REVIEW: Daredevil/The Punisher #1

Writer: Charles Soule
Pencils & Inks: Szymon Kudranski
Colors: Jim Charalampidis
Letterer: VC's Clayton Cowles
Review: Madman Miller

Sold.
There was zero hesitation on my part. I wanted it bad. I needed it.
You see, I hate technology and I’m pretty sure technology feels the same way about me. I generally try to avoid things with the attached adjectives “cutting edge”, “fancy”, and “expensive”. That being said, we recently became a Netflix household, and it’s pretty much blowin' my mind. I got sucked into the Daredevil show about 3 seconds into the intro and came out the other side two seasons later. That show is ridiculously good. Season One with Kingpin is fantastic, hands down the best portrayal of Wilson Fisk ever. Season 2 with the Punisher was even better. So my mind was right and Marvel’s timing, however brilliant, hit me right in the wallet. Daredevil and the Punisher are a great combo for all the obvious reasons, even pre-Netflix, but now the bar is set extremely high. I admit I was skeptical and had half-hearted hopes that this title wasn’t just a crappy parasite Marvel put out to make a quick buck.



After having read it, I can’t really say anything negative about the book. Not even a little bit. From the superfly cover to the M&Ms ad on the back, I loved it. The story is what you’d expect from the two; Matt is trying to bring a criminal to justice and Frank has decided to deliver a hollow point into said criminal’s skull. Just because that’s what I expected isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I mean, the story was really well done, but it almost didn’t matter because the art is that good across the board.
Szymon Kudranski and Jim Charalampidis are rockstars in my eyes. This is hands down my favorite interpretation of Frank Castle…ever! They dressed him up proper and he has this grizzled hard look that just oozes badass all over the pages of your $5 comic. The same goes for the portrayal of Daredevil: solidly on point. I have high hopes for this title in the future, and if you haven’t checked it out, as your attorney, I advise you to do so.