Warning! The following contains SPOILERS for The Punisher #4.New York City is ripe for the picking in Benjamin Percy and José Luis Soares’ Punisher run, and Jigsaw is back, miraculously, to take it for himself with Kingpin and Tombstone out of the picture (though that may not be true of Tombstone for long). Meanwhile, Punisher has spent the last four issues enduring Microchip’s bioware-coded blackouts and finally purging them via a shotgun shell, also designed by Microchip, that could terminate this programming.
It may not be hyperbolic to say that Jigsaw has never been so scary, dabbling in diabolical acts of flaying and wearing people’s skin like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre’s Leatherface. Jigsaw’s has loyal henchpeople scattered about, identified by their stitched tongues, and recently butchered Tombstone’s lieutenants at the Bar Noire. It is not until the end of The Punisher #4, however, that Jigsaw’s master plan takes its most perturbing turn yet.
Punisher’s New Costume Is As Disgusting As It Is Cool
The Punisher #4 (legacy issue #283) debuts a gruesome Punisher costume, but to be worn by Jigsaw, not Frank Castle. This costume resembles Punisher’s as a simple black bodysuit with white boots and gloves, but features Jigsaw’s iconic stitching patterns and, most remarkably and eerily of all, a ‘skull’ insignia composed of human faces.
Especially considering what he says to reporter Madeline Phillips at the MET, it is clear that Jigsaw wishes to paint a target on Punisher’s back by framing him for the murders he is committing. To do this, Jigsaw apparently plans to masquerade as a grisly version of Punisher, and all he needs to complete his costume is to cut off Frank’s face and turn it into a mask.
Punisher’s costume is decidedly plain and not particularly interesting—he is a man of few words, and his outfit, while tactical and purposeful, does a lot of the heavy lifting regarding how he carries himself and how often other characters react in shock when they see his trench coat open to reveal a bold, white skull insignia. Rather, this Jigsaw Punisher costume is perfectly creepy and adds just enough to the default Punisher design in order to evoke Jigsaw’s gory new tendencies.
The Punisher #4 concludes with Punisher discovering this suit and being ambushed by Jigsaw. It is unknown if we will see the costume ever again once the dust settles in their encounter, yet it would be a shame for Percy’s Punisher run to abandon the concept so willingly and hastily, as a Jigsaw Punisher who wears his enemies’ and victims’ skin could be phenomenal.
Punisher’s New Jigsaw Is A Horror Icon
Jigsaw is obviously not going to succeed in completing his depraved Punisher costume, as that would leave Frank without a face. Still, it will be fun to see Jigsaw wear it anyway, and possibly fashion a Frank Castle mask from the patchwork of other victims’ skin to then mimic him, similar to the methodology wielded by the Batman villain Hush.
This Punisher costume, as well as Jigsaw’s brutality, bears resemblance to the gnarly New 52 Joker design, where Joker has his face cut off by Dollmaker in the Batman: Detective Comics and returns, wearing it, in Batman: Death of the Family.
Percy’s run might as well be an unabashed extension of the Punisher: Red Band limited series that Percy himself wrote, and that this Punisher ongoing follows, as it is abundantly graphic. Jigsaw slipping in and out of rotten skin that squelches when he carelessly removes it would not be out of place in Midnight, Marvel’s upcoming horror universe, either, and makes Punisher’s penchant for lethal violence appear a lot more tame by comparison.
The Punisher #4 is out now.
- Video Game(s)
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The Punisher (1990), The Punisher: The Ultimate Payback!, The Punisher (1993), The Punisher, The Punisher: No Mercy
- Cast
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Jon Bernthal, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ben Barnes, Amber Rose Revah, Deborah Ann Woll, Jason R. Moore, Paul Schulze, Daniel Webber, Michael Nathanson, Jaime Ray Newman, Josh Stewart, Floriana Lima, Giorgia Whigham, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Rob Morgan, Dolph Lundgren, Thomas Jane, Ray Stevenson
- Created by
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Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr., Ross Andru
The Punisher franchise follows Frank Castle, a former Marine turned vigilante after the murder of his family. Operating outside the law, Castle wages a one-man war on crime using lethal methods and military tactics. Known for its gritty realism and moral ambiguity, the franchise spans comics, films, television series, and video games, making The Punisher one of Marvel’s most enduring antiheroes.