Punisher 28 - Acts of Vengeance

It's easy to forget that there was a time when the Kingpin was the Punisher's greatest living foe. Yet it makes perfect sense for a leading crime lord to not only repeatedly have his operations disrupted by a persistent vigilante but also that he would take action to try to neutralise that problem. However the relationship between the Kingpin and the Punisher is very different from the former's with both Spider-Man and Daredevil. It is much more a business arrangement with the Punisher an operating liability that proves difficult to remove, rather than the personalised struggles elsewhere. But not everyone realises this and so it results in the Punisher being targeted by Doctor Doom.

Punisher #28

Writer: Mike Baron
Penciler: Bill Reinhold
Inker: Mark Farmer
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colourist: John Wellington
Editor: Carl Potts
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Time and again throughout this crossover there's a real sense of hostility between at least some of the leading villains (others don't get much panel time together) to the point that they're trying not just to defeat the heroes but to demonstrate that they can succeed where others have failed. Doctor Doom has been used rather a lot in this crossover but most of the time he's been organising the lesser ranks of villains or operating from afar. It's a slightly shocking move to see him taking on a foe directly, even if he is doing it through Doombots.

The idea of the Punisher fighting Doctor Doom at first sounds about as silly as, well, Daredevil versus Ultron but that hasn't stopped this crossover from doing such things. This story features very much the scientific dictator side of Doom rather than the more fantastical, with the deposed monarch deploying a Doombot, mercenaries, a tank and even a pair of fighter planes. It does actually score damage in destroying both the Punisher's van and one of his warehouses but it's all ridiculous overkill, showing how arrogance and rivalry can drive a determined individual to go to extreme lengths.

The Punisher is also a determined man and a canny one. Rapidly realising he can't fight off all the resources of Doom and he can't easily kill someone who operates through an army of duplicate robots, he decides to instead steal something that Doom values and use it to force the doctor to back off. This results in him and Microchip going hiking through the mountains of Latveria in lederhosen, a sight rarely seen. However when he reaches Doom's castle he soon discovers there's more to his new foe than meets the eye.

There's a sense of absurdity to both the Punisher's adventures and to the "Acts of Vengeance" crossover as a whole so a story in which he's targeted by one of the biggest villains in the Marvel universe isn't actually that surprising, especially given the nature of the rivalries amongst the key villains. And Frank's response is perfectly logical. There's plenty of fun imagery in the story, from the hiking to the Punisher's rocket pack, making for a good action packed first parter that sets up a strong conflict on multiple levels.

Punisher #28 has been reprinted in:

• Essential Punisher volume 3 (2009)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)