Issue(s): Punisher War Journal #16
Cover Date: Mar 90
Title: "Panhandle"
Credits:
Mike Baron - Writer
Neil Hansen - Penciler
Mark Texeira, Steve Biasi, & Kenneth Rubenoff - Inker
Don Daley - Editor

Review/plot:
Steve Biasi and Kenneth Rubenoff are background inkers.

I've talked probably too much about the Punisher representing a kind of right-wing fantasy, especially in the sense of killing criminals that are able to slip through the legal system. This is another story that defies those expectations and goes after a more traditional left-wing target: the people that had caused the savings & loans crisis of the late 80s.

To really sort of tie myself - and this review - up in knots, i've also talked about how Mike Baron - supposedly conservative himself - was more likely to defy the expectations of the Punisher series than Carl Potts, who i've assumed was more liberal. So i was surprised to see this story popping up in Punisher War Journal (which is normally written by Potts), until i realized that this issue is actually written by Baron. That's also surprising for a different reason. Baron has Punisher choosing a similar target in Punisher #8, but this time the Punisher is having doubts about whether or not he should be targeting white collar crime.

Instead of resolving that question for the Punisher, this story contrives to make sure that the evil banker is also a drug runner and a murderer. So despite the set-up it quickly becomes a regular Punisher shoot 'em up.

Although in the end, the Punisher gives some of the money he recovers to someone that was wiped out in a bank collapse, telling him to use some of the money for himself and distribute the rest to others.

I don't know if it would fit the Punisher for him to transition into a regular modern day Robin Hood character, but it could actually be an interesting path for the character (if he were the sort that could even be subjected to character development), or for a new shoot-'em-up character.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A