The Punisher first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man # 129 (Feb 1974) and was created by Gerry Conway and John Romita, Sr., who was the art director at Marvel then, though Ross Andru drew the actual comic and Stan Lee believes he came up with the name. The Punisher is a ruthless vigilante who acts as judge, jury and executioner and kills bad guys with impunity. This kind of anti-hero was unknown to comics of the Silver Age but I suppose they eventually had to emulate the movies where films like ‘Dirty Harry’ (1971) popularised a tougher approach to criminality.

In his first appearance, the Punisher is out to kill Spider-Man as part of his fight against crime, convinced by the Jackal that Spidey murdered Norman Osborn. Having proved popular, he came back in The Amazing Spider-Man # 134-135 to fight with the eponymous hero eventually against Tarantula, a spikey-shoed refugee from some dodgy South American dictatorship. He next appeared in Giant-Sized Spider-Man # 4 and finally had a couple of solo shots in Marvel Preview # 2 and Marvel Super-Action # 1. These were both black and white titles, the latter a one shot. The Punisher was not yet popular enough to succeed in a mainstream comic and so resumed guest appearances in other Marvel titles, notably Daredevil # 182-184, an excellent story from the Frank Miller era of that title. Most often, though, he appeared in the various ‘Spider-Man’ comic books of the era where the contrast between his ruthless methods and Peter Parker’s less self-righteous approach to crime fighting worked well. Actually, the Punisher was not so murderous as he later became, often using mercy bullets which don’t kill on the lesser hoodlums.

The 1980s saw the coming of the mini-series to the comic book industry and this gave an opportunity for longer stories about characters who might not carry off an on-going comic book. The Punisher was ideal for this kind of thing, so writer Steven Grant and artist Mike Zeck teamed up to do a complicated five-part story in which our hero ‘kills’ the Kingpin and unleashes a gang war as everyone else tries to take the large man’s place as top crime lord. Grant’s script is great and Zeck’s art is excellent. Part five is scripted by Jo Duffy and drawn by Mike Vosburg and John Beatty, who do a perfectly fine job.

As extreme violence and a more hard-nosed crime-fighting approach took hold in the 80s, the Punisher became more popular. There are three films about him!

This is an entertaining collection of early stories which showcases a wide variety of talent. The only drawback, from a reader’s point of view, is that you are left wanting to carry on reading ‘Spider-Man’ and ‘Daredevil’ to find out what happens next to them. From a publisher’s point of view, this is wonderful and, indeed, the whole point of crossovers. Happily, the various ‘Essential Spider-Man’ collections are up to date with what’s shown here. The ‘Essential Daredevils’ are still a few years short of the great Frank Miller years, so you’ll have to wait for them. On the other hand, there are, to date, four volumes of ‘Essential Punisher’ into which your teeth, bullets, hand grenades or machetes can now be sunk. Enjoy!

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/

Trio for Blunt Instruments by Rex Stout draws us back into the world of Nero Wolfe and his loyal assistant, Archie Goodwin. The last time I visited with these distinguished detectives was back in 2015 (it's been too long!) so I was very happy to get a 3-in-1 with this book. This volume contains the following mysteries: Kill Now -- Pay Later, Murder Is Corny, and Blood Will Tell. As this is a collection, the stories aren't overly lengthy (Murder Is Corny was previously unpublished and was the last novella written by Stout.) but as with all of Stout's writings they pack a powerful punch no matter the length. I continue to maintain that Archie Goodwin is one of my favorite literary characters. His veracity, loyalty, bravery, and overwhelming likability mark him as a singular character that it's nearly impossible not to like. There is something so real about him and his narrative voice as the reporter of Wolfe's cases lends reality and humor. Of course, Wolfe is a singular character in his own right as a true 'armchair detective' in every way.

 

Kill Now -- Pay Later covers the story of Wolfe's shoe shiner who witnesses something (it's not too much of a shock for me to tell you it's related to a murder I don't think) and comes to Wolfe immediately afterward. Once Wolfe is on the case, it turns out that it's not as straightforward as the police think especially since a subsequent crime is marked as a suicide and the case is considered closed. It's up to Wolfe and Archie to continue the case to its bitter end no matter how winding their path becomes.

 

Murder Is Corny is an extremely corny title for one of Stout's mysteries as the victim works at a farm that produces corn. <pause for grimace> Archie is pegged as the main suspect after one of his prior flames indicates that he was at the scene of the crime. Wolfe at first demurs as it's 'Archie's private affair' but when he realizes that he stands a good chance of losing someone he relies on he steps in. This one has a lot of moving parts and quite a few memorable characters but what marks it as unique is that Goodwin isn't interested in the main female character. ;-)

 

And that brings us to Blood Will Tell which opens up with Archie receiving a rather strange package in the mail and snowballs into a dramatic story about spurned love, boorishness, and snappy dressers. I think this one was my favorite of the three because it provided a lot of sidestories to sink your teeth into and it kept me guessing up until the last.

 

Whatever your taste in mysteries, you can't go wrong with this 3-in-1 because it has a little something for everybody. If you haven't ever tried a Nero Wolfe mystery then this is an excellent place to start. 

3 stories about Wolverine and Nick Fury, two involving Scorpio (in this case, Nick Fury's nephew, Mikel) and the other about as gangland boss. The Scorpio stories are about Mikel seeking revenge for the death of his father and about his return to foil a coup in his native country.

The stories are quite well-told although I am starting to get bored by too many fighting scenes (inevitable, I suppose) Some great artwork, particularly from John Buscema in the middle story.

Death Times Three includes 3 novellas featuring the famous armchair detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin. All of the Nero Wolfe mysteries take place in Manhattan through the 1930-70s. The first in this compilation, Bitter End, starts out with contaminated liver pate and continues with the search for a murderer. Following after that is Frame-Up For Murder where Archie is entreated by a beautiful young woman to help her brother save his fashion business only for the waters to be muddied by an ill-timed death. It closes with Assault on a Brownstone which is singular as Wolfe's sanctuary is beset with Treasury officials and Archie meets someone who gets the jump on him. It's a quick, fun read and if you love mysteries it will whet your appetite for longer works from Stout. You won't regret it, I promise.

So if you're picking this book up nowadays hoping to encounter never-before-seen ideas and plots, you're going to be disappointed. As you might be able to guess from just how old the books in this collection are, you've seen most of this before by now. Even within the trade, you start to see the same storytelling notes coming up again and again, and at times you can skip entire issues and miss nothing of note.

But that being said, if you're in it for Luke Cage - as I was - this is a pretty fun volume. It especially seems to work when Cage is doing the stuff that he wants to do, following his own story arc rather than picking up the client of the week.

Though I was about at the point where if I saw one more fight in Cage's office that somehow didn't wreck the entire place I was just gonna be done. :)