“Man, this whole street is literally nothing but Starbucks!”
The Punisher War Journal #48
Marvel Comics (November, 1992)
“Walk Through Fire” part 1: “Backs To The Wall” WRITER: Chuck Dixon PENCILER: Todd Fox INKER: Fred Fredericks COLORIST: Glynnis Oliver LETTERER: Jim Novak EDITOR: Don Daley
Two years previous, the Punisher talked a rookie into letting him go after killing off a bunch of young punks. The officer then gained a name for himself, but turned to Castle when he was partnered with dirty cops in the construction racket. After turning them in to Internal Affairs, the racket decided to send him a message, by killing his wife and children, though the Punisher took them down. Now the officer has sworn revenge…on the Punisher!
What they got right: What impact does Frank Castle’s mission have on other people. Is he doing the right thing? In this case, had the rookie turned Frank in and not taken credit for killing the bad guys Frank did, his star wouldn’t have risen and he wouldn’t have been in the situation. On the other hand, the officer surely did good and turning in the dirty cops WAS the right thing. I’m only hoping the rest of the arc took advantage of what was started here.
What they got wrong: I’ve never been a fan of the Punisher or this genre of comic, so I’m the wrong guy to ask. That said, I saw some good ideas here and I really can’t point out anything I necessarily hated.
Other notes: After a bit of research I found out this was the debut of Payback, a character in Punisher’s series.
Recommendation: I’m still taking this out of my collection because it isn’t my kind of comic. I wouldn’t call it a bad comic and if you like this kind of story you might enjoy this issue. I looked into the story arc summaries just to see what happened, but that’s the limit of my interest.
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