Issue(s): Punisher #72
Cover Date: Nov 92
Title: "Life during wartime"
Credits:
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writer
Doug Braithwaite - Penciler
Jimmy Palmiotti, Mark McKenna, Sean Hardy, & Al Williamson - Inker
Don Daley - Editor

Review/plot:
The Punisher is on the trail of the drug dealers that killed some kids (who were, granted, fledgling drug dealers themselves) at the airport last issue. This story is all about the degree to which the Punisher allows things to escalate during his "war", even as it puts civilians at risk. So the Punisher is first chasing the dealers' van across the Queensboro Bridge into midtown Manhattan, thinking that they have information that is "valuable, not priceless" and he'll kill them if they get too close to a more populated area. But things are complicated because the dealers have Recoil, who we met last issue, working with them.

They all wind up driving into a mall.

Recoil survives but he's in no shape to continue. One of the other drug dealers also dies in the crash, and the Punisher is forced to shoot another. The third happens across a spot where a Senator Bernard Modine is giving a speech.

Punisher stops the dealer from shooting Modine...

...but also stops a guard from shooting the dealer.

The Punisher eventually catches the dealer and gets information about a warehouse.

But of course the Punisher's actions at the mall put a lot of innocents at risk and at least one person was killed. So Senator Modine announces the formation of VIGIL, which is designed to go after vigilantes.

Abnett & Lanning's post-Eurohit stories aren't quite the interconnected event that Eurohit was, but you can see that they are still doing more medium term plotting than we've seen on this series. And Recoil is a colorful character. Decent stuff.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Punisher is still on the trail of drug dealers that killed the children last issue. That is said to have happened "last week". So this shouldn't take place too long after last issue. Note that last issue has dependencies because it shows Punisher returning from Europe. So even though this issue ends with the formation of VIGIL and the Punisher getting information on the crack factory, i'm going to allow other Punisher appearances before next issue just to let things catch up to publication date. It should be fine storywise (VIGIL will first be shown going after other vigilantes, and the Punisher doesn't have to tackle the crack factory right away), and the MCP also allows other stories in between.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A