The Essential Punisher!

With the exception of Wolverine, there's little doubt that of all the great Marvel Bronze Age creations, the Punisher has been the most successful. Erupting onto the scene in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man, the Punisher was a quasi-villain of sorts, then a reluctant ally, before becoming a new kind of Marvel "hero". 

The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and designed by John Romita, inspired doubtlessly by Don Pendleton's The Executioner, a paperback avenger who was popular in those days of Dirty Harry and Death Wish. 

When we first meet Frank Castle, he's a large and powerful man dressed in black with an enormous skull emblazoned on his chest. He's presented as a modern agent of death for those who commit crimes. He works in concert with Spidey's enemy the Jackal at first, convinced that the Web-Slinger is a criminal, just as J. Jonah Jameson had been preaching for years. By the end of the story the Punisher doubts that and ends his alliance with the Jackal. 

When he next returns, he teams up with Spidey (sort of) to stop the Tarantula, a pirate of sorts who has taken it on himself to waylay a tour boat. Ross Andru does a superlative job of rendering the Punisher, making him imposing and threatening, yet retaining that nobility which elevates (sometimes only slightly) him above the thugs he chases. 

The Punisher next shows up in Giant-Size Spider-Man and once again works with Peter Parker's alias to bring down slaver Moses Magnum, who operates a concentration camp of sorts in the jungles of South America. 

Frank Castle gets his own feature in Marvel Preview which sports a stunning cover by Gray Morrow. In the comfort of the black and white magazine world, the Punisher is free to be even more aggressive than the Comics Code will allow in the four-color environment.  In a grim story by Conway and artist Tony DeZuniga we learn at long last what motivated the Punisher's war on crime as we see in flashback the murders of his family. 

The same team returns to tell another rough and tumble Punisher tale with the assistance of Rico Rival in the pages of Marvel Super Action. Sharing the book with The Huntress (eventually to become Mockingbird) and Howie Chaykin's Dominic Fortune, it seems clear Marvel is testing the waters for a possible Punisher magazine. Bob Larkin's cover is powerful stuff. 

But that was not to be, and the Punisher returns to his role as an occasional guest-star in the Spider-Man books. In one notable two-parter he contends with both Spidey and Nightcrawler, the member of the recently minted New X-Men. For the first time a writer other than Conway handled the character as Len Wein handled the chores. Reliable Ross Andru was still the artist. 

That same talented duo brought out another two-parter sometime later when Punisher and Spidey work together to save J. Jonah Jameson from the clutches of the Hitman. Turns out the Hitman was a felllow soldier from Frank Castle's past. 

Frank Miller gets his first chance to draw the Punisher on the cover of an issue of Captain America in which the enemy of crime comes up against the Living Legend. Needless to say, that Cap and Castle don't get along and his approach to fighting crime even reminds some of the Nazis. When he almost kills a cop, the Punisher allows himself to be arrested. This comic was written by Mike Barr and drawn by Frank Springer and Pablo Marcos. 

But that doesn't last as he's out and about when he joins Spidey yet again to battle drug pushers and the mob that supports them. Marv Wolfman and Keith Pollard are the talents who bring this team-up to the masses. 

In Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 Frank Miller draws a script by Denny O'Neil which pits the two heroes against Doctor Octopus who is scheming to ransom the city by killing five million citizens using the pages of the Daily Bugle itself. Once again the Punisher is arrested at the end of the story. 

That arrest seems to take as we find Frank Castle in prison when his team-up with Daredevil begins. This is another rugged tale by Frank Miller which focuses on the drug PCP and its pernicious effects. Matt Murdock struggles to save the innocent while the Punisher works overtime to bring down the guilty. At the end of this intense tale, the Punisher is again captured. 

The next time we see Frank Castle he's escaping jail yet again and goes on a rampage against drug dealers. This time he has to contend with not only Spider-Man but the mysterious Cloak and Dagger as well. The Punisher seems to lose control of himself in this story which pits him against the Kingpin, punishing with extreme prejudice people who commit the most innocuous of crimes such as littering and jaywalking. He is finally brought down in this trilogy by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Al Milgrom with help from the always reliable Jim Mooney. By the end of this story like so many before he's headed back to prison. 

This collection wraps up with the very first Punisher color comic book limited series. The five issues are written by Steven Grant and the first four are drawn in magnificent form by Mike Zeck and John Beatty. Mike Vosburg steps in to wrap things up in the fifth and final installment. The story is a wild one with many twists and turns as Castle battles his way out of prison, gets recruited by a secret cabal to fight crime and discovers the terrible truth about his supposed allies. Allowed to be the focus of the story, this limited has a real potency, and proved to this comic book fanboy that The Punisher could carry his own comic. Soon he would, in fact, he'd become the star of two. 

(Romita's original design)

This impressive Essentials tome brings together over a decade of Punisher stories and allows the reader to see how the character was developed over the years. At first, a character with the mission of the Punisher was a hard sell for a Comics Code world, but as the years passed and the audience for comics became more sophisticated (according to some) the true nature of the character could be explored more fully and robustly. 

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Johnny Dynamite - Wild Man Of Chicago!

As Max Allan Collins explains in the expansive introduction to this Yoe Book collection of Johnny Dynamite, the story begins with Mickey Spillane. Spillane wrote comics from the very beginning of the genre. But he made his reputation in 1950's with the novel I The Jury which introduced rough and tough Mike Hammer. 

Versions of Hammer had appeared in comics before as Mike Danger and Mike Lancer. But the essence of the Mike Hammer character was arguably best captured by Johnny Dynamite from Comics Media in their series Dynamite. While there is no doubt what inspired the character, the question of who created Johnny Dynamite is an open one. 

(Announcement of the character in Dynamite #2)

It might have been an editor at Comic Media, or writer Ken Fitch, or perhaps it was artist Pete Morisi, better known to the world as P.A.M. There is no question however that it is the work of Morisi, using a style evolved from that of George Tuska, which causes the character to resonate still in a modern comics arena. There's something absolutely stylish and compelling about Morisi's work.

It's in the third issue of Dynamite that we first meet "The Wild Man from Chicago", who in three heavily written tales confronts the mobsters and molls of that inhabit his morally challenged world. Johnny still has two good eyes when we first meet him, designed to resemble John Garfield. 

One of the more distinctive aspects of the character is that he is more than capable of shooting and killing a woman. Generally, "heroes" eschew such behavior, but for Johnny it's almost a defining quality.

One woman he's eager to kill is the dame who took out his eye. In the very first story of the second issue, he gets shot in the face and loses a "lamp" as he puts it. It's not surprise he eventually finds the woman pays her back. But Johnny also tries to help women who come to him for such things, but he's not all that successful as more than few fall victim to mobsters, either being killed outright or falling under the spell of hard drugs. In the second issue also, the text diminishes somewhat and while we still get the classic first-person perspective so prevalent for noir, the artwork does more of the lifting in the narrative. 

In the fifth issue we get a story narrated by Hennessy the cop who Dynamite calls often after he's plugged a few mugs. It's a tale of a mobster trying to go straight and failing. We also get a two-page text story about Johnny by Fitch which not only satisfies the post office, but also showcases the hard-nosed hero in the format from which he sprang. Morisi's artwork gets more refined as he continues to present these tales. 

In the sixth issue Morisi takes over the writing as well as the art for the series. Or at least he now gets credit for the work, it's hard to know to what extent he was already doing this. Most hard-boiled dicks have a sexy secretary and Johnny Dynamite is no exception. She's named Judy Kane and one of the two stories in the seventh issue of Dynamite deals with her kidnapping. The second story is a brutal tale which ends with Johnny meeting a woman he actually trusts enough to cover her crime. 

Morisi is really in the swing of things in the next issue which is one longer story. This helps out nicely as the compression of three tales was damaging to the drama. Two was pretty good, but one is even better, and allows for the cinematic feel to develop. There are call girls and stole diamonds in this yarn which sees Johnny consummates his "Vendetta". 

There's no doubt these are brutal stories. The phrase "Exciting Adult Reading" is perfect for the kind of no-holds violence which bristles on these well-honed pages. Love this red cover, it really pops. The first story gives us a glimpse of Johnny's past when he was a boxer called "Kid  Dynamite". This manager and friend gets caught up in crime when his beloved wife is killed, and he vows to gather mob might to get his revenge. We then get a one-page text story. This is followed by a second tale that has Dynamite get involved with yet another gorgeous but dangerous dame. 

The ninth issue of Dynamite is the final one from Comic Media. It's a got a great cover and the best Johnny Dynamite story yet. He goes up against the Mafia and it's a beautifully rendered and paced tale of deceptions and secrets. This one was the most like a film noir film, with the narration beautifully aligned with the imagery. 

The leftover material produced by Morisi for Comic Media finds its way over to the folks at Derby Connecticut where the Charlton Comics operation was located. The first two issues of the renamed Johnny Dynamite series (it continues the originally number) have one Pete Morisi story in each of the first two issues. They also feature less impressive Morisi covers. The two stories take Johnny overseas, first to Germany where he confronts an old nemesis from World War II, and then to Vietnam to assist with the fight against the Commies. 

(Cover by Dick Giordano and Vince Alascia)

The series wraps up with issue twelve with stories written most likely by Mickey Spillane friend Joe Gill and art supplied by the rock steady Bill Molno. 

The collection closes out with a story from the Ms. Tree series by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty titled "Whatever Happened to Johnny Dynamite". We learn that Johnny and his secretary Judy Kane were both instrumental in sending a particularly deadly mob boss to prison and have been in witness protection for many years. Now to save them both, Mike Mist is called upon to join forces with Ms. Tree. The original stories from the Comic Media series would be reprinted as back-up features in many of the subsequent Ms. Tree issues for Renegade Press. 

(Officer Pete Morisi aka P.A.M.)

If you would like to read the original stories from Comic Media by Pete Morisi and others check out this dynamite link. 

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Ms.Tree - Deadline!

The Ms.Tree stories by Max Allan Collins and Terry Beatty in this collection are some of the earliest, from 1984 and 1985 when the series was picked up by Aardvark -Vanaheim and later Renegade Press. The printing is different than that from Eclipse since only two-colors are used, sometimes red tones and sometimes blue. This limited color might not have worked for all comics, but it served the noir world of Ms. Tree quite well. It should also be noted that Gary Kato is assisting on the artwork in these stories. 

The first four issues of this collection deal with a single story entitled "Deadline" which gave its name to the complete Titan collection as well. Ms. Tree is drawn into a string of serial murders which at first  appear to be random, but then relate to events which took place years before when Michael Tree (then named Friday) went to high school. Those events involved a gang rape. The killer is relentless and for a time seems connected to the Muerta mob as well. A reporter tries to get Ms. Tree to assist him on this case, but that turns out poorly. 

"Skin Deep" deals with a hot topic in those 80's years, a black beauty queen who had some nude pictures which might end up in a porn magazine. Ms. Tree is hired to investigate on the behalf of her friend and ally on the police force, Rafe Valer. His sister is the beauty queen in question. It's an interesting solution.  As it turns out, pornography will be an element of other stories in this collection. 

Aardvark-Vanaheim had been run by Dave Sim and his wife Deni Loubert (Sim as artist and owner and Loubert as publisher). When they divorced it created a schism which was reflected in the fact that both companies are named as publishers of this Ms.Tree story. This story titled "Runaway" deals with young kids who run away from home and find themselves swept up in all manner of dangerous situations. The problem is brought home to Ms.Tree when her stepson does indeed run away. A desperate search is made, and she meets other parents who have lost their kids. Eventually her search leads her to confront the threat of pedophiles. 

We jump ahead a few years for the next story published by Renegade Press only. The artwork on these stories seems a little more refined in some ways, the two-color approach being used with some more subtlety. The story titled "Runaway II" deals again with kids who have left home but this time focuses on young women who get snapped up into pornography, both of the printed and cinematic kind. One young woman has seemingly killed herself and Ms. Tree is searching for another and finds her, but she seems to have found some measure of control in her life. There are many characters in this story who are neither good nor evil, but supremely human and at times exceedingly weak. That said, there is a real threat as Ms. Tree discovers when she finds herself trussed up with Christmas lights. 

The collection closes out with a story which sees Ms. Tree and Mike Mist team up. They are up against a couple of thugs named Bert and Ernie who are not afraid to kill. The two along with a young woman who sought Mist's help would set up couples and rob them. When the girl is killed, Mist and Ms. Tree head to Honolulu to get to the bottom of this scandalous threat. This one is in black and white as it was originally produced for one of Renegade's 3-D books. 

All of these Ms. Tree stories are gritty and have a depth of character uncommon in many if not most comics of the era. Since these stories are in the tradition of Mike Hammer, Michael Tree is not shy about using her gun. It's hard to see how she doesn't get into more trouble with the police with the bodies she drops here and there and seemingly everywhere. But still it's great to have these stories in a highly readable format from Titan. 

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