Aside from Punisher #1, What If… Peter Parker became The Punisher #1 was the second most expected title from a comic book this year for me. Especially with Carl Potts, former Punisher editor, and writer back after more than 20 years.  He’s most known for writing The Punisher: War Journal Vol. 1.

This “What if” did answer to my expectations. This is a story centered on Peter Parker in an alternate universe when he takes a darker path and became a gunslinger arachnid and in this story, he is the original “Punisher“.

Carl Potts wrote a very compressed story and with 23 pages he did a fantastic job describing how Peter Parker as Punisher Arachnid grow as a lethal vigilante. His origins are pretty much the same as the canon Spider-Man, the only difference is that he uses lethal force. There are some twists, especially with Green Goblin and Gwen Stacy and it felt really satisfying see how it ended.
Carl Potts didn’t take risks in changing “too much” about the Spider-Man lore, I was expecting more changes and a completely new story but I like how Potts remake this story. You will see a familiar face in this story, probably the most expected face of this book. Carl Potts did a favor to the Punisher fans when he gave us a lot of “easter eggs” from his Punisher War Journal when he mentioned the Costas, Hector Montoya and Jonathan Hunt.

Longtime Punisher fans will be happy to read it.

The artwork of Juanan Ramírez was superb. He really did make shine this comic book. His artwork was very dynamic and I really liked how he colored the most darker scenes. The action panels are great and even those that we see “one action” is very well done and detailed.

I liked the detail with Peter Parker using dark clothes as a reflexion of his state of mind.

I don’t know what Spider-man fans will think about this but as a Punisher fan, I’m very satisfied with this story. The only problem with this story is that was a bit short but it’s the same format as the old “What If’s”.
One major detail is that I think Peter Parker had the better ending he could have. Even better than his canon self.

 

Overall Rate: 8 / 10