In mid 2000, writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillion teamed up and brought us a ground breaking 12-issue mini-series focused on the Punisher, titled “Welcome Back, Frank”. The series was realistic, brutal and filled with black humor which helped to revive the character’s popularity. Now, almost nine years later, the team of Ennis and Dillion is reteaming for a special 6 issue sequel story arc titled “The Resurrection of Ma Gnucci”. I have less than a week (the issue hits stands on Wednesday) to pull out my old comic boxes from the attic, brush off the dust and re-read the old issues in anticipation of the new 6 part story. What is even more cool is that the story is shipping weekly, so we don’t have to worry about waiting a month between issues, or even worst, delays that could force us to wait months for the next issue.
Marvel Comics’ Official Description of the issue: The latest offering from the red-hot Marvel Knights line reunites the seminal creative team of Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon for a special, weekly-shipping 6-part limited sequel to their legendary story arc, “Welcome Back, Frank.” It all starts when two mobsters take a trip to the zoo and piss off the wrong monkey. Limbs are lost (the kind you can’t easily replace), vultures are fed (with said appendages), and then things get, like, really crazy. Like back-from-the-dead crazy. That’s right — she’s back and she wants payback. Ma Gnucci. Eighty-five pounds of hairless, armless, legless evil.
The issue comes out on January 2nd, 2009.