Punisher #7 Review

Written by: Jason Aaron
Art by: Jesús Saiz, Paul Azaceta
Colors by: Dave Stewart
Letters by: VC’s Cory Petit
Cover art by: Jesús Saiz
Cover price: $4.99
Release date: November 2, 2022

Punisher #7 continues the deep dive into Frank Castle’s soul as his post-war return to his family reveals a soldier grappling with his place in the world. At the same time, he’s confronted by Daredevil in the present for his allegiance to the Beast.

Is It Good?

The more Jason Aaron’s run on the Punisher progresses, the less it looks like a traditional story and more like a loosely connected collection of character pieces on the life and times of Frank Castle before he became the Punisher. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but a Punisher book without much Punisher doesn’t quite deliver on the promise of the title.

When last we left Punisher, Daredevil showed up in the Beast’s compound to confront Frank about his new role. Now, heated words turn into flying fists and slashing swords until Daredevil realizes Frank isn’t under supernatural influence. He’s become the Fist by choice.

As exciting as that sounds, the battle and dramatic insights take up only a few pages. Most of the issue centers on Maria Castle’s struggles with Frank after he returned from war. The struggles are mighty and make for dramatic character development, but they do nothing for the current story arc other than to amplify what we already know about Frank’s personality.

To be clear, Aaron is delivering rich, nuanced layers of writing that could be the stuff of accolades in any other context. Unfortunately, those nuanced layers are holding back the momentum of Punisher’s story, and frankly, wasting a lot of time. I’ve praised Aaron for the interesting start to this series and the direction it was initially headed. Still, Aaron appears to be falling into the same bad habits evident in his Avengers run.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Final Thoughts:

Punisher #7 delivers a rich, thoughtful character piece about a soldier struggling with life after the smoke of war has cleared. Unfortunately, Frank Castle’s pre-Punisher life is doing nothing to further the present story, and it’s slowing the momentum of the arc to a crawl.