Punisher War Journal (2007 series)

Punisher War Journal
Cover to issue # by Alex Maleev.
Publication information
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Schedule	Monthly
Format	Ongoing series
Publication date	2006
No. of issues	26 + 1 annual
Main character(s)	Punisher
Creative team
Created by	Matt Fraction
Written by	Matt Fraction Rick Remender Simon Spurrier
Artist(s)	Mike Deodato Jr. Ariel Olivetti Howard V. Chaykin Cory Walker Scott Wegener Clint Langley (covers)
Penciller(s)	Mike Deodato Jr. Ariel Olivetti Howard V. Chaykin Cory Walker Scott Wegener Werther Dell'edera
Inker(s)	Mike Deodato Jr. Ariel Olivetti Howard V. Chaykin Cory Walker Scott Wegener
Letterer(s)	Joe Caramagna Rus Wooton
Colorist(s)	Rainier 'Rain' Beredo Dean V. White Jesus Aburto Shannon Blanchard Edgar Delgado - 'Pato' Ariel Olivetti Dave Stewart
Editor(s)	Axel Alonso Michael O'Connor Warren Simons Aubrey Sitterson John Denning Jennifer Grünwald Daniel Ketchum Cory Levine Alex Starbuck

Punisher War Journal or The Punisher War Journal is an American comic book series published from 2006 to 2009 by Marvel Comics featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the vigilante the Punisher. It is the second series of the title The Punisher War Journal. Unlike the main Punisher series (which was published under Marvel's MAX imprint and was set in a more realistic world) at the time of its publishing the events of War Journal take place in the main Marvel Universe, Earth-616. The series was mainly written by Matt Fraction and drawn by Howard Chaykin.

The series begins during the late stages of Marvel's Civil War storyline and follows Frank Castle and focuses on his relationship with Steve Rogers, (Captain America), whom he deeply admires despite their fundamental differences. After Rogers assassination Castle decides to honor him by killing a white supremacist who is using a modified version of Rogers uniform while wearing his own Captain America inspired uniform. The series spawned a spin-off named Punisher in 2009.

The series consisted of several story-arcs, "How I Won The War" spaning issues 1—3, "The Initiative" spaning issues 6—11, "Hunter/Hunted" spaning issues 13—15, "Jigsaw" for issue 18—23 and "Secret Invasion" lasting from issue 24 to 25. Several short stories between the main storylines are also featured for some issues.

The series holds an average rating of 7.3 by sixty-one professional critics on the review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup. The series was one of the most acclaimed new series of 2007.

Timothy Callahan of Comic Book Resources expressed about the series that the author, Matt Fraction, has alternated between writing a clever, witty looks at the Marvel Universe and serious and severe looks at the screwed-up world in which the character of Frank Castle lives. He also stated that while the tone tone was not exactly consistent from arc to arc, he did not see that as a drawback at all, because the Punisher in his most general form is not a character that works for interesting in the long term in his opinion. "The Punisher is an inconsistent character, really, if you take into account all of his in-Universe portrayals over the years. He’s been a buffoonish killer, a monster, a hero, a lunatic, a patriot, and almost anything you can imagine. Fraction has written him as a strange combination of all of those things, and if he isn’t heroic in a traditional sense, at least he has a code he follows. He’s a psychopath headlining a book set in the Marvel Universe, and Fraction has made him compelling and somewhat noble, while never going so far as to make Frank Castle admirable." Callahan also praised Chaykin's art.