Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1993-02-01 00:02:10 |
| Previous: Amazing Spider-Man annual #27 | Up: Main | Next: Nomad #10 |
Punisher War Zone #12-16
Issue(s): Punisher War Zone #12, Punisher War Zone #13, Punisher War Zone #14, Punisher War Zone #15, Punisher War Zone #16
Cover Date: Feb-Jun 93
Title: Psychoville, U.S.A
Credits:
Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning - Writer
Mike McKone - Penciler
Mark McKenna & Mick Gray - Inker
Tim Tuohy - Assistant Editor
Don Daley - Editor
Review/plot:
This is a fun story, if a bit overlong at five parts. The Punisher gets captured by an organization that brainwashes criminals and then forces them to perform black ops missions, like assassinations. The group was actually targeting a criminal named Da Rosa, but the Punisher was chasing him and they both got caught. The group was once officially associated with the NSA and was called Project Artichoke. By the end of this story the implication is that they're still unofficially associated with the government.
While the prisoners are getting conditioned and between jobs, they are put in a community where they live out a fake small town life.
Punisher's wife and even the kids are all actually brainwashed criminals and psychopaths.
When the Punisher has been missing for long enough, Micro comes investigating, and he hacks into the tv network to show Punisher images of his family and of the Kingpin, which help him shake the conditioning that he was already resisting on his own. Micro then helps him escape, and the town is of course shot to pieces in the process.
Fun story in the style of something like The Prisoner, or Stepford Wives, or The Truman Show. But i obviously don't have a ton to say about it.
Statement of Ownership Total Paid Circulation: Average of Past 12 months = 230,142. Single issue closest to filing date = 242,300.
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
| Previous: Amazing Spider-Man annual #27 | Up: Main | Next: Nomad #10 |
Comments
The same basic idea was used in the Avengers: Standoff crossover- only with supervillains instead of ordinary criminals being mind controlled. At the end, it turns out that a SHIELD agent under the Red Skull's control suggested the idea to Maria Hill, who agreed with her characteristic lack of common sense. I'm sure if Mark Gruenwald had written that scene, he'd have the Skull say something about having heard rumors of a similar NSA project that was disrupted by the Punisher.
