Marvel relaunched The Punisher War Journal in 2009 as simply Punisher, with a thematic link tied to the events of the “Dark Reign” storyline. As part of his work on the character, Rick Remender wrote the one-shot title Dark Reign: The List – Punisher, which, as part of the “Dark Reign” storyline, shows the character dismembered and decapitated by Daken.
Frank Castle has gone back to basics. Back in New York, back from the dead and back doing what he does best: exterminating bad guys and waging his personal war on crime. And just wait until you check out Frank’s new bachelor pad – with his roommate Death! It’s a gritty tale of bullet-ridden, gut-wrenching action as you like it!
The series explicitly does not use a floating timeline like the mainstream Marvel Universe, instead presenting a Punisher who ages in real time. Gravestones and other references indicate that his family was killed in 1976. The Punisher has been active for almost 30 years at the time presented in most stories, with issue #19 specifying that he has killed approximately 2,000 people. Born also establishes that the Punisher’s service in the Vietnam War is still in MAX continuity.
Deep in the South American jungle there’s a place of legend – a final refuge for the nastiest of the nasty to disappear when, say …a guy like the PUNISHER is hunting you down. Now, Frank Castle is about to stumble upon it, and hardened men he’s driven there like frightened rats – men who’ve had nothing but time to contemplate their fate and the man responsible for it – are ready for him. But what they don’t know is that there’s someone hot on the Punisher’s trail: the mutant known as Wolverine!
The first volume of The Punisher War Journal ran 80 issues, cover-dated November 1988 to July 1995. Originally written and penciled by Carl Potts, and inked by Jim Lee, who soon became series penciler, it changed creative teams with issue #25 (December 1990) to writer Mike Baron and penciler-inker Mark Texeira. Chuck Dixon took over as writer with #38 (January 1992), continuing with it to the final issue, except for #65-74 (April 1994 – January 1995) which were written by Steven Grant. Others associated with the title include multi-issue pencilers Tod Smith, Ron Wagner, John Hebert, Hugh Haynes, Melvin Rubi, and penciler-inker Gary Kwapisz.
The comic was relaunched in 2018, by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Riccardo Burchielli. The story ditched the War Machine armor, but kept the idea of Punisher operating in the international level, dealing with an ill-fated battle against Baron Zemo.
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