Editor's Note: Dark Reign: The List - Punisher arrives in stores tomorrow, October 28.

"A Good Lie"

I've been quite enjoying Dark Reign: The List so far. In fact, this series of one-shots is probably how I would have liked the entire storyline of Norman Osborn's rise and fall to be handled: a collection of linked (but also standalone) stories that show how Osborn's position is affecting the lives of the heroes of the Marvel Universe, written and illustrated by those characters' regular creative teams.

Instead, we've had to wait for almost a year for Norman to bite the bullet and actually deal with his enemies in no uncertain terms, whilst in the meantime Marvel inserts repetitive guest-appearances by Osborn and his "Dark Avengers" into what seems like every one of their shared-universe titles. Nevertheless, now that we've got to this point it seems that Marvel's editors are going to give their writers the freedom to let Osborn's "Dark Reign" play out in a logical fashion and to make some genuine, fundamental changes to their books--and this Punisher one-shot goes further than most, culminating in a very important plot development that readers of the regular title are definitely not going to want to miss.

The structure of this issue is fairly straightforward: it's what we might refer to as a "gauntlet" story, in which the one-man-army that is Frank Castle must battle the forces of H.A.M.M.E.R. in order to stay alive. That means that he has to avoid an explosive opening strike by Norman (an escape that is facilitated by a fun incorporation of some Marvel Universe science), take on hordes of flying H.A.M.M.E.R. agents (complete with Green Goblin-esque gliders) and hold his own in hand-to-hand combat against Daken, the Dark Avengers' own "Wolverine."

Luckily, writer Rick Remender already has a solid 10 issues of experience of bringing the Punisher into contact with wider MU-based elements like this, and he handles them just as deftly as he's handled Frank Castle's encounters with the Sentry and the Hood in his own title. It might seem silly to talk about "realism" in a comic like this, but there's at least a sense of internal logic to the story here: a sense that, if these characters met under these circumstances, this would be the most likely result (even if it would make the character of the Punisher more challenging to write going forwards).

In addition to this, it's pleasing to see that the Punisher's violent and uncompromising M.O. is never watered down in order to bring him more in line with these other, more colourful and child-friendly characters: instead, they're brought down to his level, and the result is one of the most brutal and bloody Marvel comics that I've read in a long time.

Whilst the opening skirmishes with Osborn and the H.A.M.M.E.R. troops play out pretty much as you'd expect (albeit with some interesting details added by Remender: for example, the Punisher won't use lethal force against the H.A.M.M.E.R. agents, because "they're still cops”", no matter how misguided), it's with the extended battle between Frank Castle and Daken that things really get interesting--but to say more than that would be to spoil things. I don't have much experience with Daken as a character, but that's not necessary to understand his role here: he's essentially an "evil" Wolverine, who's happy to do Norman's bidding and round up whatever Marvel heroes his master wants to go after. In this way, the story is a little reminiscent of the Logan-versus-the-heroes-of-the-Marvel-Universe "Enemy of the State" storyline that we saw in the pages of Wolverine a few years ago--and that impression is reinforced by the presence of John Romita Jr. as artist.

I make no secret of the fact that I'm a big fan of Romita's artwork, and as such, the discovery that he had been assigned to illustrate this one-shot was a very pleasant surprise. Having handled Norman Osborn and his "Dark Avengers" in Amazing Spider-Man's "New Ways To Die" story, having illustrated the aforementioned Wolverine arc, and having drawn Frank Castle in the Punisher/Batman crossover from some years ago, Romita feels very comfortable with all of these characters--and with capturing the dark, gritty tone that they require.

Romita's chunky character designs give the action a real sense of solidity that helps every punch, stab, bite, and claw-slash to feel like it really connects. It's a book that certainly doesn't pull its punches, and as the issue draws to a close, the level of gore and explicit violence is ramped up to faintly shocking levels, culminating in a graphic and unequivocal sequence that would give anything yet seen in Romita's Kick-Ass a run for its money. Frankly (no pun intended), I'm amazed that Marvel would allow something like this in one of their more mainstream books--but the concept of this issue and the nature of the characters involved go a long way to justifying it as more than simply gratuitous.

This issue is that rare thing: a crossover comic that doesn't feel forced or unwieldy, doesn't feel like it compromises its lead character in order to serve the needs of the larger "event", and actually has some major ramifications for the hero's ongoing solo title. In fact, the climax of this story is so integral to the larger story that Remender is telling in the regular Punisher book that I'm surprised that it wasn't included there instead. Still, as the preview pages at the back of this issue show, the next issue of Punisher is going to be picking up at the exact point that this issue leaves off, and I'm sure that anyone who reads this book is going to find it very difficult to resist the opportunity to pick up that issue and see what happens to Frank Castle next.

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