Issue(s): Punisher #47, Punisher #48
Cover Date: Apr-May 91
Title: "The Brattle Gun part one" / "The Brattle Gun part two"
Credits:
Mike Baron - Writer
Hugh Haynes - Penciler
Jose Marzan / Jimmy Palmiotti - Inker
Kevin Kobasic - Assistant Editor
Don Daley - Editor

Review/plot:
I guess it was inevitable that the Punisher got involved in the "Desert Storm" war in Iraq, but it actually is not a great move for the character. The Punisher is a former soldier that fights crime. That sometimes brings him to other countries, but getting involved in the politics of those countries seems like something for a different character.

As we'll see, this isn't really about Desert Storm, despite what it says on the cover of issue #47. But the story does have the Punisher and Micro taking sides in the war between Iran and Iraq, although they are called Zukistan and Trafia in this story.

On a different level, this story is notable for having some characters that have appeared in the series before: the mercenary Saracen, a repeat rival of the Punisher's, and "Wild" Rose Kugel, an Israeli agent that Punisher briefly partnered with and possibly had a romantic interest in. It's also worth mentioning that this story makes a pretty obscure and unfootnoted reference to a Carl Potts Punisher story (see References) and also builds on the fact that Micro has been established as being ruthlessly pro-Israel. Mike Baron is not just writing one-off "Punisher shoots drug gangs" stories; he is working within real continuity here. I still don't think much of these two issues, but it's interesting to see the way that Baron is building up and using an ongoing canon for the characters and not just coming up with new things for the Punisher to shoot.

The story begins with the Punisher noticing an arms dealer named Morris Brattle. Punisher approaches him to talk, maybe hoping to buy weapons from the guy who is "to big guns what Disney is to animation", but before Punisher asks him anything, he sees an assassin waiting for Brattle and kills him. He then takes him to his safehouse. Micro has already been established as someone that has been supplying factions of the PLO with weapons in the hopes that they'll spend time fighting each other instead of Isreal (Punisher War Journal #26). So when he sees Brattle, who has sold weapons to Trafia, he's not happy.

I do love the Punisher's complete disinterest in the politics of Trafia. "So?".

But when they hear that Brattle is returning to Trafia to repair the gun, Micro offers to pay Brattle to sabotage it instead. And the Punisher goes with Brattle to Trafia so that Micro doesn't go and get himself in trouble.

Trafia has recently captured some spies, including Rose.

It's said that "humiliation" is the driving force behind policy in the Middle East.

While Punisher and Brattle are in Trafia, Micro goes to the leaders of Zukistan.

And he winds up loaning them some equipment....

...and even leading a division of tanks for them against Trafia, with the aim of destroying the Brattle gun.

The Punisher, meanwhile, has been found out and captured by the Trafians. He's recognized by Saracen, who is working with Trafia at the moment, and he's tied to the gun so that he'll be killed when it is fired. But Punisher manages to escape, and of course his first priority is to paint a skull on his chest.

He teams up with Rose.

She confirms that the assassin that tried to kill Brattle in the US was an Israeli agent (it was thought to be a Zukistanian). It also turns out that Saracen is a double agent, working for Israel too.

However, Saracen turns out to be a triple agent. He lies to Rose, saying that their orders are now to kill the Punisher and let Brattle live. She doesn't accept that. She goes after Brattle, leaving Punisher to fight Saracen.

Punisher is in trouble, but he's saved by Micro, who comes bursting in on a tank. This story is getting more and more ridiculous!

Micro won't let Punisher kill Saracen because he's really a Zukistanian agent.

Rose kills Saddam Hussein.

And two weeks later, Punisher kills Brattle.

I guess you could see Micro working with the Iranians while Punisher goes with a gun dealer to Iraq to be a metaphor for the fact that the US was arming both sides of the Iran/Iraq conflict in the 80s. But there's no insight gained from the scenario here (except maybe that the Middle East is a mess of alliances and complexity), and the idea of Micro leading an Iranian tank platoon into battle is absurd. I do like the Punisher running into characters like Saracen and Rose on a semi-regular basis, though.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• Punisher is able to get the attention of Morris Brattle by telling him that he was involved in the Abrams vs. Apache battle at the arms show in Germany a "couple years ago". There's no footnote, but that's a reference to Punisher War Journal #10.
  
• We last saw Wild Rose in Punisher #7.
  
• Saracen killed Punisher's aunt and uncle in Punisher War Journal #25-27.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

"She must be Israeli. No one else uses women for spies."? WTF?
"Rose kills Saddam Hussein."
Which she is able to do without consequences because she is a Punisher character. If she was Rick Jones, this would result in a civil war which the New Warriors try but fail to stop, and a traumatized Namorita would have drunken sex with a stranger in an attempt to forget, and he would turn out to be a Vietnamese gangster resulting in Rage's grandmother getting killed.

I really hate the scene where Frank calls Micro "paisano." It just seems wrong and out of character. But maybe that's just because how I prefer the character be written is not the way Mike Baron writes him. It amazes me the character was so popular and his books sold so well back then when, in retrospect, they were pretty boring and humorless.

"But Punisher manages to escape, and of course his first priority is to paint a skull on his chest."

He just needed the power-up. You know, "By the power of Grease-Skull.... I have the power!"

*crickets*

Sorry about that, I'll just be over here in the corner.