June 6, 2015 by jerrymcmullen - 1 Comment

Essential Punisher Vol. 3

First Published: February 2009

Contents: The Punisher #21 (July 1989) to #40 (Early October 1990); The Punisher Annual #2 (1989) and #3 (1990)

Key Creator Credits: Mike Baron, Erik Larsen, Bill Reinhold, Mark Texeira, Russ Heath, Mark Farmer, and others

Key First Appearances: Saracen, Shadowmasters (Shigeru Ezaki, Yuriko Ezaki, Sojin Ezaki, Philip Richards, Katherine Yakamoto)

Story Continues From: Essential Punisher Vol. 2

Story Continues In: Essential Punisher Vol. 4

Overview: When mobsters slew his family, Frank Castle vowed to spend the rest of his life avenging them. Trained as a soldier, and equipped with a state-of-the-art arsenal, he now wages a one-man war on crime! This is Essential Punisher Vol. 3 – get comfortable, as this is going to be a wild ride!

Writer Mike Baron continues the same basic formula that we saw in the previous volume. The stories run in small arcs, generally one or two issues at a time. We do see some characters re-occur from time to time. A villain introduced in the last collection, the Rev, resurfaces in Central America later in this volume. In that same story arc, we also get the return of Jigsaw, who still holds a grudge against Frank for the damage done to his face. As we saw last time, the Punisher is still partnered with his tech-whiz Microchip, but we see over the run that they may no longer be working towards the same goals.

During this era, the Punisher continued to grow in popularity, and we start to see that impacting his comic as he crosses over more and more into the Marvel Universe. Most obvious, as we see it on the cover, the Punisher gets caught up in the Acts of Vengeance storyline. That was the story where the villains unite under Loki, and swap the traditional heroes that they go up against. So to change things up, we see the Punisher traveling to Latvia to face off against Dr. Doom. Yeah, it is just as crazy as it sounds.

What makes this Essential?: Honestly, I am completely indifferent regarding my opinion on this book. I don’t think that I can recommend this unless you are a true fan of the Punisher. Conversely, I didn’t hate this collection, or struggle with trying to finish the book due to the stories. (My only struggle was finding time to read the book, as life got a little busy while trying to finish it.)

We do start to see the Punisher’s growing popularity in comics, as Mike Baron was directed/forced to incorporate ongoing Marvel events into the Punisher book, like Acts of Vengeance. He also gets into a multi-issue skirmish with the Reavers, who have been a traditional foe of the X-Men.

For the final story arc in this collection, The Punisher was one of many titles that switched to twice-a-month shipping during the summer months, giving readers two books per month. So the six-issue story arc was published over a three-month window.

Footnotes: The Punisher Annual #2 was one of the 15 Marvel annuals from 1989 linked together in a story arc titled “Atlantis Attacks.” For this Essential, the Punisher stories are included from the annual, but the Atlantis Attacks story is not reprinted here.

The Punisher Annual #3 was Part One of the “Lifeform” story arc. The other parts were in Daredevil Annual #6, Incredible Hulk Annual #16, and Silver Surfer Annual #4.

If you like this volume, try: the Punisher books from Garth Ennis. Over the last 15 years, Ennis has become the definitive Punisher writer, scripting various runs under the Marvel Knights and Marvel MAX line of books. Often working with artist Steve Dillon, Ennis has kept the Punisher as a current and relevant character in a post 9/11 world. While there are numerous trades and hardbacks collecting these runs, I would suggest tracking down the Punisher by Garth Ennis Omnibus that Marvel released in 2008. This collects Ennis’ work between 2000 and 2004 with the Punisher.

December 3, 2014 by jerrymcmullen - 2 Comments

Essential Punisher Vol. 2

First Published: September 2007

Contents: The Punisher #1 (July 1987) to #20 (June 1989); The Punisher Annual #1 (1988); and Daredevil #257 (August 1988)

Key Creator Credits: Mike Baron, Klaus Janson, Whilce Portacio, and others

Key First Appearances: David Lieberman/Microchip, The Rev, George Wong

Story Continues From: Essential Punisher Vol. 1

Story Continues In: Essential Punisher Vol. 3

Overview: Following the success of his ~~four~~… er, five-issue mini-series, the Punisher moves into his own monthly book, the first of many series to come. For right now, let’s look at the first 20+ issues which Marvel has been so kind to collect for us in Essential Punisher Vol. 2.

Now, we all remember the horrific origin of the Punisher, and if you don’t remember, you will be reminded at least once per issue. Vietnam veteran Frank Castle is on a picnic in Central Park with his family. Unfortunately, warring mobs have a show down in the park, and Frank’s wife and children are killed in the crossfire. The enraged Frank Castle starts a one-man war against all forms of crime – drug dealers, mafia families, third world dictators, and jaywalkers, just to name a few.

While many of these stories are stand-alone, we get an ongoing narrative from issue to issue. We meet Microchip, the tech genius who outfits the Punisher’s Battle Van with armor, guns, and other wonderful toys. We also find that anyone else that aides the Punisher in his war on crime usually ends up on the wrong side of a bullet. Seriously, these people should be wearing Star Trek red shirts!

We are given a crossover with Daredevil, which tells the same story from the Punisher’s point of view as well as from Daredevil’s point of view – pun intended. While both characters agree that the thug should be punished, Daredevil wants to see the criminal be tried in the justice system, while Frank is willing to serve as judge, jury and executioner to expedite things along. In this instance, Daredevil prevails.

The final long story arc has Punisher working on the drug scene in a local high school, which he later finds out is being controlled by the Kingpin. That leads to the first of many encounters between the Kingpin and Punisher.

What makes this Essential?: I went into reading this volume expecting to hate it. However, I was surprisingly impressed by this book. While many of these stories are one-and-done, there is a ongoing narrative that ties it all together from start to finish. Mike Baron puts together some solid stories. The art is very good, from a modern master in Klaus Janson and a young Whilce Portacio whose career was just starting to explode. As much as I still dislike the concept of the Punisher, this is a decent volume. It should be a must-own collection for any fans of Frank Castle.

Footnotes: The Marvel annuals of 1988 were linked together in story arc titled “The Evolutionary War.” This was the first time Marvel ran an event exclusively in the annuals. For this Essential, the Punisher stories are included from the annual, but the High Evolutionary story is not reprinted here.

If you like this volume, try: looking into some of the other work from writer Mike Baron. This Essential collects the first 20 issues of the ongoing monthly comic, all written by Baron. In fact, Baron would write the title for over five years (along with a stretch on Punisher War Journal), finishing up with more than 80 Punisher stories. In addition to this work, he helped launch the Wally West Flash title at DC, following the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths. Baron is probably most famously known for his work at Capitol Comics, where he wrote Nexus and The Badger. The Nexus issues has recently been collected in omnibus editions from Dark Horse Comics, so that would be a good place to start.

February 19, 2014 by jerrymcmullen - 9 Comments

Essential Punisher Vol. 1

First Published: March 2004

Contents: Amazing Spider-Man #129 (February 1974), #134 (July 1974), #135 (August 1974), #161 (October 1976), #162 (November 1976), #174 (November 1977), #175 (December 1977), #201 (February 1980), and #202 (March 1980); Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 (1981); Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 (April 1975); Marvel Preview #2 (July 1975); Marvel Super Action #1 (January 1976); Captain America #241 (January 1980); Daredevil #182 (May 1982) to #184 (July 1982); Peter Parker the Spectacular Spider-Man #81 (August 1983) to #83 (October 1983); and Punisher #1 (January 1986) to #5 (May 1986)

Key Creator Credits: Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Frank Miller, Steven Grant, Ross Andru, Mike Zeck, Bill Mantlo

Key First Appearances: Frank Castle/Punisher, Jackal, Moses Magnum, Tarantula, Jigsaw, the Trust, Bruno Costa, Huntress

Story Continues In: Essential Punisher Vol. 2

Overview: After watching his family slain by mobsters, war veteran Frank Castle starts a one-man war against crime by any means necessary, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence, and torture.

One of the Punisher’s early targets was Spider-Man, based on the fair and balanced reporting from the Daily Bugle. The Punisher tangles multiple times with Spidey before working out an uneasy alliance – they both realize they are working towards the same goals, but their individual methods go against each other’s principles. The Punisher’s vendetta also crosses paths along with way with Captain America and Daredevil.

The Punisher, being of questionable mind and judgment, reasons that the majority of the criminals he needs to target are already in prison. He surrenders himself to authorities and ends up being sentenced to prison, much to his delight and the sheer panic of the other prisoners.

What makes this Essential?: I will admit, I have a strong dislike of this character. Comics have always been an escape for me, into worlds with Kryptonian aliens or a teenager bitten by a radioactive spider. At the end of the day, I know characters like Superman and Spider-Man are not real. However, the Punisher can be real. We see too many instances in reality where someone becomes their own version of the Punisher, wanting to deliver judgment on those that did them wrong. By my thinking, heroes should bring the villains to justice, but not administer justice.

So, trying my best to be objective and only think of Frank Castle as a truly fictional character, the Punisher does play a prominent role in the Marvel Universe. He is arguably the second most important or influential character created by Marvel in the 1970s, behind Wolverine. He’s been the subject of numerous comic series and multiple movies. A lot of the comics in this collection are hard to come by, so this is a great way to read about the first decade of the character. If you are a fan of the Punisher, you should own this Essential if you do not own the issues.

Footnotes: Early editions of this Essential misspelled Frank Miller’s name on the cover as “Millar”.

Amazing Spider-Man #129, #134, and #135 were also reprinted in Essential Spider-Man Vol. 6.

Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 was also reprinted in Essential Spider-Man Vol. 7.

Amazing Spider-Man #161, #162, #174, and #175 were also reprinted in Essential Spider-Man Vol. 8.

Amazing Spider-Man #201 and #202 were also reprinted in Essential Spider-Man Vol. 9.

Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 was also reprinted in Essential Spider-Man Vol. 10.

Captain America #241 was also reprinted in Essential Captain America Vol. 7.

Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #81, #82, and #83 were also reprinted in Essential Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Vol. 4.

If you like this volume, try: the one Punisher comic I wholeheartedly endorse is The Punisher Meets Archie from 1994. In a joint venture between Marvel Comics and Archie Comics, the comic was released by both companies. Each company had a separate cover, but the inside contents were identical. John Buscema drew the Marvel characters, and Stan Goldberg drew the Archie characters. The Punisher is contracted by the government to bring in a drug lord by the name of Red, who is hiding in the small community of Riverdale. Castle infiltrates the school as a P.E. teacher and targets Archie Andrews who bears an uncanny resemblance to Red. The Punisher eventually finds his target, and takes him alive, much to his chagrin. Sadly, this book has never been reprinted, so you will need to dive into some back issue bins to track down this title.