Mike Baron Carl Potts Roger Salick John Wellington
Written by
Carl Potts (1-15, 17-24),Mike Baron (16, 25-37), Steven Grant (50, 65-75), Chuck Dixon (38-42, 44-64, 75-80), Richard Rainey (43), Roger Salick (64), John Wellington (4)
Artist(s)
Neil Hansen Jim Lee Carl Potts Dave Ross - 'David H. Ross' Steve Biasi Danny Bulanadi Russ Heath Jr. Donald C. 'Don' Hudson Klaus R. Janson Allen 'Al' Milgrom Kenneth Rubenoff Mark Texeira - 'TEX' Scott Williams John Wellington Gregory A. Wright Ken Bruzenak Ken Lopez James R. 'Jim' Novak Richard 'Rick' Parker
Steve Biasi Danny Bulanadi Russ Heath Jr. Donald C. 'Don' Hudson Klaus R. Janson Allen 'Al' Milgrom Kenneth Rubenoff Mark Texeira - 'TEX' Scott Williams
Mark D. Beazley Sarah Brunstad Kelly P. Corvese Don Daley Carl Potts Rob Tokar Mike Baron
The Punisher War Journal is an American comic bookseries published from 1988 to 1995 byMarvel Comics featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the vigilante thePunisher.[1] It was the first ever spin-off for the character and the first series of the titleThe Punisher War Journal. It lasted for 80[2] issues and featured varying artists, including early works ofJim Lee[3][4][5] and writers, most notablyCarl Potts who had worked as an editor on the main Punisher series before.[6]
The series was made due to the character's immense popularity at the time. Marvel had previously used the character in guest appearances to boost the sales of other titles, but decided to publish a second ongoing title for the Punisher which became this series. Mike Baron, the series' editor and one of the writers, expressed in a 1988 interview that the character's popularity came at a time when American citizens were especially angry with society's failure to punish evil.[7]
The series consists of several story arcs, including "An Eye For An Eye", "Firepower Among The Ruins", "The Sicilian Saga", "The Kamchatkan Konspiracy", "Pariah!" and "Last Entry" which were confined within the series itself and other arcs such as "Acts of Vengeance", "Dead Man's Hand" and "Suicide Run" which were part of larger Marvel events. The final arc, "Countdown", was a crossover between all the ongoing Punisher series at the time.
The series was hugely popular upon its original release. Because of the series success Marvel put together a promo tour for the creators of the books. They visited numerous comic book stores in California and Hawaii and interacted with the fans there.[8] Its popularity also prompted Marvel to publish a third ongoing Punisher series namedThe Punisher War Zone. Though the popularity fell later in the run as it did with the two other Punisher titles at the time,The Punisher andThe Punisher War Zone[9] due to extensive overexposure of the character at the time.[10] The series greatly contributed to the characters independent success outside of being a supporting character.[11] The series, especially Potts' writing, influencedCharles Forsman's seriesRevenger.[12] The series featured the first meeting of Wolverine and the Punisher in issue 6, named "On the Track of Unknown Animals", which was described by Blair Marnell ofComingsoon.net as a memorable meeting,[13] and was voted as the 75th greatest issue of any Marvel series ever in 2001. Greg Burgas ofComic Book Resources praised Lee's artwork.[14]
While still under theComics Code Authority the series featured bodily violence which had not been previously used in Marvel comics publications. The series also featured more guns, explosions and highly sexualized women.[15]
^Bongco, Mila (2000),Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, Taylor & Francis, p. 181,ISBN978-0-8153-3344-9
^Bongco, Mila (2000),Reading Comics: Language, Culture, and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Books, Taylor & Francis, p. 181,ISBN978-0-8153-3344-9
