Rating: 
Summary: Awesome Story - Very funny, very entertaining.
Review: This is a comic every fan ought to have. The story is quite original, the drawings are excellent, and the fun is just great! The executions are brutal, but they are so absurd that you just start laughing. For instance, in one of the final moments, the Punisher kicks a dismembered gang leader into a burning house pretty much like he was kicking a ball to the goal. Really absurd, quite brutal, and nevertheless funny... Buy it now!
Rating:
Summary: Punisher Good!
Review: this is one of the best punisher books ever written. or at least the best put out in a long time. Action packed, violent as hell, and more dead gangsters than you can shake a stick at. Garth Ennis does a fabulous job depicting the punisher. it a book you can read over and over again (thats if you are a punisher fan).
Rating:
Summary: Welcome Back, Frank!
Review: Welcome Back, Frank is a bone crunching, blood letting, teeth shattering thrill ride that hits you between the eyes with all the intensity of a sledgehammer. This series marks Frank Castle's return to the 'basics' of being the Punisher. For those fans lucky enough to miss the years that came before this one, let's just say that Frank had been lost in a whirlpool of hero hype and bad characterization during the 90's comic book boom. But all that ended here with this series thanks to the Garth Ennis and Steve Dillion. Not only did they breathe fresh life into the Punisher, they introduced such delightful foils for him as Joan, Spacker Dave, Mr. Bumpo, and of course the Russian. The fight between Frank and the Russian alone is worth the cost of the book. That fight is just one example of how Ennis and Dillion remind us that Frank is a man, without powers. He can be hurt, and often is. The only thing that keeps him going is the rage and pain that gnaw his every nerve, every second of every day. His is the series that the 2004 Punisher movie is based on. Do yourself a favor and add this book to your collection right away!
Rating: 
Summary: Delivers in blood-soaked spades
Review: Welcome Back, Frank is a nice return to form for The Punisher. Garth Ennis knows what fans of the original series are looking for and he delivers it in blood-soaked spades. Plenty of innovative killings, tons of smarmy remarks, and more attitude than Dirty Harry at his nastiest. Ennis is still warming up to the character in this book (he gets progressively better with each Punisher graphic novel), but he still packs plenty of bang for your buck with this first outing. As an added bonus, this is the book the movie was based on. If you liked the film, you'll LOVE this graphic novel!
Rating:
Summary: To be enjoyed with a completely clear conscience
Review: Welcome Back, Frank is an appropriate title for this edition. Garth Ennis restores The Punisher to his former greatness. No more spiritual redemption nonsense. No more hypnotic spells or amnesia to turn him into a madman. This epic depicts the essence of Frank Castle: an urban vigilante who kills evil men and women.
While Ennis does bring his black humour from DC's Hitman to The Punisher, he does not, however, use the heavy satirical kind of in-your-face dialogue found in Preacher. Ennis wastes no time with the reintroduction of The Punisher in this trade paperback. In a sadistic but basic fashion, Frank Castle sends the message throughout the criminal world that he is back and playing for keeps. Enough to even make the Sopranos and the Corleones tremble in their shoes!
To flesh out Frank Castle as a character would be a monumental waste of effort on behalf of the writer. The Punisher is one dimensional and that is all there is to him. Scripting him otherwise would transform him into a poor man's Dirty Harry or Paul Kersey (Death Wish). Instead, Ennis creates a supporting cast around The Punisher that consist of outcasts, losers and loners within his environment. He gets the reader to accept these social rejects' oddities and eccentricities since we have all come across a few of them in varying degrees. From Joan the mousy recluse, Detective Soap to The Elite, they all form part of an extension of Ennis' societal critiques and clever human insight.
However, the book is not about The Punisher integrating within his new neighbourhood or making new friends. This is a story where murder, mayhem and mutilation takes precedence over all. The fight scenes posses all the fast delivery of Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill while the action contains the high octane intensity of a John Woo blockbuster film. Sporting against the likes of Ma Gnucci's mob as well as a psychotic Russian enforcer, Ennis' penchant for over-the-top violence makes for some memorable comic book moments. Castle makes them pay the price for dealing out human suffering that can only be described as Monty Python meets Snake Pliskin!
Handling the pencils is Ennis' long-time collaborator, Steve Dillon. Just as he does so perfectly well on Preacher, Dillon delivers visual that make dialogue and narration almost unnecessary. His clean, sturdy style and realistic renderings gives Ennis the leverage to use the characters' specific facial expressions to tell their story rather than clog up the panel with useless narration or word balloons a la Busiek to convey their state of mind.
Dillon effectively uses irregular panel designs that vary slightly in size that gives the script's momentum a cinematic flow. Credit also goes to inker Jimmy Palmiotti for making Dillon's art as stunning as it is. Palmiotti adds a depth to the pencils that once again reinforces his reputation as one of the best inkers in the industry.
The Punisher is a book to be enjoyed with a completely clear conscience. Excess violence, ironic humour and a slight dose of social commentary is what you will find with Welcome Back Frank.
Rating:
Summary: WELCOME BACK - INDEED!!
Review: YES! YES!! YES!! THE PUNISHER IS COOL AGAIN! Garth Ennis has done the near impossible. He has salvaged a character that looked to be doomed because of poor decision making and bad writers. Can anyone remember anything worthwhile from the Punisher in the last 10 years? WELL NOW YOU CAN! With Welcome Back, Frank, Ennis reintroduces the character without merely "forgetting" his past adventures. The history is there and is acknowledged. Once that's done Ennis unleashes the Punisher on the world of crime. To talk about the violence and the methods to the madness would deprive the reader of the sheer "Fun of the Ride." So instead I'd like to comment on why The Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank succeeds where so many previous attempts have failed. First, strong villains - Garth Ennis knows that when The Punisher encounters a criminal...one of them will die. Thus he develops a series of creative and strong antagonists that we (as readers) want to see get their "comeuppance". Ma Gnucci is truly one of the most vicious villains I've encountered in a long time. Second, a great supporting cast - The Punisher lives in an apartment building with some truly wonderful characters. The kind of people who can only exist in a comic book...and yet we begin to bond with them...and more surprisingly they bond with Frank...and shockingly he bonds with them! To see The Punisher grow as a character is a very rewarding moment. Welcome Back, Frank also gives the reader some of the most memorable comic book moments in a long long time. Whether it's a weaponless Frank avoiding hitmen through the New York Zoo (oh yes...people will be dying here), or the powerful Russian beating The Punisher with his own toilet, or The Vigilante Squad seeking out their idol...it's all here. Garth Ennis through his work with the fantastic Preacher series and here with the rebrith of The Punisher has truly proven to be a voice of the new dawn of comic books.
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