- Written by: Jimmy Palmiotti
- Art by: Dan Panosian
- Colors by: Dan Panosian
- Letters by: Richard Starkings, Tyler Smith
- Cover art by: Dan Panosian (cover A)
- Cover price: $4.99
- Release date: October 8, 2025
Marvel Knights: Punisher #1, by Marvel on 10/8/25, kicks off with Frank Castle diving headfirst into a hurricane of blood, bullets, and drug-fueled carnage.
First Impressions
Frank Castle claws through chaos like a boogeyman who never learned to relax. His world drips with rot and stinks of desperation, and the creative team seems determined to test how much grim the reader can swallow before the pages bite back. The vibe? Unrelenting, unfiltered, and every panel screams, “good luck sleeping tonight”.
Plot Analysis
Frank Castle returns to a world built on greed, rage, and empire-building addicts. He tracks Armando Molerro – the architect behind a deadly synthetic drug called Zombie or Z – to a city boiling over with overdoses and betrayal. Molerro relies on a network of loyal killers, with the sinister El Zombie at his side, both hell-bent on erasing the Punisher from existence.
Castle’s informant, Juan Lopez, falls victim to Molerro’s latest horror, under the influence of Z and forced to suicide before he can spill his secrets. Red Hook, Brooklyn, transforms into a battlefield as Castle collides with Molerro’s gang and crew, delivering chaos in search of answers. Meanwhile, the FBI scrambles to replace dead agents and plug the leaking pipeline of information feeding Molerro’s cartel.
In the shadows, agents debate trust and talk about suicide, loyalty, and stray dogs, all while Castle carves a path through chaos. Tensions mount as Molerro escapes the country, dragging his wife and El Zombie into further gusts of violence and intrigue. The issue closes with a captured Castle, battered by drugs and torture, stuck in a fallout shelter, suffering at Molerro’s hands, and El Zombie waiting for his next kill.
Writing
Jimmy Palmiotti sticks to the Punisher’s roots: grim, relentless, and almost poetic in his disdain for the world. Dialogue ricochets between snarky and sinister without ever tripping into melodrama. The script punches hard, skipping mercy and delivering the Punisher as a man who trades in lives and leaves silence after screams.
Art
Dan Panosian’s art bleeds attitude, with thick shadows and faces twisted by grit. Action scenes snarl and smash, bodies flying, drugged eyes wild, and Castle never looking quite “clean”. Urban decay rots around each character, and even the flashiest moments are filtered through doom-lit color palettes.
Characters
Frank Castle’s fatigue never undercuts his savagery. He’s more force of nature than man, shaking loose any hope of redemption. Molerro emerges as a classic puppet-master with a taste for revenge, his wife bristling with vengeance, and El Zombie cements himself as a monster untamed by conscience or pity. Even side characters, FBI suits and disposable henchmen, get moments of biting banter and mortal peril.
Positives
The comic’s best weapon is its atmosphere. Every page drips with tension, violence, and a sense of dirty inevitability. Palmiotti’s writing crackles, giving Castle enough voice to rattle the skull yet never softening the blows. Panosian’s artwork matches every grim beat, never letting the eye wander too far from the next disaster.
Negatives
The relentless grimness can be overbearing, threatening to snuff out nuance like a cigar ground into concrete. Character development for supporting players sometimes drowns beneath the carnage, losing the chance for real emotional hooks. A few plot points teeter on the edge of contrivance, as if Castle’s escape is powered by plot armor thicker than his skull.
About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.Follow @ComicalOpinions on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
Final Thoughts
Marvel Knights: Punisher #1 doesn’t ask for your trust. It takes it, shakes it upside down, and dares you to look away. Palmiotti and Panosian deliver a Punisher debut soaked in grit, menace, and sharp banter, never letting hope peek out from under Castle’s shadow. Eight and a half skulls out of ten, and if that feels harsh, well, that’s just how the medicine goes down.
8.5/10
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