So What If...? the Punisher armed with Doctor Strange's Cloak of Levitation was fighting evil vampire X-Men. What then, huh?
Panels from What If...? (1989 series) #24 (April 1991); script by Roy Thomas, Jean-Marc Lofficier, and Randy Lofficier; pencils and inks by Tom Morgan; colors by Tom Vincent; letters by Janice Chiang
The 1990s! There was no concept too high for that decade to embrace!
Panels from Daredevil (1964 series) #257 (August 1988); script by Ann Nocenti; pencils by John Romita, Jr.; inks by Al Williamson; colors by Christie Scheele; letters by Joe Rosen
Splash page from Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe one-shot (July 1989), script and pencils by Fred Hembeck, inks by Joe Staton, colors by Steve Mellor, letters by Rick Parker
Showing an intelligent consideration by Marvel, by the time the actual issue came out two weeks later, the cover looked like this instead, with the Wall's names obscured...
Cover of The Punisher (2014 series) #17 (June 2015), art by Mitch Gerads
...except for one name, Mitch Gerads. The book's artist.
So, anybody else besides me find the concept of the artist putting his own name (complete with cheeky P!nk-style "!" in place of an I) on a depiction of the Vietnam Wall alongside the actual historical names of casualties...not quite right?
Panel from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #1 (November 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Leinil Francis Yu, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit
Panel from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #1 (November 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Leinil Francis Yu, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit
Panel from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #1 (November 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Leinil Francis Yu, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit
Top: from "At Dawn Dies Mary MacGuffin!" in Batman #241 (May 1972), script by Denny O'Neil, pencils by Irv Novick, inks by Dick Giordano
Middle: from Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe one-shot (November 1995); script by Garth Ennis; pencils by Dougie Braithwaite; inks by (choose one of the following) Robin Riggs, Michael Halbleib, Sean Hardy, Martin Griffith, Don Hudson, or John Livesay; colors by Shannon Blanchard and Tom Smith; color separations by Malibu; letters by Bill Oakley
Bottom: from "With My Hammer In Hand…!" in Journey into Mystery #120 (September 1965), script by Stan Lee, pencils by Jack Kirby, inks by Vince Colletta, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek
Panels from Double Edge: Alpha one-shot (August 1995), script by Larry Hama, breakdowns by Kerry Gammill, finishes by Tom Palmer, colors by Christie Scheele and Ian Loughlin, letters by Jack Morelli
Panel from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #2 (December 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Mico Suayan, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit
Panel from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #2 (December 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Mico Suayan, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit
Panel from Punisher: The Trial of the Punisher #2 (December 2013), script by Marc Guggenheim, pencils and inks by Mico Suayan, colors by Sunny Gho, letters by Cory Petit
So, within the first two minutes of the new Marvel Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher direct-to-DVD animated movie, we see a newspaper website displayed on a computer monitor:
Oh, for Pete's sake, movie. If you're going to take time to show us exposition on a screen, at least ensure it makes grammatical sense, huh? Also...
I'm pretty sure he doesn't have that symbol trademarked. And if he does, he's got a better lawyer than Matt Murdock.
While I'm off on holiday vacation, please peruse this Bully Classic, originally posted November 20, 2008. Enjoy or enjoy again!
Everyone knows that The Punisher can use anything as a weapon. A gun, a knife, a carrot, a Nerf ball, a bit of string...the man can break your spine in six places with a Jell-O™ Pudding Cup.
Panels from The Punisher: War Zone Annual #1 (July 1993), written by Chuck Dixon, penciled and inked by John Buscema, colored by Ericka T. Moran, lettered by Michael Higgins
That's why whenever you sell out Mister Castle to the mob, make certain there's nothing within his reach that he can use against you as a killing tool.
Especially never let him have access to a pig.
Captain America may use a metal shield for protection...
...but all Frank Castle needs is a pig.
This otherwise-serviceable tale of crime, revenge, and ham would have gone unnoticed in the annals of the many Punisher titles that glutted your local comic book store in the mid-1990s (Punisher, Punisher War Zone, Punisher Armory, Punisher vs. Archie, Punisher's Summer Vacation Spectacular, Punisher Love-In, Punisher: Son of Odin, The Mutant Misadventures of The Punisher, X-Punisher, Punisher: Sorcerer Supreme, Wolverunisher, and Star Comics' for-children-series Kid Punisher, to name but a few) if it hadn't been for the sparkling debut of that fan-favorite character whose first appearance later drove the back issue price for Punisher: War Zone Annual #1 higher than Hulk #181...the epic premiere of Frank's later constant companion and sidekick, his comrade in arms, dangerous and deadly, powerful and porcine, he's...
The Punisher's Battle-Pig!
Appearing in over seventy separate comic book guest-spots during the height of his popularity, the Punisher's Battle-Pig is one of those characters that's not often seen in today's modern "realistic" Marvel Universe of Red Hulks and shape-changing alien infiltrators, but he was an icon of his time. Let's remember him with a look at his popular page from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, shall we?:
Remember kids, The Punisher's Battle-Pig says
Take a bite out of crime...not bacon!
So, in conclusion, let's all listen to The Punisher's Battle-Pig's Haunting Love Theme, shall we?
Panel from Punisher War Journal (1988 series) #36 (November 1991), script by Mike Baron, pencils by Steven Butler, inks by Kim DeMulder, colors by Gregory Wright, letters by Jim Novak
For all their vaunted popularity in their own particular worlds of excitement and amazement, comic book characters sometimes aren't very good at recognizing each other...even when it's dead obvious. I mean, you can forgive blind-as-a-bat-who-got-hit-with-radioactive-waste-in-his-eyes Matt Murdock of maybe not recognizing his pals Foggy Nelson and Karen Page...or is that Heather Glenn? You know, put a headband on her and it kinda looks like Gwen Stacy, don't it...?
Maybe the problem, therefore, is just that instead of a superhero, everybody seems to be expecting somebody else!
Or maybe, just maybe, too many people are stuck on the obvious.
So let me now present to you a literally virtual gallery of Smart Answers to Stupid Identifications of Comic Book Characters. Enjoy, won't you?
I had to look this next one up. Here's who Gabriel Heatter is. (It's a nice pun, too, even if it's misspelled. Whoever said that spontaneously combusting androids don't have a sense of humor? I think that was Namor who said that, right?)
Sometimes even civilians get mistaken for superheroes! I know I am frequently asked if I am the Incredible Hulk, especially when I am wearing my Hulk Hands. Bully Smash!
How square is Clark Kent? So square that he can't even get the lyrics of "Rubber Biscuit" right!
Finally, we must all bow down before the king of being mistaken for somebody else...this guy:
L: Amazing Spider-Man #201 (February 1980), cover art by John Romita, Sr. and Bob McLeod
R: Marvel Tales v.2 #218 (December 1988), reprinting Amazing Spider-Man #201, cover art by Mike Zeck
Page from Punisher Holiday Special #1 (January 1993), script by Steven Grant, pencils by John Hebert, inks by Rodney Ramos, colors by John Kalisz, letters by Ken Lopez
