The Punisher Annual 1 - The Evolutionary War

The Punisher encounters an Evolutionary War on Drugs.

(Due to the large number of creators the labels for some have been put in a separate post.)

The Punisher Annual #1

1st story: Evolutionary Jihad
Script: Mike Baron
Pencils: Mark Texeira
Inks: Scott Williams
Letters: Jim Novak
Colors: Janet Jackson
Edits: Carl Potts
Eliminator in Chief: Tom DeFalco

The problem with a line wide crossover, or at least one encompassing all the series with annuals, is that it's going to take in some extremely different series with very different power levels and perspectives. Both this annual and the next one demonstrate the extremities of this as they take in what were in 1988 Marvel's hottest new series.

The Punisher had been running for less than a year when this first annual came along and so it's very likely The Evolutionary War was approved before it was realised there would be an encounter on such a scale. The nature  of this crossover overall is such that individual events can be easily added or dropped from the overall plan but the different power levels can result in some very strange aspects to the plan.

The solution here is to tell a relatively straightforward typical Punisher story in which one faction is armed with high tech weaponry. The High Evolutionary's Eliminators aren't that much more advanced than some of the other more technological foes the Punisher and so don't feel out of place here whilst the Evolutionary himself is never seen, only mentioned. However the goal in this annual is ridiculous.

Here the High Evolutionary has launched a war on drugs and comments by his Eliminators imply that they're going after the whole chain from producers all the way through to users. It just feels absurd that such a broad target would be selected for such physical resources. It would be easy to refine the target to some particular drug variant only grown in the vicinity but as it stands it's an unbelievable goal. Still the practical result is that the Punisher gets to fight some hi-tech guys in Colombia.

This is yet another tale of a fight with a  Latin American drug baron, a cliche even at the time. However Mike Baron's script gives some good development to "El Caiman", presenting him as also a devoted father and popular philanthropist who has done far more for the local people than their own government. He and the Punisher end up in an alliance of convenience against the Eliminators and there's a real sense that they've come to respect one another enough that they'll let each go when the threat is removed. However both know that this cannot be and so when they find themselves in El Caiman's aquarium at the end the Punisher has no option but to fire a bullet to break the glass and feed the drug lord to his own pet from whom he takes his nickname.

As a Punisher story this is a good one-off tale that doesn't require an in-depth knowledge of the character and his continuity to understand it. But as a chapter in The Evolutionary War it's struggling to disguise just how difficult it is to fit that event into this series. The Evolutionary's goals are just too unrealistic to make sense.


2nd story: 3 Hearts
Writer: Roger Salick
Artist: Mike Bosburg
Letterer: Ken Bruzenak
Colorist: Max Scheele

This solo tale for Microchip is named after a Japanese proverb that a person has three hearts - the one they show to the world, the one they keep to themselves and the one they don't even know about. Microchip finds out what he is capable of when he goes to the help of the widow of an old friend whose new husband has become an assassin for hire and is even trying to kill his wife lest she report him. Although Microchip has developed many weapons for others, here we see his private nervousness over whether he himself can pull the trigger when he tracks down the assassin reporting back. We also get the comedy as he smuggles an anti-tank gun into a hotel. And then the story ends with showing his deviousness and ruthlessness as he confronts the assassin and seemingly makes a deal.

It's a good exploration of Microchip's character and capabilities when he doesn't have the Punisher around him but the story's title is rather over laboured with excess dialogue seeking to justify it. But otherwise this is just the sort of piece that super-size annuals should have.


3rd story: The High Evolutionary: Pet Project
Story: Mark Gruenwald
Pencils: Paris Cullins
Inks: Tony DeZuniga
Letters: Ken Lopez
Colors: Gregory Wright
Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Herbert Edgar Wyndham was expelled from Oxford after losing his temper with key professors and then he found his home was insufficiently isolated to carry out his experiments. Salvation came when he met again with Jonathan Drew whose wife had inherited land in the Balkans and so they set up a laboratory there.

It's a relatively straightforward chapter that continues the themes of Wyndham being in a hurry, impatient with the conventional speed of science and being detached from conventional society. But it also exposes a problem with the character's name and aims. Evolution is the development of a species as it adapts to conditions with beneficial mutations coming to dominate as best able to survive. By definition it is not possible to stick an organism in a machine and flick a switch to turn it into what a later evolved descendant will be. Yet that is precisely what Wyndham is shown attempting. At best he can accelerate the individual organism's development to deal with the rays of his machine but nothing more.

This flaw goes back to the character's original appearance and suggests that his creators did not have the strongest understanding of evolutionary science when they named him. It raises the question as to what is the character's actual goal.

Also included is a guide to the Punisher's Battle Van and a diagram of his New Jersey warehouse.

Overall this is a good Punisher annual but a disappointing The Evolutionary War one. The Punisher was always going to be one of the hardest characters to fit into the overall event but even so the draw here just doesn't stand up well. It is unfortunate that both the first two annuals in this event have been disappointing.

Punisher War Journal 13 - Acts of Vengeance

For some reason this issue lacks an "Acts of Vengeance" banner on the cover. Perhaps this is another sign of the series's original publication schedule which would have seen this issue come out either on the same day as the climax of the crossover or even a week later. But the issue, written by Carl Potts and drawn by David Ross at the start of a three-issue fill-in run (perhaps coinciding with Jim Lee doing a three-issue run on Uncanny X-Men), is definitely a part of the crossover, concluding the story of Bushwhacker being sent to take down the Punisher by the Kingpin as part of his ongoing squabble with Doctor Doom.

Punisher War Journal #13

Story: Carl Potts
Pencils: David Ross
Inks: Russ Heath
Letters: Jim Novak
Colours: Gregory Wright
Assistant Editor: Rob Tokar
Editor: Don Daley
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The comparisons and contrasts continue, to the point that Bushwhacker's wife declares "You're both hypocrites -- so righteous in your roles -- you're two peas in a pod!" Bushwhacker certainly proves one of the toughest solo foes the Punisher has had to deal with so far, made worse by the latter having been caught off guard and he finds himself trapped in a part of a warehouse with only a spring-loaded ballistic knife. Bushwhacker isn't a simple killer though. He regards killing as an art and is obsessed with confession, a hangover from his days a priest. Thus he finds himself unable to simply kill the Punisher when he has him at his mercy. Ego repeatedly proves critical as Bushwhacker becomes determined to demonstrate his superiority. It's a trait shared somewhat with Doctor Doom and the Kingpin, still engaged in taunting one another over whether or not it's easy to take down the Punisher, whilst the mysterious stranger merely relays messages and watches.

Much of the issue is all action based as the Punisher and Bushwhacker fight first at the former's warehouse and then at the latter's home, before a final road chase with a twist. Both men are driven and both have an unusual conversation with their wives - in the Punisher's case it's with her spirit as he lies close to death. Each man uses both cunning tactics and raw ballistic strength in their attack, making for a strong showdown. As a foe from another series, Bushwhacker's fate is left in typical comic book ambiguity but on all signs here he would make a good recurring foe for the Punisher.

This is an example of "Acts of Vengeance" at its best, pitching a hero against an existing villain who's a good match for them both physically and as a character. It's a fast-paced action piece that works its themes well, helped by the dark art.

Punisher War Journal #13 has been reprinted in:

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

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)

The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger 9 - Acts of Vengeance

It's not hard to guess which of the leaders' alliance is most used in "Acts of Vengeance". And once again Doctor Doom is shown to have carried out at least the initial commissioning of the villains (though he subcontracts the details to the Jester). But it's astonishing to see that the lesser villain used more than any other is Hydro Man. Never one of the big-name Spider-Man villains, he somehow keeps getting picked for inclusion in groups across the event, even though he gets captured each time.

The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #9

Script: Terry Austin
Art: Mike Vosburg
Backgrounds: Don Cameron
Letters: James Novak
Colours: Glynis Oliver
Pin-Up Art: Mark Texiera, Howard Chaykin, Charles Vess, John Byrne and Walt Simonson
Editor: Carl Potts
Chief: Tom DeFalco

This is an extra-large issue that sees a team-up with the Avengers with a twist. For some reason, perhaps because they've been seen fighting Spider-Man a few times, Cloak and Dagger have turned up not on the central alliance's list of heroes to dispose of but instead on a list of potential villains to recruit. And thus the Jester has come to add them to a team that will attack an Avengers public meeting.

This is a new Jester, who has taken on the role after the original retired to become an actor. Using a new version of a villain, especially in such a key role, feels so detached from the principles of "Acts of Vengeance" that it seems most likely the Jester was picked for use and drawn into at least the previous issue before someone realised the character was no longer available and so an explanation was hurriedly worked into the script to work around the mistake. The rest of the team assembled are pretty obscure foes of limited powers, including the Rock, the Fenris twins and a robot of the Hulk. The "Assembly of Evil" isn't a complete walkover but ultimately proves not much more than a nuisance. Either Cloak and Dagger and/or the villains who declined to join, such as Typhoid Mary and the Leader, were critical missing elements or else the real target was not the Avengers themselves but rather their reputation. One of the underused themes of the crossover is the public debate about whether the super-heroes make sure safer or more dangerous for their ordinary public and a crossover in which numerous villains are attacking the heroes should provide plenty of fuel for the debate. But instead this aspect has not been used so much outside the Fantastic Four issues and so the wider backdrop is lacking here.

Going for a team-up also means a trick has been missed. Cloak and Dagger normally have gritty street level adventures against non-costumed foes and are generally isolated from much of the wider Marvel universe, so this crossover could have provided an opportunity to face them off against some bigger name established villains. But unfortunately that opportunity has not been taken and so instead we have a team-up that somewhat crowds out the stars of the book, with a somewhat lightweight fight that at times has elements of slapstick, particularly in the scenes with She-Hulk and both the Hulk robot and the Jester.

Overall this is a rather disappointing issue. It doesn't feel worthy of either a double-sized issue or of being Cloak and Dagger's sole participation in the crossover. All round it feels like a set of wasted opportunities.

The Mutant Misadventures of Cloak and Dagger #9 has been reprinted in:

• Acts of Vengeance Crossovers Omnibus (2011)

Wolverine 20 - Acts of Vengeance

This issue continues Wolverine's adventures in the Latin American cliché of Terra Verde with the continued interference of Tiger Shark the only element from the wider event. Otherwise this is a middle parter of the story and very much an action driven one as La Bandera and her rebels try to free political prisoners from a medical centre with a side-line in experiments, whilst Wolverine and Tiger Shark each keep on coming back.

Wolverine #20

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Breakdown artist: John Byrne
Finishing artist: Klaus Janson
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colourist: Mike Rockwitz
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The issue opens with a strong sequence as Tiger Shark forces Wolverine into the depths of the sea and shoves his claws into a coral reef, leaving him unable to extract himself in the time before his air runs out. It's such a strong sequence that it really should have been the cliffhanger to the last issue instead of just Tiger Shark intercepting Wolverine as the latter fled the medical centre through the sea. It also confronts Wolverine's cockiness well as he initially thinks how he hasn't got a chance against Tiger Shark in the water and these are the sort of odds he likes. A pattern recurs through the issue as each fight makes it appear that the loser is doomed, only he comes back at an unexpected moment later on. Only at the end of the issue do we get a permanent conclusion to the conflict though Wolverine doubts his foe will be killed in the process.

The rest of the issue focuses on a battle with the military dictator who is using a special variant of cocaine combined with his ex-wife's mysterious healing powers to produce a super soldier for the country. Meanwhile La Bandera tries to free political prisoners and confront the dictator but enthusiasm for a rebellion is in somewhat short supply. There's also an indication that the real power is the president's adviser Geist, an aged Nazi who survived the war and went on to help various governments with secrets, acquiring cybernetic elements to his body in the process. However this element of the story is still mired in cliché and doesn't yet overcome it to provide an original spin.

Being the conclusion of the title's involvement in "Acts of Vengeance" but only a middle part on its own storyline means that this is an unsatisfactory issue for the crossover reader even though it confirms that excellent matches of heroes and villains can be made out of the basic premise. But otherwise it has too many cliched elements and leaves the event before sorting them out without being sufficiently gripping to stay around for the local storyline's conclusion.

Wolverine #20 has been reprinted in:

• Essential Wolverine volume 1 (1996)
• Wolverine Classic volume 4 (2006)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossover Omnibus (2011)
• Marvel Universe by John Byrne Omnibus volume 1 (2016)

Wolverine 19 - Acts of Vengeance

We come now to what is surprisingly the first ever issue of Wolverine to take part in a crossover. In the early years of this series there was a real determination to ensure that this series stood on its own merits rather than merely feeding off events in Uncanny X-Men, with the result that Wolverine's solo adventures are largely set elsewhere. It notably did not take part in a number of crossovers between the other mutant titles such as "Inferno", "X-Tinction Agenda" and "X-Cutioner's Song" and may also have avoided having annuals to duck out of further crossovers. Consequently the first 74 issues of the title are almost their own beast, give or take the stories that build on revelations in Marvel Comics Presents. But this and the next issue are the exception to this rule, suggesting that either a Marvel-wide event could override the wishes of the X-Men editors or else having John Byrne as the artist on a series guaranteed its inclusion in a crossover he was heading. But notably Archie Goodwin manages to weave the crossover into an existing storyline so that it feels completely natural.

Wolverine #19

Writer: Archie Goodwin
Layouts: John Byrne
Finishes: Klaus Janson
Colourist: Mike Rockwitz
Letterer: Jim Novak
Editor: Bob Harras
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The storyline itself concerns Wolverine's investigations into a cocaine supply line that's come into Madripoor, a Singapore-like city where he spends most of the early years of his solo series, with his old foe Roughhouse captured and experimented on. The cocaine has also been supplied to the United States, creating further complications. So when Wolverine arrives at the source, the Latin American country of Tierra Verde, he soon comes across Tiger Shark who's been sent to deal with the country's hero La Bandera. A brief cutaway scene establishes that the Kingpin has sent Tiger Shark both for revenge for disruption to his operations but also as part of the broader conspiracy. It's a sign of how easy it would be to cut the wider event from the storyline. As we'll come to more with the Uncanny X-Men issues, Wolverine has been officially considered dead and undetectable to equipment for a while now so he's one of the few heroes who it's natural to not target. Despite this, Tiger Shark is actually quite a good fit since one of Wolverine's biggest vulnerabilities is drowning and so a water-based foe presents a stronger challenge than usual.

Tierra Verde is a country that's cliché upon cliché. A Latin American country with a military dictatorship, rebellion openly forming in the streets, state involvement in international drug crime and an ex-Nazi operating in the country who actually says, "an embarrassing cliché, yes?" The concepts are so well-worn, especially at Marvel, that it makes one wonder if there are any other story types set in the region. This is La Bandera's first appearance and she quickly falls into the classic sidekick role of the young innocent girl contrasting with the experienced and cynical Wolverine. Otherwise as the first issue to see Wolverine in the country this is predominantly a scene-setter, with the complications of Tiger Shark getting in the way as Wolverine makes his way to the heart of the operation.

Although this is the third part of the overall saga, the scene shifting helps to make the issue sufficiently accessible for readers brought in via the wider crossover. The Kingpin sending someone to take down a previously never before seen hero may not be the biggest event going but given the odd set-up for the X-Men at the time it's understandably hard to arrange a more conventional conflict and Tiger Shark is a good match for Wolverine anyway. Overall this is not the most essential of chapters in the crossover but a good example of how to incorporate it into the regular flow of a title.

Wolverine #19 has been reprinted in:

• Essential Wolverine volume 1 (1996)
• Wolverine Classic volume 4 (2006)
• Acts of Vengeance Crossover Omnibus (2011)
• Marvel Universe by John Byrne Omnibus volume 1 (2016)