Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1993-10-01 01:03:30 |
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Punisher War Zone #20-22
Issue(s): Punisher War Zone #20, Punisher War Zone #21, Punisher War Zone #22
Cover Date: Oct-Dec 93
Title: "Numbah one boom boom" / "2 mean 2 die!" / "Taking Tiger Mountain"
Credits:
Larry Hama - Writer
Hoang Nguyen - Penciler
Hoang Nguyen - Inker
Tim Tuohy - Assistant Editor
Don Daley - Editor
Review/plot:
Larry Hama begins writing this book a few issues before the start of the Suicide Run crossover. And... this is bad. Like, really bad. Like, when i opened this up i was 100% sure that the plot was that someone was impersonating the Punisher, because the art and script were so terrible.
Also, Larry Hama wants you to know that he knows his hardware lingo.
He really wants you to know.
Stop trying so hard, man. It's embarrassing. And the Punisher doesn't talk like a super-villain, and he doesn't look like Beagle Boy. If you told me that was Crossbones in a Punisher costume, i would say yes, of course it is. But it isn't. It's really supposed to be the Punisher.
Larry Hama's Punisher is also a lot less competent than usual, which seemed like another "clue" that it wasn't really him.
While the Punisher is dealing with that, Micro is sitting outside in the van, and he's approached by an unrelated group of thugs.
Micro gets rid of them with a claymore built into the side of the van. When the Punisher recovers from his self-inflicted grenade blast and comes out, the dialogue is like everything you'd expect it to be under self-professed conservative writers like Mike Baron and Chuck Dixon, but wasn't.
Anyway the grenade incident causes the Punisher to recall a scene from his time in 'Nam. Here comes more lingo.
So anyway, yeah, this is going to be another story about a guy from one of the Punisher's old Vietnam squads coming back as a villain.
The Punisher and Micro move on to their next hit.
Ok, seriously, WTF is going on with this art? Why does the Punisher have butterflies for eyes?
At this location, he finds three of the bad guys he was after tied up just the way his old partner did it in 'Nam.
While the Punisher is marveling over that coincidence, the wife of one of the dead mobsters, Trish Gambello, comes down the stairs.
The Punisher figures out that his old 'Nam squadmate DX Hanrahan is now working as a mercenary. He's working for a criminal organization operating out of Madripoor. They were using the Gambello as distributors but now want to take over the whole operation. Punisher heads to the surviving Gambello lieutenant, who Trish is trying to get money out of.
DX shows up and starts blowing people away. Trish gets the drop on the Punisher during the fighting, but DX saves him and seemingly kills Trish.
It turns out that Trish survived, though.
DX drops some grenades to cover his escape.
The Punisher follows DX to Madripoor, posing as a German named Herr Schloss (which seems to translate to "lock" and i guess therefore follows the tradition of the Punisher using aliases like Rook and Fort when he's traveling), and we meet all the usuals. First Inspector Tai.
Then a horribly depicted Tyger Tiger. I mean Jesus...
...Christ.
And finally General Coy.
It turns out that Trish has beaten the Punisher to Madripoor, seeking her own vengeance against DX. Coy seems happy to help get rid of DX, who is a loose canon. So he's provided Trish with supplies...
...and he does the same for the Punisher. So the Punisher confronts DX again (i will post any panel of the Punisher sayings "Bro!")...
...but the Punisher had figured out that Coy plans to betray him and bomb all three of them with napalm. So he's packed himself an asbestos suit.
This allows him to survive the napalm attack. Trish has been dangled off a cliff at this point, allowing her to survive too. But DX is (assumedly) killed.
With the amount of screen time and development that Trish gets - from a crazy mobster housewife to a gung-ho fighter - i thought that maybe i was forgetting that she was one of the replacement Punishers during Suicide Run or something like that. But she doesn't seem to ever appear again.
Quality Rating: D
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
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Comments
The title to issue 20 is a reference to... uh let's just say it should have been a tip-off as to how Tyger Tyger would be portrayed.
The alias Herr Schloss could also just be a a straight up translation of his actual name. Schloss in German means mansion or castle.
Weirdly, Hama once said he's opposed to vigilantes that dispense justice without due process of law.
Fnord, have you read any issues of GI Joe? Hama sometimes felt the need to show off his knowledge of military hardware for the reader there as well.
"So anyway, yeah, this is going to be another story about a guy from one of the Punisher's old Vietnam squads coming back as a villain."
Are you s****ing me? What is that now, six?
It's sad to see that even an Asian-American writer like Hama isn't beyond using the racist "dragon lady" stereotype with Tyger Tyger.
@Michael, i had some scattered issues but it's been a long while.
