r/80s90sComics

If you look at the corner box, you can see this run of the Punisher never existed. I just made the whole cover up for fun. The characters were drawn in pencil on paper and then scanned into photoshop where I inked it, added all the cover dressing, then colored it. The vintage colors and texture effects are done via Debaser from TrueGrit.

Written by Fabian Nicieza, art by Mark Bagley and Larry Mahlstedt

Silhouette has entered a church to light a candle for her brother, Midnight’s Fire

Father Janes approaches her, but before they can speak, a sai wielding figure dressed like a Bengal Tiger drops from above and attacks, asking “Why did the jungle breathe?”

While the sai wielding assailant chases Silhouette, a shadowy figure watches from a black van

Meanwhile Robbie Baldwin, aka Speedball, confronts his father about his missing mother deciding to go to the New Warriors for help

Richard Rider, Nova, and Vance Astrovik, Marvel Boy, are also confronted by family members before heading to join the other New Warriors

Namorita and Angelica Jones, Firestar, are out shopping when they hear gunfire

The pair confront a man who claims his gun only has blanks, and he was attempting to scare the men who had his 12 year old sister working in a sweatshop

Namorita tells the men that if they girl isn’t found, her brother may return with real bullets, and she won’t stop him

The New Warriors convene at their headquarters where Speedball asks them to look into his mother’s disappearance in Brazil

Before anything can be decided, Silhouette teleports in through the shadows, having escaped the man who was chasing her

After a few tense moments, it’s decided the team can’t ignore either situation, and split so some can go to Brazil and look for Speedball’s mother, and the rest can help Silhouette

During an interlude, a woman enters a pyramid and retrieves the Scepter of Ka, vowing to rule Egypt and the World

Speedball, Nova, Marvel Boy, Firestar, and Namorita travel to Brazil with Chord, revealing their secret identities to each other for the first time

After they check into the hotel, it is revealed they are being followed by some deadly individuals

Back in New York, Night Thrasher and Silhouette return to the church to witness the Bengal Tiger clad assassin attack Father Janes again

Night Thrasher makes quick work on the Bengal Tiger, but is interrupted by gunfire from The Punisher!

Frank’s Body Count - 0! (“I’m the one who’s after the girl!”)

• Written by Chuck Dixon, art by Tod Smith and Dan Bulanadi, cover by Ron Wagner
• Punisher is watching the news as suspected murder Delbert Rogofsky is let out of jail on bail
• Meanwhile, someone has been murdering taxi drivers, 5 in 5 weeks with a .44 magnum
• Microchip has been working on a modified taxi so that Punisher can attempt to catch the killer while they wait for information on Rogofsky
• Punisher picks up fares through the night, when eventually a man does pull a gun on him
• Unfortunately he is armed with the wrong weapon, so after Punisher bloodies his nose, he is tossed back onto the street
• When Frank stops for food, he is confronted by a member of the Hack Bureau who knows his cab is fake
• Frank pays him off and takes a new fare, but when Microchip radios that Rogofsky has been spotted, he has no choice but to take the woman along
• Punisher catches up to Rogofsky and his men who are attempting to flee the police in a truck
• The men are armed and open fire, but Punisher manages to knock one from the bed and gives chase on to the expressway
• Using a heavy strobe light, Punisher causes Rogofsky’s truck to crash, putting an end to him and his gang
• With Rogofsky taken care of, Punisher attempts to take his unfortunate passenger to her destination, only for her to pull a .44 Magnum on him!
• The woman reveals that she has been killing cab drivers because she was raped walking home after being unable to flag down a taxi
• Punisher pulls his trap, a pair of shotguns hidden under the seat, killing the woman
• Frank laments that if the woman had gone after rapists, he would have understood and maybe even helped her, but the taxi drivers were innocents
• Frank tells Microchip to ready the hose to clean out the back seat as he passes cop cars and ambulances headed toward Rogofsky’s wreckage on the expressway
• Frank’s Body Count - 6 (He causes Rogofsky’s vehicle to crash, killing all 5 occupants, and then takes out the Taxi Murderer)

I always loved this cover

Was a dream of mine. Took quite awhile to get it.

• Written by Mike Baron, art by Mark Texiera
• Frank has been reunited with his Uncle Rocco, who it turns out has been working with Microchip
• Rocco tells Frank he met Microchip through the tank game that Microchip was working on in Punisher #35, and has since run guns to the Palestinian Liberation Organization
• Rocco takes Frank to his secret stash, but they are interrupted by Libyan forces
• Punisher and Rocco take out the three men who attack them, but Esmeralda tells them a helicopter took pictures and flew away, meaning more men will come
• Rocco believes the men were sent by Hakim Abdullah, whose rival Abdul Abismah was a client of Rocco and Microchip
• Frank learns from Microchip that Saracen is allied with Abdullah as well
• While they move Rocco’s stash, Frank learns that Rocco was never able to have children, having been injured in the explosion that killed Fredo, and that Esmeralda had been in love with Fredo
• Don Elio learns of the stash as well, and fearful that he will lose clients for his own weapons if it is taken, sends Saracen to deal with it
• Meanwhile, an unmarked and armed boat arrives and destroys Rocco’s boat
• Punisher spots Abdullah on the boat, taking him out with a sniper rifle, then he shoots a second man to lure the rest to land so he can take them out
• Now in Italy, Senator Ori reveals to Don Elio that they are after the same man, Frank Castle, who is a Castiglione
• After he finishes wiping out the men from the boat, Punisher attempts to find Rocco and Esmeralda
• Rocco is lying bleeding at their rendezvous point, a trap left by Saracen who attacks Punisher from behind!
• Frank’s Body Count - 9 (Punisher kills all the PLO soldiers from the boat including their leader Abdullah)

Written by Mike Baron, art by Mark Texiera

Punisher is after cops who are taking supplies from drug dealers so they can sell it themselves

Unfortunately one of the cops he kills is already under investigation, and now the CIA, FBI, and even a senator are all after Punisher

Unwilling to fight cops, Punisher detonates the Battle Van and decides to flee to Italy where his father was born until things cool off

While visiting a local cemetery, Frank meets Esmeralda, an elderly woman who tells him how the Castigliones were wiped out by the Bessuchos over drugs

When three men arrive to abduct Esmeralda, Frank has no choice but to take them out

Esmerald continues to tell Frank about his family, about the three brothers, Rocco, Fredo, and Frank’s father Renzo

Renzo and Fredo decided not to do business with local mobster Don Bessucho, overruling Rocco

Renzo, fearing for his family took his pregnant wife and fled to America, and Don Bessucho had their fishing boat bombed, killing Fredo

Rocco took revenge, killing Don Bessucho, and fleeing

Don Elio, current head of the Bessucho Family, hears of the men that Frank killed and wants him taken care of

It turns out that Don Bessucho is the cousin of Senator Ori who was the uncle of the crooked cop that Punisher killed, and wants to send an expert to help track Frank down

The expert turns out to be Saracen, who helped Frank take down the Ninja Training School in Punisher #23

While waiting for a delivery of equipment from Microchip, Esmeralda reveals to Frank that she was once engaged to his uncle Rocco

The package from Microchip finally arrives, delivered on a boat by none other than Rocco himself

Frank’s Body Count - 5 (He shoots two crooked cops, and three mobsters in Italy)