Secret Invasion: Punisher War Journal

I liked the idea of the Secret Invasion right after I read New Avengers 6, especially coming off the Civil War series as it would explain some of the extra tension that brought that whole issue to a boil.  I mean, what if Captain America or Iron Man were a skrull in disguise, it’s great for retcon unless you don’t like retcon, but if you don’t like retcon you have chosen your hobby poorly.  I also have a history with the Punisher.  I had monthly subscriptions to both the Punisher & Punisher War Journal when I was younger so I really wanted to enjoy this book.  In fact, I even have issue #1 of the Punisher’s limited series & his unlimited series.  I conjured pictures in my mind of the Punisher taking out super-heroes that were really Skrulls, SHIELD drafting Frank Castle to put a lot of hurt down on some aliens and I imagined gritty urban combat with a violent anti-hero unrestrained by any moral compass.  And yet, I got this…

Unfortunately, only 1/2 the book dealt with the Secret Invasion at all and those collected issues that did focused more on the Punisher’s relationships with GW Bridge and his techie sidekick Rampage than lighting up the Skrulls with heavy artillery.  Of course the Punisher spent a few panels slaying some Skrulls but I would have preferred 2 entire issues of him trying to save Manhattan from the invading alien force.

After the Secret Invasion is a book about how the Punisher spends a Christmas waiting on a roof to murder a few felons.  But a guest appearance by Rhino and the spirit of the season stays his trigger finger and another book passes with far too little violence for a Punisher book.

The last story was from an annual book – which generally fall outside of the timeline of the series and rarely have any long term effect on said series – tells the story of the Punisher getting dosed with some kind of crazy hallucinogenic that makes him see the world as though it were a fairy tale which includes guest appearances by the Mad Hatter, Little Red Riding Hood, Humpty Dumpty and even the Gingerbread Man.  Yeah, really!  Well at least there was a lot of violence in thise tale but again I left the book disappointed for having read it.

How about some spoilers?

So there you have it, if the review numbers didn’t make it clear as day I was disappointed with this book overall.  That being said I still plan on trying to get my hands on more of the Secret Invasion books because I still hold out hope for the concept.