Still, even though Ennis is basically using The Punisher brand as an excuse to indulge in his Soviet war stories proclivities Punisher: Soviet turns out to be a hell of a ride, and very much in the vein of previous works from Ennis like 303, World of Tanks: Citadel and Battlefields: Night Witches. From story beats alone it’s the type of thing I would expect to see in a tale uploaded by a Russian teenager unto yet here it is, black and white and red on paper. Valery is so badass the Russian mob is actually convinced he’s the Punisher (hence the pair's initial meet-cute). A hard-as-nails soldier who can confide in Frank Castle - knowing the two share some invisible soldiery connection. You see, this is the story of the one man the Punisher respects. Stepanovich is a former Soviet soldier who’s out for revenge against the officer who sold him and his men out. He’s just a witness, an Ishmael, to the story of Valery Stepanovich. Were it not for the fact that is a real comic-book series, with familiar names on the cover, including the ever-prolific Garth Ennis and the better-than-ever Jacen Burrows, I would suspect this story of being a piece of fanfiction. The recently completed Punisher: Soviet (the first issue of which was already reviewed on The Comics Journal by Matt Seneca) is a weird series.

Features Back in USSR – Garth Ennis’ Soviet Tales

War Is Hell by Garth Ennis