Marvel Spotlight: The Punisher

From the solicitation: For the Punisher, it's the end of one era and the beginning of a new one — and MARVEL SPOTLIGHT is there to tell you all about it with insider access and in-depth coverage. First, Garth Ennis' legendary run on Frank Castle's vigilante adventures comes to a close, and we're there to take a retrospective look back at all the ultra-violent action! Plus: We take a look forward with the new creators of PUNISHER and PUNISHER WAR JOURNAL! And next, a new Punisher movie is on the way, led by rising star Ray Stevenson (Rome) and with a whole new look and feel, and MARVEL SPOTLIGHT is on the set to give you everything you want to know before you hit the theaters. Lock and load...it's the Punisher movie SPOTLIGHT!

This issue features interviews with Garth Ennis, Steve Dillon, Gregg Hurwitz, Axel Alonso, John Romita Sr., Steven Grant, Mike Zeck, Matt Fraction, and Rick Remender.

Annotations:
The cover for this one-shot is also the cover for The Punisher (2000) # 12.

This issue of Marvel Spotlight was released to coincide with the release of the Punisher: War Zone feature film. It also coincides with Garth Ennis' departure from the MAX series in The Punisher (2004) # 60, the debut of the weekly Ennis/Dillon mini-series with Punisher: War Zone (2008) # 1, and the launch of Punisher (2009) # 1 with new writer Rick Remender.

Review:
With the release of the third Punisher film, Marvel turns their Spotlight series on Frank Castle for a series of creator interviews!

I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed reading the Marvel Spotlight specials when they were being released (well, as long as they were about a series/character I already like). As long as you keep in mind that these are Marvel produced hype books, meaning you won't get any real hard-hitting questions for the creators, these can be pretty entertaining books. This one was no exception, and as much as I enjoyed the interviews with Ennis, Dillon, and the rest of the "modern day" creators, there were two features that really stood out for me. The first was the interview with Steven Grant and Mike Zeck about the "Circle of Blood" mini-series (which I believe had just been released in hardcover around this time), giving insight into the creative process behind that highly influential Punisher story. The second was the article about legendary artist John Romita, the artist responsible for designing the Punisher's now-classic costume. Romita was responsible for numerous character designs in the 1970s, including both the Punisher and Wolverine, and it was nice to read a lengthy acknowledgement of his contribution to the character's history.

This was a series with some nice departure interviews (Ennis, Dillon, Fraction) and intriguing looks at the future of the character (Hurwitz, Remender). If you're at all interested in the creative process behind the Punisher comics, I highly recommend picking this up on the cheap. The only thing that would have made this even better would have been some kind of interview related to the actual film it was supporting (hell, they did a director interview with Mark Steven Johnson in the Ghost Rider movie issue of Spotlight, why not here?), especially since the book's solicitation copy promised exactly that.

Grade: N/A
Review Date: 01/29/12