As usual, the Punisher is a vigilante who is out for revenge. His primary target is the mob boss Dutch Schultz, and three certain enforcers, who are responsible for him becoming the man he is now.
This comic has examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: The mainstream Detective Soap was a whiny loser and a pushover. This one is actually competent, but also much more confrontational with his colleagues and subordinates.
- Adaptational Villainy: Of a sort; this version of the Punisher seemingly contemplates murdering Soap (an honest detective) for getting too close for comfort, and, after the initial shock wears off, is undeterred by accidentally killing Barracuda's presumably innocent date.
- Agony of the Feet: Castelione stabs The Russian's foot with a knife after he has been thrown about inside his train cabin. The Russian reacts to this by throwing him outside through the cabin window.
- Alternate Continuity: Although the basic idea of Frank Castle as a vigilante remains, this time he's in the Noir Universe and things play out very differently to the regular continuity, that it's irreconcilable with the main universe one. Justified in that it is an Alternate Universe within Marvel.
- And Then What?: At the end, Frank Castelione, Jr. has killed everyone responsible for his father's death. Jigsaw, Barracuda, the Russian, Dutch Shultz... all of them are gone. As he visits his parents' graves, he asks his father what he should do now. Detective Soap called him the Punisher - does he keep punishing forever? Does he keep taking it to the underworld? It's 1935, there's no shortage of mobsters. Frank, Sr. doesn't have an answer for him, but he gets one all the same when a newspaper is blown into his face — featuring an article on Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist party.
- Appropriated Appellation: Detective Martin Soap nicknames the mysterious vigilante who's been wreaking havoc on the Manhattan underworld "The Punisher", after a popular radio drama he theorizes inspired the man. He's partially correct — our protagonist took a few pages from his favorite radio show when he started his Roaring Rampage of Revenge, but he never really had a name for himself before he heard the one Soap gave him.
- Bad Boss: Schultz removes a finger from his henchman everytime they fail him. When one mook is relegated to bartending duty at their HQ on account of not having fingers to use a gun (and this is brought to Schultz' attention), he rings the guy and shoots him as soon as he's in the door.
- Badass Boast: Castelione on his time in The Great War:Frank Castelione: [Ruth] always used to go on about me watchin' out fer the angel of death. Ah, that crazy religion a' hers. And I would say the same thing: Baby, I ain't got a thing to worry about... 'cause I 'am the angel of death.
- Bad People Abuse Animals: During their fight in the zoo, "Her" opens the animals cages and then neck-snaps a gorilla.
- Batter Up!: When two gangsters arrive in Frank Castelione's store to extort him protection money, he and his son beat them up with baseball bats and drive them out.
- Big Bad: Dutch Schultz, the gangster whom the Punisher has a bone to pick with.
- Bulletproof Human Shield: When Barracuda notices the Punisher aiming for him through a reflection, he grabs his girlfriend puts her on front of the line of fire, making her to take the bullet meant for him.
- Fingore: Dutch Schultz punishes the men who failed to extort money from Castelione by cutting off their fingers with a cigarette cutter. Some time later he has an entire cigar box filled with fingers.
- Guns Akimbo: The Punisher uses two customized Colt M1911's.
- Groin Attack: Tried against "Her" to no effect, obviously.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: The Punisher has Barracuda torn apart by an amusement park ride after he refuses to answer his questions about the third person who was involved in the death of his father.
- Historical Domain Character: Dutch Schultz was a real life gangster who operated in New York.
- Mythology Gag: In the original continuity, the resurrection technology used to bring back the Russian gave him enormous tits. Here, his counterpart takes on a feminine personality because he took a grenade at crotch level.
- Neck Snap: During the zoo-fight, "Her" shows off her strength on front of the Punisher by breaking a gorilla's neck.
- Never Smile at a Crocodile: The Punisher and "Her" fall into an alligator pit. The Punisher leaves her to be devoured by the reptiles and climbs out, only learn moments later that she still isn't dead.
- Rasputinian Death: "Her" survives explosions, knife wounds, dozens of bullets, and more. She eventually dies after having her arm bitten off by an alligator and catching a slug right between the eyes, but before she goes she not only kills the offending beast, she brags to the Punisher about being invincible.
- Apparently, The Russian is so tough that the only thing a grenade in his pants did was castrate him, not instant death or permanent crippling.
- Red Herring The flashbacks showing Frank Castelione's badassery and bravado as the self-proclaimed "angel of death" make him seem perfect candidate for being the Punisher, and not his son who is out to avenge his death.
- The Reveal:
- The second issue is reveals that Frank Castelione is not the Punisher. He is shown dying when three gangland heavyhitters are send to do him in, which inspires his son Frank Jr. to become a vigilante and avenge his death.
- The mysterious "Her" turns out to be The Russian, who has taken a female identity after a grenade exploded in his pants.
- Scary Black Man: Barracuda, who is noted as being a One-Man Army.
- Traintop Battle: Castelione's fight against The Russian in the past ends on top of a train, where he shoves a grenade in the guy's pants and kicks him off (the usual hero-ducks-villain-is-taken-out-by-a-tunnel part is subverted by the Russian, but the distraction is enough for Frank).
