The Essential Punisher, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Gerry Conway (Author), Archie Goodwin (Author), Frank Miller (Author), Steven Grant (Author), Bill Mantlo (Author), Len Wein (Author), Greg Larocque (Illustrator), Mike Zeck (Illustrator), Tony Dezuniga (Illustrator), Keith Pollard (Illustrator)

Book Description

Grade Level: 4 and up

When the mob killed his family, Frank Castle went to war. But before he became the scourge of the underworld, the Punisher set his sights on a certain world-famous wall-crawler. For the first time ever, Marvel collects the vengeance-seeking vigilante's earliest appearances in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Daredevil and more!

Product Details

• Paperback: 568 pages
• Publisher: Marvel (August 30, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078512375X
• ISBN-13: 978-0785123750
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 1.5 x 10.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #593,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The Punisher rises!, November 7, 2011

By 

Kid Kyoto (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Essential Punisher, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Punisher is one of those rare comic characters who managed to rise from being a minor villain to the heights of comics with multiple series, movies and even a TV show on the way. This book reprints his first 12 years of stories as he goes from being a Spider-Man villain in 1974 to heading up his own mini-series in 1986. Along the way he pops up in everything from the death of Gwen Stacey to Frank Miller's legendary run in Daredevil. Through it all he's remarkably consistent and you can see why he thrived while most other comic characters have been forgotten.

There are some oddities of course. For a while it seems the Punisher could not be shown killing people so he uses net guns and the wildly convenient 'mercy bullets' that knock people out without killing them. In one scene Spider Man is shot and knocked out. He comes to in a room filled with fallen mobsters and concludes they're probably OK too and leaves without checking them. But that's one of the problems of mixing noble heroes and grim anti-heroes like the Punisher.

But by the 80s standards were looser and the Punisher was free to cut loose with deadly force. The book ends with the five-issue miniseries by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck that established the Punisher as a solo star. It's a bloody crime story that still holds up today.

One interesting detour in the book is the Punisher's origin story from ablack and white magazine called Marvel Super Action. In the 70s Marvel launched a few of these more adult books to get around the restrictions of the comic code authority and appeal to an older audience. It's interesting to see the Punisher go from the bright and happy and bloodless world of Spider-Man to an R rated crime story with sex and violence and then back. It's also interesting that the Punisher's real name Frank Castle is not revealed until the 80s.

I had low expectations when I picked this up, I was worried that 12 years of stories by different creators would be a bit of a mess but I was pleasantly surprised. This is a good read and I recommend it.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great collection of early Punisher, October 16, 2008

By 

Mark A. Domeier "Grammar Freak" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Punisher, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

I've never been a big Punisher fan, even when he was at the height of his popularity in the 90s. However, this collection of his first appearances is very entertaining and shows just how tough it was to nail down the character of Frank Castle as he began his career in the Marvel Universe. The various authors do a good job of explaining some discrepancies in character and actions as they go, and by the time the Punisher got his own ongoing series (which starts in Volume 2 of the Essentials series), he had a good baseline. This volume is highly recommended.

6 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not entirely essential at all, June 16, 2007

By 

N. Durham "Big Evil" (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Punisher, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

The Punisher is one of a handful of Marvel characters who has had quite a sordid history. The 25 comics collected in this Essential collection shows that, beginning with his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #129 (written by Gerry Conway), and the vigilante is showed at his best in classic Frank Miller penned Daredevil issues #182-184, and the classic Grant/Zeck mini-series from the 80's. There's also a Captain America story, as well as his first encounters with Jigsaw and Hitman. It's a nice collection, but the only problem with the book is the same problem with all of Marvel's Essential books, and it entirely depends on the reader. The black and white format marrs the art in a few issues, and the paper quality is easy to accidently rip. Even though you get a lot for the price, your better off getting the collected Grant/Zeck mini-series (which catapaulted the Punisher to superstar status in the 80's) or picking up any of the recent Garth Ennis penned Punisher tales to get the most from the character.