As was doing my prep work for covering 1991 for my Marvel Timeline project, these two covers stood out.

Big guns: not just for Cable, Deathlok, and the Punisher (and...).

Weird. Just weird. I'm surprised Captain America hasn't had a gun... or has he?

Captain America has had a cover like that - http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_America_Vol_1_321.

I meant this - http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_America_Vol_1_321

Pfft, that gun is puny! ;-)

I can sort of understand Cap having a gun (even if it does appear out of character) but why does Wolverine and Thor need one?

I don't know about Wolverine, but this was the period where "Thor" was Eric Masterson and the "real Thor" was "missing".

We'll get to the in-story explanations soon enough. I just wanted to celebrate the theme of the era!

Yup, Guns and big-muscled heroes in dramatic poses.

To be fair, the Thor issue with the motherfreakin' gun on the cover is really good. It sorta lampshades the whole "big gun" craze, because Thor is in Asgard fighting off some tough S.O.B.s and he figures the Mjolnir just ain't cutting it. So he grabs this gigantic firearm--trust me, it's MUCH bigger in the actual comic than it is in the cover (which is actually quite unusual)--and starts shooting the creeps and says something to the effect of "well, this enormous cannon's lying around, let's see what it can do." (at least that's how I remember it)

Anyway, some Nordic friend of Thor's--I may've been Baldr or Sif--and says something like "How dare thee, impudent mortal, to wreak blemish upon thy noble heritage with so profane instrument as such??" It's something along those lines. And Thor sort of goes "Oh, chill out, will ya? Geez!" And then during the battle he realizes that he is effectively the new Thor and has no business fighting in less than a noble fashion. So he grabs his Mjolnir, reads some very significant feel-good message etched in Uru, and came sot his senses: "I am the Thunder God. I have to take responsibility."

I'm reciting the whole thing from memory, so forgive me for some imprecise details. But it struck me as a pretty good character development. In its own way. So Thor didn't actually become gun-toting Thor the same way Batman became an armor-clad, gauntlet-wearing, ball-breaking holy warrior.

But, of course, there was NO WAY the editors would pass up the chance of putting Thor on the cover at his Punisher-iest.