Issue(s): Punisher Summer Special #4
Cover Date: Jul 94
Title: "Soiled legacy / Killing an afternoon"
Credits:
Don Lomax / Chuck Dixon - Writer
Alberto Saichann / Greg Luzniak - Penciler
Alberto Saichann / Matt Banning - Inker
Freddy Mendez - Assistant Editor
Don Daley - Editor

Review/plot:
The final Punisher Summer Special. My summers have never felt as special as during those four years where Marvel pumped out some disposable filler stories on top of the millions of other Punisher stories they did every year.

The first one features some unusual art by Alberto Saichann...

...and shows that the Punisher has an interest in stopping trade of endangered animal trophies. I was going to say that the story (unintentionally) builds on Punisher War Journal #6-7, but it was really Wolverine, not the Punisher, who cared about endangered animals in that story.

Actually, the Punisher doesn't really care about endangered animals all that much in this one either, but he again meets and teams-up with someone who does.

Punisher and Kito Tamri go to Kenya and kill some warlords that are slaughtering animals to fund their army. A rhino helps, too.

In the second story, the Punisher goes to the dentist.

He's attacked by a gang that the Punisher has run into before. They're called the Black Cullens, but they don't seem to be related to the Cullens that are featured in Suicide Run (the gang that "Hitman" Punisher comes from). One of these Cullens had a brother that the Punisher killed in Punisher War Journal #42. They get to the Punisher while he's in the dentist's chair, and have an opportunity to kill him. But the brother decides to torture the Punisher instead, and that's a fatal mistake because it gives the Punisher a chance to escape.

The Punisher puts his attacker in the chair, tells him that his brother "died like a punk", and then drugs him. He then shoots the guy in the knees instead of killing him. Unusual for the Punisher.

Meanwhile, Micro helps Mickey Fondozzi who owes some money while selling counterfeit jeans.

There's a menu board with gibberish in one of the scenes with Micro that almost looks like it has some anagrams. The top two lines are "Relly cant do bongs" backwards. And the bottom line could be "Salary is 20". If it really is a code, though, i can't figure out "ladayeash". Slay ahead? Probably not a code.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Punisher is with Micro and Mickey Fondozzi, so this should take place before Suicide Run. Punisher mentions reading about rhinos while waiting at a dentists' office, and from the second story it seems that Punisher doesn't go to the dentist very often. So maybe the second story takes place before the first.

References:

• One of the people that attack the Punisher at the dentist's office had a brother who died in Punisher War Journal #42. The Punisher didn't even kill him; he died during the gang wars in that issue.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A