Punishing Art

During my niece's Communion lunch, my brother and I started talking comics and art. He then says "You should work on a Punisher piece for me". I instantaneously knew which he style he wanted, as we are both huge John Romita Jr. fans. With a request in hand, I decided to do a little research.

John Romita Jr's Punisher work isn't vast, but it is memorable. He launched the comic Punisher War Zone in the early 90's when the Punisher was at the top of the Marvel charts with 5 different titles. In my honest opinion, I think he is the best Punisher artist of all-time. Which is saying something, because all time greats like John Buscema, Jim Lee, and Mike Zeck all had historic runs on the character. I knew I wanted a moody piece, with heavy blacks and at a interesting angle. I knew the War Zone run would be the place.

This piece was quite the challenge. Pencils took roughly an hour and a half. Lots of intricate details with the jacket, guns and bullet bursts. The inking took roughly twice as long. At almost 5 hours it is one of the longer pieces I've put together.

I'm a huge fan of JRJR, so it was truly an honor of mine to put this piece together. I like to think it is a nice homage to a true comic great.