treatment, and let's hope they keep delivering interesting yarns.

last issue was the setup - Frank Castelione doesn't want to pay protection money so he gets on the bad side of legendary mobster Dutch Schultz. Schultz' men either get killed by the Punisher or get their fingers chopped off by Schultz. hmmmmm, not much choice there. so he calls in the big guys (gleefully, its Barracuda and Jigsaw), and ends up with a dead Frank Castle on the floor. oh, wait, i know what's gonna happen next - he'll be resurrected by angels and appointed a demon killer. no? really??

Frank Tieri packs a lot of stuff in here, although its not wholly original as Detective Soap makes an appearance - a slight changeup with him being able to figure out Castle immediately - and the Russian. the latter is not as funny as Garth Ennis' creation, and i was thinking he'd appear as in Coney Island later down the line. but apparently he's also dead at this point. bummer.

drive-by readings: Punisher: Noir #1

Punisher: Noir #1 (Marvel) "Home is Where the War Is" Frank Tieri Paul Azaceta Nick Filardi Joe Sabino Tim Bradstreet (cover) Dennis Calero (variant cover)

the Punisher finally gets the Noir treatment, and it makes a lot more sense because he's not really a superhero being retrofitted to the '20s. this time, he's a WWI veteran/widower who's trying to raise a son and run his grocery in the Bronx (oy, there's a Mr. Bumpo sighting). who else rears its ugly head but the Mafia? Dutch Schultz, come on down! this looks to be the return to the pure version of the Punisher, the concept of what he was, in the proper original context. bring the popcorn.

drive-by readings: Batman: Streets of Gotham #3

Batman: Streets of Gotham #3 (DC) "Hush Money" / "Under My Skin" Paul Dini Dustin Nguyen Derek Fridolfs John Kalisz Steve Wands Marc Andreyko Georges Jeanty Karl Story Jack Purcell Nick Filardi Sal Cipriano

Victor Zsasz, in Paul Dini's more than capable hands, is currently replacing the Joker as the preeminent scariest Gotham psycho. and with the Black Mask positioning him to be the Man, well ... the Joker better get back to killin'. on a much tamer level, but no less to be wary of, is ex-BFF Thomas 'Hush' Elliot doing his Bruce Wayne shtick, prompting the new Dynamic Duo to put roadblocks along the way so he doesn't squander the family wealth. i dunno. i'm with Damian on this one - give him a good beating, then knife him in the back and dump him in the sewer. the bad guys keep getting chances. speaking of Damian - "he hearts Katanaaaaa". thanks to Grant Morrison, this post-Wayne's world might turn out to be interesting after all.

and still not biting on the Manhunter backup story.

drive-by readings: Batman: Streets of Gotham #1

Batman: Streets of Gotham #1 (DC) "Ignition" / "Strange Bedfellows" Paul Dini Dustin Nguyen Derek Fridolfs John Kalisz Steve Wands Marc Andreyko Georges Jeanty Karl Story Nick Filardi Sal Cipriano

Paul Dini re-teams with his ex-Detective Comics cohorts Dustin Nguyen and Derek Fridolfs on Streets of Gotham, which seems to be more from supporting characters' POV. with the new Batman and Robin still gaining traction, Gotham City seems to be always in freefall but never completely flatlining. and why bother with the city really? does it have overflowing coffers of gold that everyone wants a piece of it? i'm sure Gotham qualifies as one of the cities with the highest crime rates (and that was with Batman). with such a rosy outlook, one would pull up stakes and move elsewhere. its a miracle people still live in a place where you could get bombed by the Joker or get ripped in half by Killer Croc any given moment.

so for this moment, we have B-lister Firefly setting everyone afire because, hey that's what he does. so Gotham's burning again. Commish Gordon keeps a steely silence in the face of it all, and just keeps doing his job (how old is he? 73?). with the narration flowing smoothly between heroes, villains and victims, Dini keeps us engaged, and eagerly awaiting the next issue. didn't care much for the Manhunter backup story though.

by the way, this is only one of two new Batman series being written by Dini. the other one is called Gotham City Sirens, which features more Guillem March. hubba-hubba.