by Matt Fraction, Rick Remender & Howard Chaykin
collects Punisher War Journal # 18-23
the premise: Jigsaw: Rebirth! Jigsaw returns with an anti-Punisher costume and a vendetta against everyone's favorite bloodthirsty vigilante.
the lowdown: The fourth volume of this series reveals a pretty clear pattern. For the third time in four volumes, a book that starts off pretty mediocre eventually turns into a pretty good read. I'm really not sure why that is - it's not like the arcs are all structured the same way or anything. It just is - you can't judge an arc in this title by the first issue or two. The last half is where the money's at.
Fraction is joined by co-writer Remender for the reimagining of Jigsaw, last seen (or at least, last seen by me) during the Bendis/ Maleev run on Daredevil. They've managed to kink Jigsaw up a bit, though they really run up against the fundamental problem of why the Punisher would ever have a recurring rogue's gallery. He kills everyone, thus second encounters are rare. Fraction and Remender pull in some psychological plothammers to make that work, and ultimately the arc becomes a big action/ chase story involving SHIELD, Silver Sable and more.
Note: I say "more" because several of the characters are never identified, and I do not know who they are. Didn't recognize Sable at first either. I don't suppose that's entirely necessary - all one really needs to know is that they are badasses - but y'know.. kind of sloppy.
Chaykin's art is solid but not terribly inspired this time around. He's usually pretty good at drawing the absurd, so the more over-the-top the action, the more he excels. This arc's a little short on that kind of action - there's plenty of running around and shooting but not so much of the crazy. Book needs more crazy.
the verdict: A nice effort at reinventing an old villain that meets with mixed results. You won't hate yourself later if you skip this one.
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