The Punisher Magazine #5 - Marvel

Dec. 1989 - Another visit with everyone's second favorite homicidal superhero!

I've covered The Punisher Magazine once before, when talking about the second issue, when the series was busy reprinting the superb Punisher mini-series by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck. I knew that the magazine kept going, so I wondered whether it was original series or more reprints.

Turns out it was more reprints, as the magazine moved right on to reprinting the regular Punisher color series, but presented here in black and white.

Behind the cover by James Sherman (I don't know what that one weapon the ninja on the left is holding is, but it looks painful), this issue reprints The Punisher #'s 4 and 5, by Mike Baron and Klaus Janson. The Punisher gets involved with a self-styled religious leader named The Rev who ends up being corrupt (stop the presses).

While Mike Zeck did a fantastic job on the Punisher mini-series, Klaus Janson was just as good on the character, as well, and his work looks even better to me without the color muddying it up:

...I love the blunt, hard edges he gives these stories. The art looks like how The Punisher feels, you know?

In addition to the two stories, there's a really spooky pin-up, where ol' Frank Castle looks like he's completely gone around the bend:

...this was during The Punisher's hottest period, where Marvel couldn't crank out enough material.

That hotness cooled off, of course, and The Punisher Magazine was cancelled after sixteen issues. Too bad; I think this harder-edged, more adult format fits the character better than making him part of the regular Marvel universe.