Damage Control 2 - Acts of Vengeance

The second issue of the second Damage Control limited series once again brings a mix of slapstick humour, political and corporate satire and gratuitous guest appearances. It starts off parodying the Punisher as he makes his way into the Damage Control building intending to investigate the files to find out who is guilty of the Kingpin's corruption... only to find the firm deluged by clients amidst the widespread destruction caused by the "Acts of Vengeance". Even the Mayor of New York, Ed Koch, has turned up.

Damage Control (volume 2) #2

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Artist: Ernie Colon
Letters: Ricky Parker
Colour: John Wellington
Editor: Sid Jacobson
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

(There's a surprisingly quick topical gag. This issue came out on October 24 1989, just six weeks after Koch had lost a primary election to David Dinkins. Koch's minders are shown here wearing Koch campaign badges with Dinkins stickers pasted over them. Koch declaring he's mayor, a handy piece of explanatory dialogue for readers far from the city in space or time, is supposed to impress how important he is but Robin Chapel, the firm's director of operations, privately thinks "Yeah? Talk to me after January 1st." It's surprising how quickly this was worked into the issue.)

The Punisher tries to assassinate Chapel in order to assert his authority but is merely confronted with yet another Doctor Doom robot, although this one has a different controller, whilst She-Hulk turns up an issue early for her guest appearance, complete with her contemporary habit of breaking the fourth wall and confusing people when she did it outside her own series. Elsewhere a team is recovering Avengers mansion from the sea, with a very annoyed Captain America still complaining about events at the Vault, whilst the new boss's assistant is more interested into getting into Chapel's underwear than learning about how the firm works. Amidst all this the new boss is implementing a radical reorganisation that isn't too popular with the staff.

Much of the humour is based on seeming madness of office and corporate politics but it's done in a way that shows all the nonsense, pettiness and absurdities of the situation without being impenetrable, resulting in some quite funny moments, especially as the Punisher tries to implement serious business and gets a very different response from the norm. The wider crossover is more a backdrop to this issue than a direct driver of events, but it works to confirm the unusual nature of the situation and add to the tensions. This mini-series continues to be a fun little side part of the overall event.

Damage Control (volume 2) #2 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)
• Damage Control: The Complete Collection (2015)