"Circle of Blood"
The Punisher is sprung from Rykers prison by the Trust, a citizens organization whose purpose is to make America great by brainwashing criminals and making them part of their "Punishment Squad". This group wears uniforms similar to the Punisher's and kills criminals. A man named Alarec is in charge of this operation.

After being rescued by Angela, an operative of the Trust, the Punisher falsely tells Ben Urich that he has killed the Kingpin. The purpose of this is to start a gang war where the criminals will kill themselves. The Punisher then becomes concerned by the large number of innocent people caught in the crossfire.

The Punisher forces mob leaders (at gunpoint) to have a meeting to stop the gang war. Force is necessary, because the Trust had previously used a purported gang meeting to kill a number of criminals.

The Punisher attacks Alarec's home and finds that Jigsaw has been brainwashed and become a member of the Punishment Squad. The Punisher defeats Jigsaw, but is captured by Alarec and placed in the conditioning room.

The Punisher escapes the brainwashing room because his weapons and clothing were not removed when he was put there. The Punisher then forces Alarec to implicate the Trust in his prison break and the Punishment Squad's murders. While leaving the mansion, the Punisher is confronted by Angela. He defeats her and leaves her in her jeep, precariously situated on the railing of Alarec's mansion's bridge. The Punisher walks away as the jeep begins to slip.

Paperback: 144 pages
Publisher: Marvel; 1St Edition edition

This story begins with Frank Castle locked up in jail where he is surrounded by his enemies who all want a piece of him. Needless to say, he is the one who dishes out most of the punishment to those who attempt to intimidate him. Since these criminal thugs can't beat him they attempt to get him to join them in a jail break out but he refuses to go along with the thugs.

The warden is the head of a group of avengers and it appears at first that their goals and objectives are the same as the Punisher. Frank Castle agrees to work with them and they help him escape from jail; however, it does not take long to discover this so-called crime fighter group is nothing but another thug organization looking for political power. Frank Castle alias The Punisher has to not only fight organized crime criminals but also the group who helped him escape jail.

Like all Punisher novels, this one is packed with action and the illustrations are just fantastic.  Zeck was at his best here, bringing Grant's wonderfully well written script to life. Despite the Comic Book Code limitations of the 80's, this is an adult story, one with depth and feeling and it actually works better without the F bombs used by modern day writers, such as Garth Ennis. Grant has much more to offer then foul language and graphic violence. Instead he has mood, tension and substance.