{"id":29315,"date":"2024-01-29T09:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-01-29T09:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=29315"},"modified":"2024-01-28T15:30:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T15:30:10","slug":"essential-punisher-volume-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/01\/29\/essential-punisher-volume-1-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential Punisher volume 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"
\nBy Gerry Conway<\/strong>, Archie Goodwin<\/strong>, Len Wein<\/strong>, Mike W. Barr<\/strong>, Marv Wolfman<\/strong>, Dennis O\u2019Neil<\/strong>, Roger McKenzie<\/strong>, Frank Miller<\/strong>, Bill Mantlo<\/strong>, Stephen Grant<\/strong>, Jo Duffy<\/strong>, Ross Andru<\/strong>, Tony DeZuniga<\/strong>, Frank Springer<\/strong>, Keith Pollard<\/strong>, Al Milgrom<\/strong>, Greg LaRocque<\/strong>, Mike Zeck<\/strong>, Mike Vosburg <\/strong>& various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-0-8571-2375-0 (TPB)<\/p>\n

Debuting in 1974 and despite being one of the industry\u2019s biggest hits from the mid-1980s onwards, the obsessed vengeance-taker known as The Punisher<\/strong> was always an unlikely and uncomfortable star for comic books. His methods were excessively violent and usually permanent. It\u2019s intriguing to note that unlike most heroes who debuted as villains (Black Widow<\/strong> or Wolverine<\/strong> come to mind) the Punisher actually became more<\/em> ruthless, immoral, anti-social and murderous, not less. The Punisher never toned down or cleaned up his act – the buying public simply shifted its communal perspective.<\/p>\n

He was created by Gerry Conway, John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru: a (necessarily) toned down, muted response to increasingly popular prose anti-heroes like Don Pendleton\u2019s Mack Bolan: the Executioner<\/strong> and a bloody tide of fictive Viet Nam vets returned from South East Asia who all turned their training and talents to wiping out organised crime in the early 1970s. The story goes that Marvel\u2019s bosses were reluctant to give The Punisher a starring vehicle in the mainstream colour comic-book line, feeling the character\u2019s very nature made him a bad guy, not a good one. Other than the two magazine stories and the miniseries which closes this volume, Frank Castle<\/em> was not supposed to be the star or even particularly admirable to the impressionable readership.<\/p>\n

Therefore these early appearances could disappoint die-hard fans even though they are the formative tales of his success. Perhaps it\u2019s best to remember and accept that when not actually the villain in the tales he was at best a controversial guest and worrisome co-star\u2026<\/p>\n

Boy, how times do change.<\/p>\n

He was first seen as a villain\/patsy in Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #129 (cover-dated February 1974 but actually on sale from 30th<\/sup> October 1973 – so even in terms of his anniversary, Castle apparently \u201cjumped the gun\u201d<\/em> (I\u2019m so weak!). He repeatedly returned thereafter until getting his shot at the big time – just not in newsstand publications but in Marvel\u2019s monochrome, mature magazine line. This initial Essential compilation gathers all those tentative stabs and guest-shots from February 1974 through to the breakthrough 1986 miniseries which really got the ball rolling. These include Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #129, 134-135, 162-163, 174-175, 201-202; Amazing Spider-Man Annual <\/strong>#15; Giant-Size Spider-Man<\/strong> #4; Marvel Preview<\/strong> #2; Marvel Super-Action <\/strong>#1; Captain America<\/strong> #241; Daredevil<\/strong> #182-184; Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man<\/strong> #81-83 and The Punisher<\/strong> #1-5, but many die-hard modern fans may be disappointed in the relative lack of brutality, carnage and even face time contained herein. Just keep in mind that for the greater part of these early appearances the skull-shirted slayer was at best a visitor and usually the villain du jour\u2026<\/p>\n

The first case in this mammoth monochrome war journal comes from ASM <\/strong>#129, introducing not only the renegade gunslinger but also nefarious manic mastermind The Jackal <\/em>in \u2018The Punisher Strikes Twice!\u2019 Scripted b<\/em>y Conway, and illustrated by Ross Andru, Frank Giacoia & Dave Hunt, it reveals how a mystery lone gunman is duped by manipulative Professor Miles Warren<\/em> into hunting the wallcrawler who was wrongly implicated in the deaths of police captain George Stacy<\/em> and his daughter Gwen<\/em> and currently a suspect in the death of Norman Osborn<\/em>. Here he is subsequently set up by The Jackal for the murder of the Punisher\u2019s gunmaker before clearing the air and going their own ways\u2026<\/p>\n

The much-misunderstood champions of the oppressed crossed paths again in Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #134-135 when a South American bandit – intended to be his oppressive regime\u2019s Captain America<\/strong> – attempts to pillage a Manhattan tour boat in \u2018Danger is a Man Named\u2026 Tarantula!\u2019<\/em> Once again unwilling allies, Spidey and the Punisher\u2019s trails cross when the duo dutifully dismantle the villain\u2019s schemes during a \u2018Shoot-Out in Central Park!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

The Punisher <\/strong>played a more central role in Giant-Size Spider-Man<\/strong> #4 (April 1975) when the webslinger forces himself into one of the sinister shootist\u2019s cases in \u2018To Sow the Seeds of Death\u2019s Day!\u2019<\/em> when ruthless arms dealer Moses Magnum<\/em> began testing a deadly chemical weapon on randomly kidnapped victims. Tracking down the vile monster in \u2018Attack of the War Machine!\u2019<\/em>, the reluctant allies found themselves infiltrating his \u2018Death-Camp at the Edge of the World!\u2019<\/em> before seeing summary justice dispensed more by fate than intent\u2026<\/p>\n

John Romita Senior\u2019s original concept pencil sketch of The Punisher from 1973 is followed by the vigilante\u2019s first solo role – in black-&-white magazine Marvel Preview<\/strong> #2 (August 1975) – wherein Conway & Tony DeZu\u00f1iga pronounced a \u2018Death Sentence\u2019<\/em> on some of Castle\u2019s old army buddies. They had been tricked into becoming assassins by a millionaire madman who wanted to take over America, as the gritty yarn at last revealed the tragic reasons for The Punisher\u2019s unending mission of vengeance.<\/p>\n

Highly decorated Marine Castle saw his wife and children gunned down in Central Park after the carefree picnickers stumbled into a mob hit. When the killers turned on the helpless witnesses, only Castle survived. Recovering in hospital, the bereft warrior dedicated his life to eradicating criminals everywhere. Following a stunning Punisher and Dominic Fortune<\/strong> pin-up by Howard Chaykin, Archie Goodwin, DeZu\u00f1iga & Rico Rival\u2019s \u2018Accounts Settled\u2026 Accounts Due!\u2019<\/em> – from Marvel Super Action<\/strong> #1 (January 1976) – draws another matured-themed plot to a close as Castle finally tracks down the gunsels who carried out the shooting and the Dons who ordered it, only to find his bloody vengeance hasn\u2019t eased his heart or dulled his thirst for personal justice\u2026<\/p>\n

Castle was reduced to a bit-player in Amazing Spider-Man<\/strong> #162-163 (October & November 1976 by Len Wein Andru & Mike Esposito), as the newly relaunched X-Men<\/strong> were sales-boosted via a guest-clash with the webspinner in \u2018\u2026And the Nightcrawler Came Prowling, Prowling\u2019<\/em>. Here Spider-Man jumps to wrong conclusion when a sniper shoots a reveller at Coney Island and by the time Nightcrawler has explained himself (in the tried-&-true Marvel manner of fighting the star to a standstill) old skull-shirt has turned up to take them both on. Soon however, mutual foe Jigsaw<\/em> is exposed as the true assassin in concluding episode \u2018Let the Punisher Fit the Crime!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Inked by DeZu\u00f1iga & Jim Mooney, November 1977\u2019s ASM <\/strong>#174 declared \u2018The Hitman\u2019s Back in Town!\u2019<\/em> with Castle hunting a costumed assassin hired to rub out J. Jonah Jameson<\/em>, but experiencing unusual reticence since the killer is an old army pal who had saved his life in Vietnam. Nevertheless the tale ends in fatality at the \u2018Big Apple Battleground!\u2019<\/em> in #175.<\/p>\n

Captain America<\/strong> #241 (January 1980, by Mike W. Barr, Frank Springer & Pablo Marcos) was a fill in benefitting from the Frank Miller effect – he drew the cover – as \u2018Fear Grows in Brooklyn\u2019<\/em> depicted the Sentinel of Liberty getting in the way of Castle\u2019s latest mission and refusing to allow The Punisher to go free. Cap wasn\u2019t on hand stop him escaping police custody and Amazing Spider-Man <\/strong>#201-202 (February & March 1980) by Marv Wolfman, Keith Pollard & Mooney. \u2018Man-Hunt!\u2019<\/em> and \u2018One For Those Long Gone!\u2019<\/em> reveal how Castle almost uncovers Peter<\/em> Parker<\/em>\u2018s big secret whilst relentlessly stalking a mob boss responsible for the death of a kid who had saved Castle\u2019s life\u2026<\/p>\n

Amazing Spider-Man Annual <\/strong>#15 (1981 by Dennis O\u2019Neil, Miller & Klaus Janson) is putatively the genesis of the antihero in his proper form. \u2018Spider-Man: Threat or Menace?\u2019<\/em> sees maniac fugitive Castle back in the Big Apple and lethally embroiled in a deadly scheme by Doctor Octopus<\/em> to poison five million New Yorkers. Soon both Parker and his colourful alter-ego are trapped dead-centre of a terrifying battle of ruthless wills in a tense and clever suspense thriller, highlighting and recapturing the moody mastery of Steve Ditko\u2019s heyday.<\/p>\n

The Miller connection continued in three landmark issues of Daredevil<\/strong> (#182-184, May-July 1982) which ideally embody everything that made The Punisher a momentous, unmissable, \u201cmust-read\u201d character\u2026<\/p>\n

It is presaged by an untitled excerpt by Miller & Janson from \u2018She\u2019s Alive\u2019 – <\/em>wherein Castle is extracted from prison by a government spook to stop a shipment of drugs the authorities can\u2019t touch. Meanwhile a shattered Matt Murdock<\/em> is failing to cope with the murder of his first love Elektra<\/strong>. Of course, once Castle has stopped the drugs and killed the gangsters, The Punisher refuses to go back to jail\u2026<\/p>\n

The story proper begins in \u2018Child\u2019s Play\u2019<\/em> – with Roger McKenzie lending a scripting hand – and deals with school kids using drugs. It was originally begun by McKenzie & Miller but shelved for a year, before being reworked into a stunningly powerful, unsettling tale once Miller & Janson assumed full creative chores on Daredevil<\/strong>. When Murdock visits a high school he is a helpless witness to a little girl high on \u201cAngel Dust\u201d going berserk, attacking staff and pupils before throwing herself out of a third floor window The appalled hero vows to find the dealers and encounters her bereaved and distraught younger brother Billy<\/em>, determined to exact his own vengeance, and later coldly calculating Castle who has the same idea and far more experience\u2026<\/p>\n

The hunt leads inexorably to a certain street pusher and DD, Billy and The Punisher all find their target at the same time. After a spectacular battle a thoroughly beaten Daredevil has Billy, a bullet-ridden corpse and a smoking gun\u2026<\/p>\n

The kid is innocent – and so, this time at least, is Castle – and after Murdock proves it in court, the investigation resumes with the focus falling on drug boss Hogman<\/em>. When DD\u2019s super-hearing confirms the gangster\u2019s claims of innocence, Murdock successfully defends the vile dealer, only to have the exonerated slimeball gloatingly admit to having committed the murder after all! Horrified, shocked, betrayed and resolved to enforce justice, DD finds a connection to a highly-placed member of the school faculty deeply involved with the drug lord in concluding chapter \u2018Good Guys Wear Red\u2019<\/em>, but it\u2019s far too late: Castle and Billy have both decided to end the matter Hogman\u2019s way\u2026<\/p>\n

Scripted by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by Al Milgrom & Mooney, Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man<\/strong> #81-83 (August-October 1983) opens with \u2018Stalkers in the Shadows\u2019 <\/em>as an increasingly crazed Punisher goes after misdemeanour malefactors with the same murderous zeal previously reserved for killers and worse. Spider-Man meanwhile, has his hands full with teen vigilantes Cloak and Dagger<\/strong> who have graduated from tackling street drug pushers to go after Wilson Fisk<\/em>, The <\/strong>Kingpin<\/strong> of crime.<\/p>\n

\u2018Crime & Punishment!\u2019<\/em> sees Castle applying lethal force indiscriminately all over town, culminating in his own crazed attack on Fisk… who beats him to a pulp. Illustrated by Greg LaRoque & Mooney the saga ends with \u2018Delusions\u2019<\/em> as The Punisher goes on trial and is found to have been dosed with psychosis-inducing drugs\u2026<\/p>\n

In 1984 Marvel gave way to the inevitable and commissioned a Punisher miniseries, although writer Steven Grant and penciller Mike Zeck apparently had an uphill struggle convincing editors to let the grim, gun-crazed maniac loose in the shiny world where little kids might fixate on a dangerous role model – and their parents might get all over-protective, litigious and (skull) shirty. A year later the creators finally got the green-light and a 5-issue miniseries – running from January to May – turned the industry on its head. There was indeed plenty of controversy to go around, especially as the tale featured a \u201chero\u201d who had lots of illicit sex and killed his enemies in cold blood. Also causing problems for censorious eyes were the suicide of one of the major characters and the murder of innocent children. Doesn\u2019t it make you proud to realise how far we\u2019ve since come?<\/p>\n

The company mitigated the potential fall-out with the most lacklustre PR campaign in history, but not telling anybody about The Punisher<\/strong> (AKA Circle of Blood<\/strong>) didn\u2019t stop the series becoming a runaway, barnstorming success. The rest is history. Two years later as the graphic novel market was becoming established and with Frank Castle one of the biggest draws in comics (sorry, I\u2019m such a child sometimes), that contentious series was released as a complete book and it remains one of the very best of all his many exploits.<\/p>\n

Here, rendered even more stark and uncompromising in gritty moody monochrome, the action begins in \u2018Circle of Blood\u2019<\/em> as Castle is locked in Ryker\u2019s Island prison where every inmate is queuing up to kill him. Within hours he has turned the tables and terrified the General Population, but knows both old foe Jigsaw and the last of the great mob \u201cGodfathers\u201d have special plans for him\u2026<\/p>\n

When a mass breakout frees all the cons, Castle brutally steps in. For this the warden allows his escape and offers him membership in The Trust<\/em>: an organisation of \u201cright-minded, law-abiding citizens\u201d who approve of his crusade. Castle also learns he\u2019s being stalked by Tony Massera<\/em>, a good man who thought he had escaped the influences of his crime-family\u2026<\/p>\n

Tony must kill Castle to avenge his father – one of Punisher\u2019s many gory successes – but only after the streets have been swept clean of scum like his own relations. \u2018Back to the War\u2019 <\/em>finds Punisher on the streets again, hunting scum, armed and supplied by the Trust\u2026 but still not a part of their organisation. After an abortive attempt to blow up The Kingpin, Castle is saved by the enigmatic Angel<\/em>, and begins a loveless liaison with her. With everybody mistakenly believing the master of New York\u2019s underworld dead, bloody gang-war erupts with greedy sub-bosses all trying to claim the top spot, but by the events of \u2018Slaughterday\u2019<\/em>, Castle realises too many innocents are getting caught in the crossfires.<\/p>\n

He also discovers in \u2018Final Solution\u2019<\/em> that the Trust have their own national agenda as hit men and brainwashed criminals dressed in his costume swarm the streets, executing mobsters and fanning the flames. All the Trust\u2019s plans for this \u201cPunishment Squad\u201d and the country are uncovered in blockbusting conclusion \u2018Final Solution Part 2\u2019<\/em>, when all the pieces fall into place and the surviving players reveal their true allegiances. In a classy final chapter mysteriously completed by the highly underrated Jo Duffy& Mike Vosburg, from Grant\u2019s original plot, The Punisher takes charge in his inimitable manner, leaving God and the cops to sort out the paperwork. We can only speculate as to why the originators fell away at the last hurdle, but I\u2019m pretty sure those same reluctant editors played some part in it all\u2026<\/p>\n

This economical Essential edition comes with a plethora of pin-ups, concluding with comprehensive information pages culled from the Marvel Universe Handbook<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

These superb, morally ambiguous if not actually ethically challenging dramas never cease to thrill and amaze, and have been reprinted a number of times. Whichever version suits your inclinations and wallet, if you love action, cherish costumed comics adventure and crave the occasional dose of gratuitous personal justice, this one should be at the top of your \u201cMost Wanted\u201d list.
\n\u00a9 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1986, 2011 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gerry Conway, Archie Goodwin, Len Wein, Mike W. Barr, Marv Wolfman, Dennis O\u2019Neil, Roger McKenzie, Frank Miller, Bill Mantlo, Stephen Grant, Jo Duffy, Ross Andru, Tony DeZuniga, Frank Springer, Keith Pollard, Al Milgrom, Greg LaRocque, Mike Zeck, Mike Vosburg & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-0-8571-2375-0 (TPB) Debuting in 1974 and despite being one of the … <\/p>\n

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