''The Punisher War Zone'' is a

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

about the vigilante

The Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher made ...

. The series was written and drawn by several artists during its run. The series lasted for 41 issues. It was the first series of ''

The Punisher War Zone ''The Punisher War Zone'' or ''Punisher War Zone'' is a comic book spin-off title featuring the Punisher, a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. Publication history The first installment of the series ran for 41 issues and two 64-pa ...

'' title history and lasted from 1992 to 1995. The vast majority of the series was written by

Chuck Dixon Charles Dixon (born April 14, 1954) is an American comic book writer, best known for his work on the Marvel Comics character the Punisher and on the DC Comics characters Batman, Nightwing, and Robin in the 1990s and early 2000s. Early life D ...

. Besides

John Romita Jr. John Salvatore Romita (; born August 17, 1956), known professionally as John Romita Jr., is an American comics artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2010s. He is the son of artist John Romita Sr. Early ...

who worked a lot on the series, several other artists painted the covers, among them Rainier "Rain" Beredo,

John Buscema John Buscema (; ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema, December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)Social Se ...

and

Joe Kubert Joseph Kubert (; September 18, 1926 – August 12, 2012) was a Poland, Polish-born Americans, American comic book artist, art teacher, and founder of The Kubert School. He is best known for his work on the DC Comics characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkm ...

Plot

The series was split up in different story arcs which tended to last several issues. The first story arc was ''Psychoville U.S.A.'' which lasted from issue 12 to 16, the next was ''The Jericho Syndrome'' beginning with issue 17 and ending in 19, third was ''Suicide Run'' from 23 to 25, after that was ''Conan with a Gun'' starting from 26 and lasting to issue 30, later was ''River of Blood'' picking up from issue 31 and concluding at 36, next to last was the ''Dark Judgment'' arc lasting from issue 38 to 40. The final arc was ''Countdown'' which took place in all three ongoing Punisher series at the time, ''

'', '' War Journal'' and ''War Zone''.

Reception

The series was popular upon its original release. The launching of the series, which was the Punisher third simultaneously ongoing series at the time, marked the peak of the character's exploitation and popularity at the time.

Content

In the beginning of the series publication Marvel still adhered to the comic code and even with the main character, Frank Castle, killing a criminal in the first issue no details or effects of the shooting is portrayed. This is in stark contrast to later Punisher series such as those by

Garth Ennis Garth Ennis (born January 16, 1970) is a Northern Irish–American comics writer, best known for the Vertigo series ''Preacher'' with artist Steve Dillon, his nine-year run on Marvel Comics' Punisher franchise, and '' The Boys'' with artist Dari ...

. Despite this and other Punisher series remained controversial and rejected in some circuits. Upon the release of the hugely popular issue of ''

Alpha Flight Alpha Flight is a fictional team of Canadian superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters premiered in ''The Uncanny X-Men'' #120 (April 1979), and were created to serve as part of the X-Men member W ...

'' in which the character

Northstar Northstar may refer to: * Polaris, a star Arts and entertainment * Northstar (band), an emo band from Alabama * Northstar (rap group), a rap group affiliated with the Wu-Tang Clan * "Northstar", a 2019 song by XXXTentacion from the album ''Bad Vi ...

came out as gay the ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'', ...

'' reported that a store in

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

resorted to making customers who wanted to buy a copy of it purchase an issue of the series ''The Punisher War Zone'' as well to combat hoarding of the comic.

Prints

Issues

Annuals

Collected editions

References

External links

The Punisher War Zone
at the Comic Book DB {{DEFAULTSORT:Punisher War Zone (1992 series), The 1992 comics debuts Comics set in New York City Punisher titles