Punisher: attack of the Jigsaws, Pt. 1

As we go into our final arc of this big adventure, I’d be a poor storyteller not to comment on what happened between the Hood’s blood sacrifices and where we currently stand.  Y’see, immediately after Friday’s arc ended, Daken (Wolverine’s son) killed the Punisher.  Chopped him up into little bits and dumped him in the sewer.  Castle’s known for his pain tolerance, but even he can’t survive dismemberment.

Luckily, the monsters living underground pieced the Punisher back together as a Frankenstein monster.  Yes, I’m serious.  The series even changed its name to Franken-Castle for a while.  But he got his real body back, all his limbs are fully attached, and it’s time to wrap up all the loose ends.

Because Castle devoted his life to this mission and doesn’t have all those time-wasters like sleeping, friends, loved ones, brunches, etc. he can get started quickly and fully devoted on tracking the baddies who got away.  Enjoy the Punisher: In the Blood #1-5 miniseries, written by Rick Remender and drawn by Roland Boschi and Michele Bertilorenzi.

The Hood, by this point, has been sufficiently humiliated and beaten by the Avengers.  Unfortunately, no one but poor Castle cares about Microchip, even if he just plans to murder the guy.

And his current tech guy, Henry?  Jigsaw’s illegitimate son?  After he gets back from threatening little people, the Punisher and Henry bond a little, if just because Castle needs something to do while he’s packing up his guns.

Seems petty, right?  Well, because the Punisher spends most of his time in bushes with sniper rifles and grenade launchers, he gets a lot of time to think.  Recently, all those tech guys he worked with have crossed his mind, and most importantly, how terrible their track record is of emotional stability. Fortunately, the Punisher doesn’t have emotions to unstabilize.

Staying in the Punisher’s computer lab certainly would have been better for Henry’s emotions, as comic book families has a problem of causing all sorts of inconveniences/life-altering decisions.

Jigsaw, last seen with his brain splattered all over a SHIELD holding cell, sits alive and rambunctious. What happened?  Who’s that other guy?  What do they want?  Heads up: the Jigsaws are wordy.

And that’s about half of the dialogue.  Who’d thought that Jigsaw and Jigsaw 2 would become friends? With Henry safely hidden from the strangling clutches of that bothersome superhero’s (anti-hero’s?) grasp, Castle has to get information the old-fashioned way.

The Jigsaws’ plan involves many horrifying angles.  And as hard as Castle searched for Microchip, it’s hard to track him down when he’s in a subterranean basement with his other disgruntled buddies.

Words alone can’t spur the mind of the Punisher.  Dude can’t hear you over the sound of explosions and gunfire anyway.  Nope, if you really want to mess him up, you have to cash in on his biggest and most paralyzing weakness:

Remember Friday’s article?  The Punisher saw his family resurrected by the Hood’s blood magic and immediately torched them along with Microchip’s son.  Well, his wife stopped, dropped, and rolled fast enough to make it out, rightfully pissed at her former husband’s actions.  This might come back to haunt him.  Oh, and if the scarred, enraged dead wife of your arch-nemesis shows up at your doorstep one day, no better way to get back at the Punisher than this:

Jigsaws 1, Punisher 0.  His rage overpowering reason, Castle charges into the Jigsaws’ base.  Bad idea, especially with two former tech guys running security for that place.

We’re going to stop here for today because I heard that people don’t want to read 1000 words and 36 images all at once.  Tomorrow, we get our exciting conclusion, the final fates of our characters, and the fiery rooftop brawl that you’d expect no less from a Punisher story.