Broken Frontier

Running a package down to New Orleans, our intrepid vigilante makes a stop to drain the dragon and refuel his vehicle.  Unfortunately, he walks into a gas station without much repeat business. Turns out there is a reason for that.

As sad as this reader was to see Swiercynski leave the title, Gischler makes a strong debut here.  He gives the Punisher a reluctant hero tale.  Ultimately, Frank’s drive is to do right and he does wrong to do it.  It is a precarious tightrope to have to walk.  Here, Frank is reluctant not because he doesn’t want to do the altruistic thing, but because he knows that any trouble could lead to his incarceration.

When he sees the attendant at the gas station ogling the college girls, he knows something is wrong and heads up the road to see if the speed demon driving the girls catches up.  When they don’t, he know something is wrong.  Castle heads back and is distracted by a bosomy vixen who leads him away from where trouble might be brewing and back to his vehicle.  Frank is amused at the girl’s subterfuge and instantly knows these people have done this before.

The reader has also seen this before.  House of 1000 Corpses, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc.  Crazy killers in the back woods.  The bayou setting gives the story a Scooby Doo vibe at first, but it is clear that Gischler is taking us to a darker place.  It would be a little disappointing, if it weren’t paced so excellently and the inner narration of Castle so compelling.  Punisher is one of those characters, like Wolverine, that every writer wants a chance at.  Writers want to show off their ability to give a noir like monologue that is better than Blade Runner.  In the end, that’s not saying much, but it feels like everyone is bucking at that horse.  When it is done right, like here; it is effortless and compelling.  When it is off, it is boring and drab.  Gischler’s day job as a crime novelist helps and the bayou is a natural setting given that the writer lives in Baton Rouge.

The scribe manages to pull off another neat trick.  One of the tropes of Noir narrative is to keep something from the reader so that there can be a big reveal later.  There is a small reveal at the end pointing to what Frank is hiding here, but what is worth mentioning is that the writer leaves out the information without making it seem like a conceit.  There is no reason for Castle to reveal his cargo. It is unimportant to the story at hand and he knows what it is.  He need not tell himself over and over what he is doing, he already knows!  It is natural and as a result it never feels like a cheat.

Parlov takes a decidedly stylized approach to the art.  He is drawing big chunky characters.  Our hero is a veritable beast of a man, as he would have to be.  There is a looseness to the lines that recalls Mignola, but is all its own.  It is not some pure abstraction, it has a familiarity with the human body and is - more importantly - consistent, a feat that many of the more indie minded artists forget about.

What is more interesting about the art is the details.  The girl who leads Frank down a trail has dirty feet from walking around barefooted outside.  The main villain looks like an extra from Deliverance and it fits perfectly with the story and the tone. 

Equally perfect is Loughridge's coloring which is done in a crisp old school style, giving the book a Ninties Vertigo feel.  It keeps the creepy milieu at the right level and demarks the normal from the macabre.

"Welcome to the Bayou" seems to be a welcome addition to the Max mythos and tradition.  It is at once familiar but decidedly different from other Punisher stories.