WOLVERINE AND THE PUNISHER #3 - December 1993

Damaging Evidence - Part Three

Credits: Carl Potts (writer), Gary Erskine (artist), Garrahy/Javins/Matthys (colors), Richard Starkings w/John Gaushell (letters)

Summary: After their fight, the Sniper assumes Damage and Wolverine have killed each other. Soon, Sniper stakes out the funeral of one of the people allegedly murdered by the Punisher, correctly assuming the Punisher will also be there. Sniper picks off several of the mourners before he’s stopped by the Punisher. Following Sniper’s final words, Punisher travels to the chemical plant where Damage fought Wolverine. He helps Wolverine recover and they both promise to help the other if one goes over the edge. Later, Kingpin hires Donald Pierce to rebuild Damage.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: Wolverine refers to Damage as a “bastard.” And this is before Damage drives a giant blade through his chest. Later, several heads explode during Sniper’s killing spree at the funeral.

Review: So, the Kingpin is taught humility, the Sniper dies (again), Wolverine is rescued, and in a tacked-on monologue on the final page, the Punisher questions if he’s done any good, then reminds himself once again to stop thinking so much. It’s perfectly okay, even if it reads like the standard ending of a Punisher War Journal arc, instead of a story so important it just had to be a miniseries. If this was drawn by one of PWJ’s better artists, I imagine the storyline would’ve had more impact. Instead, Gary Erskine’s awkward poses, ugly faces, and static storytelling drag a lot of the material down. I can’t imagine Jim Lee, or later artists like Ron Wagner, creating such a dull Wolverine vs. Cyborg Punisher fight. Sniper’s murder spree at the funeral is effectively conveyed, though. This scene is absolutely gruesome, reminding me of just how far Potts took the Punisher even back in the Code days. The rest of the comic just reads as an average Punisher story with a gratuitous Wolverine cameo, and the art’s not strong enough to sell the action. If you’re looking for more Carl Potts Punisher stories, it’s worth tracking down, but I imagine most people would be better off with a collection of the Carl Potts/Jim Lee run on Punisher War Journal.

WOLVERINE AND THE PUNISHER #2 - November 1993

Damaging Evidence - Part Two

Credits: Carl Potts (writer), Gary Erskine (artist), Marie Javins (colors), Richard Starkings w/John Gaushell (letters)

Summary: The Punisher investigates the crime scene, unaware Sniper’s spying on him. Later, Sniper learns that Damage has been assigned the Punisher hit, much to his annoyance. Wolverine also investigates the Punisher’s alleged shooting, and is soon tranquilized by Sniper. He awakes in time to track down the Punisher imposter, who is actually Damage. Sniper watches from a distance as Wolverine battles Damage. Meanwhile, the Punisher learns of another shooting he’s been framed for and begins to doubt his sanity.

Review: Ah, this is one of those “Did I really kill that bus full of nuns?” stories. Years later, Jeph Loeb will do virtually the same concept with Wolverine in the Victims miniseries. Wolverine and Punisher are the ideal Marvel heroes to do this story with, since it’s not a stretch to believe they’ll kill someone, the drama is simply who was killed. Potts, oddly, doesn’t play up the mystery, since it’s fairly obvious by the middle of the issue that Damage is actually the one impersonating the Punisher. Presumably, he guessed the readers will know that Punisher isn’t the true killer and instead focused on a different aspect of the story. The focus instead turns to the Punisher’s growing doubts about his mission. Could he have killed an innocent? Are any of his victims redeemable? Do they have families, like the hitman he killed in Mexico? He normally doesn’t allow himself to think about these things. Thinking, he declares, is an obstruction to his mission. Potts’ Punisher War Journal stories were also notable for humanizing Punisher just enough to make him a sympathetic figure, without wimping out on the concept.

And, oh yeah, Wolverine is in the comic, too. And that hair is still marvelous. Wolverine gets to fight the true villain of the miniseries, who’s physically a duplicate for the Punisher now, so I guess that’s one way to get the obligatory hero vs. hero fight out of the way. Potts doesn’t do much with Wolverine directly, but he has clearly put thought into how someone like the Kingpin would deal with a hairy, psychotic mutant. He knows Wolverine is virtually impossible to kill, and he doesn’t want to attract the X-Men’s attention, so Kingpin’s solution is to tranq him. He also doesn’t want Wolverine using his senses to trace his men back to the Kingpin’s organization, so he makes sure Sniper’s van has been disinfected and that the Sniper is wearing plenty of Old Spice to cover his scent (Old Spice because it's so common; Kingpin says half the men in Manhattan are wearing it). Potts’ stories used to be filled with little details like this, and it’s one of the things I miss from this era from Marvel Comics.

WOLVERINE AND THE PUNISHER #1 - October 1993

Damaging Evidence - Part One

Credits: Carl Potts (writer), Gary Erskine (artist), Marie Javins (colors), Richard Starkings w/John Gaushell (letters)

Summary: The Punisher kills one of the Kingpin’s hitmen, and is soon drawn into a larger firefight. During the fight, one of the gunmen is killed in front of his son, and the Punisher is hit by the Sniper. The Kingpin responds to the attack by hiring the Reavers to kill the Punisher. Wolverine overhears the assignment while fighting Reese in Hong Kong and decides to warn the Punisher. Meanwhile, the Kingpin’s cyborg Damage is repaired with technology provided by Donald Pierce. Later, the Punisher is framed for killing bystanders during an attack. He travels to the scene of the crime and discovers a mysterious van.

Continuity Notes: There’s no indication in this issue, but future chapters will note that this story takes place prior to Uncanny X-Men #248-281 (i.e. before the Reavers crucified Wolverine and the X-Men disbanded) and Daredevil #296-300 (i.e. before the fall of the Kingpin). This means the story’s set a good four years before the miniseries was actually published.

Approved By The Comics Code Authority: Numerous “damn”s and “hell”s in this issue, which was extremely rare for a mainstream Marvel comic at the time (although still considered tame enough for Code approval).

Review: This is an odd artifact. A Wolverine/Punisher team-up miniseries should’ve been a huge deal, especially in 1993, but I don’t recall any promotion for this title. In fact, I don’t think I knew it existed until I saw all three issues sealed together in a comic pack at Wal-Mart. And even at the height of my X-completism, I didn’t take the bait. Something about this miniseries just seemed off to me, even though I couldn’t quite pinpoint why. Reading it today for the first time, my suspicions were confirmed. I just don’t believe this went through the normal editorial channels of Marvel of this day. The minor profanity, the lettering, and the art make me wonder if this was initially produced as a Marvel UK book. The presence of Carl Potts, regular writer of Punisher War Journal and one-time Punisher editor, is a hole in that theory, though. My other hypothesis is that this began as a graphic novel, but was cut up into a three-part miniseries after Marvel abandoned the format. The extremely abrupt ending to this issue would seem to indicate this.

I knew none of this at the time, of course. I just knew that this book came out of seeming nowhere, and Wolverine looked utterly bizarre on the covers. Wolverine’s hair might be the lasting legacy of this book. We’ve seen some odd interpretations of Wolverine over the years, but only Gary Erskine seemed to think it was a good idea to portray Wolverine as if he just walked out of José Eber’s salon. “I’m the best there is at what I do…but even I need help in the battle against split ends,” Wolverine read awkwardly off of the cue card, still annoyed at Cher for stepping all over his lines in the first read-through.

Judging the issue on its own merits, it reads as an average Punisher comic from this era. I’ve read much better from Carl Potts, but a mediocre Punisher story from Potts is still pretty entertaining. The pacing of the issue is a little odd, as the subplot about the Punisher being framed for killing civilians comes out of nowhere in the final two pages, but I suspect that’s because the story wasn’t intended to be read in twenty-two page installments. Even though Wolverine has top billing here, it’s not surprising that the story’s biased toward the Punisher’s continuity, given Potts’ history with the character. I do remember the Sniper and Damage from the early issues of Punisher War Journal, but I don’t recall the Sniper working for Kingpin, nor do I remember Damage as a white cyborg (he was a black gang leader in the issues I remember). Using the Reavers as a connection between the two anti-heroes makes sense, given that they were always intended as Wolverine adversaries and ended up as minor members of the Punisher’s rogues gallery in the late ‘80s. Nothing feels forced so far, and aside from some reservations about Erskine’s art, this is at least a competent start for the miniseries.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #108 - January 1994

The Eye of the Storm

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Alex Saviuk (penciler), Stephen Baskerville (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Tony Trainer emerges as Sandstorm, creating a fierce “grit-storm” that reflects his confused state of mind. Spider-Man rescues Sandman from the storm, while Quicksand convinces the erratic Sandstorm to join her side. After Spider-Man finds a piece of irradiated shrapnel and reverses its polarity, Sandstorm’s powers fade. Sandman stays by Sandstorm’s side as he’s arrested to make sure he’s treated fairly.

The Subplots: Amidst the chaos, Robbie and Betty save Jonah and Marla from falling off the ESU science building. Jonah offers Betty her job back. Meanwhile, MJ is dodging calls from Secret Hospital’s publicist.

*See _________ For Details: Amazing Spider-Man #385 has the long-awaited resolution to MJ’s riveting smoking subplot.

Creative Differences: A few word balloons are added to explain that Sandman and Quicksand can’t use their powers within Sandstorm’s grit-storm. Later, an added thought balloon has MJ resolving to stop smoking tomorrow.

Review: And, not surprisingly, the debut of Marvel’s latest sand-related villain whimpers out spectacularly. Aside from the white mullet, there’s nothing really objectionable about Sandstorm’s appearance on the cover, but once Stephen Baskerville’s inks get a hold of him, it’s full-on Rob Liefeld/Andrew Wildman/Marat Michaels '90s ugliness. The resolution to every cliffhanger in the previous issue is even more cliché than you might expect, right down to Betty Brant saving her job by rescuing her boss and his wife. Dull, pat, predictable…I’m almost ready for the clone to show up, and I hate the clone storyline.

Tainted Part Two

Credits: Carl Potts (writer), Jesse D. Orozco (penciler), Timothy Tuohy (inker), Steve Dutro (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: Cardiac escapes Scorpion, only to encounter him again while invading the offices of Tamco Pharmaceuticals. After disabling Scorpion’s tail, Cardiac kills Tamco’s CEO. He then purchases the company, saving the jobs of the honest employees and keeping Tamco’s beneficial drugs on the market.

Review: This is essentially the same as the previous issue, only now Potts is playing on the word “tainted” to describe the business deal that allows Cardiac’s civilian identity to purchase Tamco (its stock price is way down following the CEO’s death and the exposure of its bad drug shipment). That’s actually clever, so at least the ending isn’t as generic as the story’s premise. Potts is essentially writing Cardiac as the white-collar equivalent of the Punisher, and the story offers no judgment of Cardiac’s actions, so it actually becomes an unusual read in retrospect.

WEB OF SPIDER-MAN #107 - December 1993

The Coming Storm

Credits: Terry Kavanagh (writer), Alex Saviuk (penciler), Stephen Baskerville (inker), Dave Sharpe (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: After the Daily Bugle exposes weapons testing at ESU, Spider-Man travels there to investigate Project: Sandstorm. He arrives just as the project explodes, killing Marcus Devane, the corporate representative who advanced the project against Marla Madison’s wishes. Spider-Man rescues Marla, but discovers that her lab assistant, Tony Trainer, has been transformed into a mass of sand. Suddenly, Sandman and Quicksand arrive, just as Sandstorm emerges from the wreckage.

The Subplots: In spite of her reduced role, MJ is improving as an actress on Secret Hospital. Peter is considering a job taking cast photos for the soap. Meanwhile, Jonah Jameson impulsively fires Betty after learning that she’s investigated his wife without his knowledge.

Web of Continuity: Project: Sandstorm uses “bio-samples” from Sandman and Quicksand, obtained without their knowledge and possibly illegally, according to Marcus Devane. Presumably, Sandman and Quicksand learned of the project through the Daily Bugle article, and conveniently arrived just as it exploded.

Review: It apparently dawned on someone that a former Spider-Man villain and a current Thor villain had the same powers, which naturally means that they must be forced together into the same storyline. I don’t know if this was always what Kavanagh had in mind when he began the phony Robbie/Betty “affair” storyline, but he’s decided it’s good enough as a payoff to the long-running subplot. Not surprisingly, it turns out Marla’s working as the moral compass of the project, and it’s the big ol’ corporate meanie who’s only concerned with results and profits. What exactly is so unethical about the project isn’t clear, aside from the fact that Sandman and Quicksand’s cell samples are being used without their permission, which doesn’t seem like such a giant scandal that Robbie and Betty would risk their careers for the expose. Yes, it turns out that the project is too dangerous to be conducted in a populated area, but you’ve got to figure anyone living in the Marvel Universe’s Manhattan is used to this kind of thing by now. Perhaps the mere existence of weapons testing on a college campus is supposed to be the big scandal, which is a fair enough point, but nothing in the story indicates why they’re doing this work at ESU anyway.

The Peter Parker drama of the issue is another forced attempt at selling “marital tensions” between Peter and MJ. Life with Peter’s just so hard, she’s now channeling her anger through her acting, which is actually making her a better performer. Admittedly, Kavanagh doesn’t make the scene too dramatic, and actually shows us the playful side of their marriage for a few pages, but it’s yet another “MJ’s too weak to handle this life” scene; a subplot I’ve always found misguided and annoying.

Tainted Part One

Credits: Carl Potts (writer), Bill Wyllie (penciler), Fred Fredricks (inker), Dave Sharpe (letterer), Bob Sharen (colorist)

The Plot: While stopping a shipment of tainted cancer medications, Cardiac is attacked by the Scorpion. Before he can reach his beta-staff, Cardiac is knocked unconscious by Scorpion.

Review: Well, Carl Potts at least remembers Cardiac’s gimmick. This back-up is just an extended fight scene so there’s not much to say about it, although I did enjoy Wyllie's subdued, retro-art style and clear storytelling.