Issue(s): Punisher War Journal #31, Punisher War Journal #32, Punisher War Journal #33
Cover Date: Jun-Aug 91
Title: The Kamchatkan Konspiracy: "Pipeline" / "Blowout" / "Fire in the hole"
Credits:
Mike Baron - Writer
Andy Kubert / Ron Wagner - Penciler
Joe Kubert / Mark Pennington / Dan Green - Inker
Kevin Kobasic - Assistant Editor
Don Daley - Editor

Review/plot:
Probably the most memorable things about these issues are the painted covers by Joe Jusko and Tom Palmer, or the fact that Andy Kubert is inked by his father Joe in issue #31.

But the story does have the Punisher teaming up with a Jane Fonda stand-in to fight a Kamchatkan warlord that is trying to break away from the Soviet Union and also destroy the Alaskan pipeline. And if you read the text on the first above scan, you'll see it also somehow manages to work in the Crips and the Bloods, but they're not an integral part of the story.

Here's Jane Fonda, called Alice Hoffman in this story.

Her version of Barbarella was called Bambistar.

Alice is more radical than real-world Jane. She's with a radical environmental group called Humans Off Planet (HOP). She starts off as an easy dupe for the Kamchatkan General Urt, who helps her blow up the pipeline (theoretically to help HOP curtail US oil usage, but really to raise oil prices so that he can use his own oil to fund his revolution).

But she has a change of heart after she watches General Urt strangle her a HOP colleague in a hot tub.

Here's the Punisher starting to doubt his (larger) mission and start to consider assassinating corrupt politicians, and maybe even "a few Republicans just to show I'm bi-partisan".

I've talked about Mike Baron's supposedly conservative politics to death at this point. That line did make me raise my eyebrows but it's just a joke, and from the Punisher so it's not necessarily meant to be taken as fact that only Democrats are corrupt. I also thought the treatment of the Jane Fonda character was a bit over the top at first, but Mike Baron continues to impress by being very evenhanded about her in the end. She may be naive, but she's earnest in her beliefs. What starts off seeming like a one-note caricature becomes a fairly well fleshed out character.

Of course the Punisher sleeps with her.

General Urt is employing the Punisher's nemesis, Saracen.

But Saracen can't get Urt to take the Punisher seriously...

...so Saracen winds up abandoning Urt, which is pretty cool.

In the end, the Punisher shoots General Urt, etc.. It's a perfectly entertaining set of issues. With Mike Baron writing both this and the regular Punisher book, it's hard to say what distinguishes them unless, like in the previous arc, there is a guest appearance. Well that and price and paper quality.

Statement of Ownership Total Paid Circulation: Average of Past 12 months = 230,418. Single issue closest to filing date = 208,600.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• When the Punisher starts talking about killing politicians, Micro reminds him that he had to flee the country when he unknowingly killed a Senator's son in Punisher War Journal #25-27. The Punisher notes that when he actually killed the Senator, there were no repercussions. Micro says that's because it happened outside of the US and because they blamed in on Saracen, and the Punisher says continuing to frame Saracen is a good idea.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Wait, a breakaway Soviet Republic? In August, 1991, when the Soviet Union was breaking up? Well...OK, it was probably written without them realizing what would happen in August, '91.

Well, the Kamchatka Peninsula is still part of Russia today, so it still would have made sense.

Nice to see that the Punisher's obsessive mission of revenge against crime for murdering his wife doesnt preclude him shagging loads of women.

USSR didnt really break up until the end of the year, on Christmas. Though it had been declared over by the constituent republics earlier that month.

This issue would have been published roughly around the time of the failed coup against Gorbachev. Possibly a little ahead of that, given the advance cover dating.

Soviets were in their final throes, but not quite gone yet.