Punisher War Journal 12 - Acts of Vengeance

The late 1980s saw the Punisher surge to such popularity that within two years he had gone from having no series at all to being only the second Marvel character to have two ongoing monthly series. The two titles largely orbited each other in their early years, making passing reference to events in the other series but normally avoiding crossovers. Companywide events can be harder to avoid but rather than running one long story told over all titles (as with the Spider-Man books both here and during "Inferno"), it instead goes for a two-parter in the older title and then a sequel that readers of the other series don't need to be aware of. It's not immediately obvious why this is, although if Punisher War Journal was only sold in the direct market then it may have been to avoid confusing newsstand readers who would only have been able to access half of the story. It also means that sequential collections of either title don't contain the parts from the other.

Punisher War Journal #12

Story: Carl Potts
Pencils: Jim Lee
Inks: Al Milgrom
Background inks: Don Hudson
Letters: Jim Novak
Colours: Gregory Wright
Assistant Editor: Rob Tokar
Editor: Don Daley
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Unfortunately for contemporary readers this would all have fallen down due to the order in which the books were released. Despite clearly taking place in the order Punisher #28, Punisher #29, Punisher War Journal #12 and Punisher War Journal #13, they were instead released in the order Punisher War Journal #12, Punisher #28, Punisher War Journal #13 and Punisher #29, thus beginning the sequel even before the original story. This arrangement looks even odder when noting that Carl Potts was the editor on Punisher and the writer on Punisher War Journal. One possible explanation is that Punisher War Journal began coming out approximately every six weeks but stepped up the frequency to monthly with issue #10 and this threw the planned schedule with no time to insert a fill-in to restore it.

The problems don't arise until nearly halfway through the issue when we get a scene of the Kingpin and Doctor Doom continuing their taunting of one another about how easy it would be to take the Punisher down, with Doom brushing aside his reasons for not doing so in the earlier story before the Kingpin takes on the task and opts to contract Bushwhacker, a former foe of Daredevil. The method of recruitment is interesting, with the mysterious stranger first sent to bribe a news anchor on "CMN", a twenty-four-hour news channel that Bushwhacker watches, to deliver coverage that approves of the vigilante but disapproves of the mercenary. Then he contacts Bushwhacker, claiming the Punisher is an ally of Daredevil as the clincher.

Earlier in the issue we get a classic use of the split page technique to provide parallels and contrasts between the two strands of the story, as Bushwhacker is introduced whilst on a missing to kill a modern artist who is also a low-level mutant, whilst the Punisher attacks a group of drug importers by the dock. It's a good sequence in its own right but it also helps to introduce the Punisher to readers who may be encountering him for the first time, though this effect is limited when the issues are put in chronological order. Later the Punisher's origin is used in the story, further introducing him but also providing a rationale for how Bushwhacker is able to locate him when he makes his annual pilgrimage to the site where his family were killed.

Normally the villains in Punisher stories don't live past the end of the story, making it difficult to accumulate a long-term set of recurring foes. However as Bushwhacker originated from another series there's a possibility he could be an exception. An ex-priest who then worked for the CIA before turning mercenary, he has a cybernetic arm that can form itself into a variety of guns, making him difficult to literally disarm. His history compares and contrasts well with the Punisher, suggesting good future potential.

Overall this is a pretty strong issue that works well in introducing both the hero and foe and setting up the conflict in a way that works for both new and regular readers. It's unfortunate that at the time this came out of sequence but now that's no longer an issue.

Punisher War Journal #12 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)
• Punisher War Journal by Carl Potts & Jim Lee (2016)