The Punisher (re-titled Frank Castle: The Punisher after issue #66; sometimes referred to as The Punisher MAX) was a comic book ongoing series published under the MAX imprint of Marvel Comics, featuring vigilante and antihero the Punisher. It ran from March 2004 through October 2009.

Publication history Garth Ennis, also writer of the 2000 and 2001 Punisher series, wrote issues #1–60 of the series. Also like the earlier series, Tim Bradstreet provided the covers for those issues. Continuing his run on the character, Ennis used the freedom of the MAX imprint to write more graphic and hard-edged stories than had previously been seen. Ennis also wrote two miniseries accompanying the main series, The Punisher Presents: Barracuda and Born, and several one-shots.

With issue #61, Gregg Hurwitz replaced Ennis as writer, joining artist Laurence Campbell to do a five-issue story arc. With issue #66 released on January 21, 2009, the series was re-titled Frank Castle: The Punisher, with writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Michel Lacombe coming to the series. Victor Gischler came on board for the storyline "Welcome to the Bayou" in issues #71–74 before the title finished with issue #75, a double-length issue with stories by Thomas Piccirilli, Gregg Hurwitz, Duane Swierczynski, Peter Milligan, and Charlie Huston.

The title was relaunched as Punisher MAX in 2010, with writer Jason Aaron and artist Steve Dillon.

Plot

Differences from the mainstream Marvel Universe The series explicitly does not use a floating timeline like the mainstream Marvel Universe, instead presenting a Punisher who ages in real time. Gravestones and other references indicate that his family was killed in 1976. The Punisher has been active for almost 30 years at the time presented in most stories, with issue #19 specifying that he has killed approximately 2,000 people. Born also establishes that the Punisher's service in the Vietnam War is still in MAX continuity.

Promotional art for the cover of Punisher #44 (March 2007), gives Frank's born as Queens, New York, 1947 but that was removed for the published issues. The story "Valley Forge, Valley Forge" corroborates this date, referring to Castle as "a twenty-one year old Captain" in April 1971.

Another major difference is the complete lack of superheroes and supervillains in the series, although non-superpowered characters from the Punisher's past, most notably Microchip, do make appearances. Nick Fury also makes several notable appearances, with his characterization echoing Ennis' MAX-imprint Fury stories. However, the character Jen Cooke, a social worker, appeared in the Marvel Knights storyline "Hidden". She then appeared in the MAX storyline "Slavers". The character Yorkie Mitchell made appearances in both the Marvel Knights and the MAX Punisher comics.

In the Civil War Files comic, just before the "Civil War" storyline was published, Iron Man talked about events in the Punisher's past from the Marvel Knights and MAX comics, which indicated that it did happen in the mainstream Marvel Universe at some point:

"Captain Frank Castle, sole survivor of the Firebase Valley Forge massacre". "Although recently Castle has escalated his war on crime even further, with record-breaking body counts, he is paradoxically now rarely encountered in the field by any super hero save Daredevil". "It's almost like he inhabits two worlds, one where heroes can capture him and one where they can't, and he can slip from one to the other with ease".

Many characters are past or current intelligence and military operatives from governmental agencies like the American CIA, the Soviet KGB and the British SIS and SAS and militaries and militias from the Balkans, the Middle East and the IRA, all with agendas rooted in past conflicts like the Cold War or the Yugoslav Wars.

Prints Issues

No. Story arc Cover date Comic Book Roundup rating Estimated sales (first month) #1 In the Beginning March 2004 8.0 by one professional critic. 56,350, ranked 20th in North America. #2 March 2004 49,197, ranked 24th in North America. #3 April 2004 46,383, ranked 34th in North America. #4 May 2004 47,096, ranked 32nd in North America. #5 June 2004 34,236, ranked 57th in North America. #6 July 2004 48,533, ranked 31st in North America. #7 Kitchen Irish August 2004 48,126, ranked 30th in North America. #8 August 2004 47,477, ranked 31st in North America. #9 September 20046.0 by two professional critics. 46,885, ranked 30th in North America. #10 October 20048.0 by one professional critic. 45,397, ranked 33rd in North America. #11 November 2004 44,036, ranked 45th in North America. #12 December 2004 42,661, ranked 36th in North America. #13 Mother Russia January 2005 42,086, ranked 38th in North America. #14 January 2005 41,512, ranked 42nd in North America. #15 February 2005 40,359, ranked 37th in North America. #16 March 2005 39,262, ranked 35th in North America. #17 April 2005 38,732, ranked 42nd in North America. #18 May 2005 38,300, ranked 56th in North America. #19 Up is Down and Black is White June 2005 38,746, ranked 47th in North America. #20 June 2005 38,123, ranked 49th in North America. #21 July 2005 37,992, ranked 47th in North America. #22 August 2005 37,804, ranked 49th in North America. #23 September 2005 37,381, ranked 53rd in North America. #24 October 20059.0 by one professional critic. 37,019, ranked 65th in North America. #25 The Slavers November 2005 37,145, ranked 61st in North America. #26 December 2005 36,427, ranked 50th in North America. #27 January 2006 36,072, ranked 48th in North America. #28 February 2006 35,535, ranked 55th in North America. #29 March 2006 34,696, ranked 50th in North America. #30 April 20069.0 by one professional critic. 34,281, ranked 57th in North America. #31 Barracuda May 2006 34,500, ranked 68th in North America. #32 June 2006 34,076, ranked 60th in North America. #33 July 2006 34,467, ranked 68th in North America. #34 August 2006 34,162, ranked 65th in North America. #35 September 2006 34,111, ranked 69th in North America. #36 October 2006 34,162, ranked 68th in North America. #37 Man of Stone November 2006 34,246, ranked 59th in North America. #38 November 2006 33,835, ranked 61st in North America. #39 December 2006 33,947, ranked 52nd in North America. #40 January 2007 33,577, ranked 69th in North America. #41 January 2007 33,161, ranked 72nd in North America. #42 February 2007 33,001, ranked 63rd in North America. #43 Widowmaker March 20079.0 by one professional critic. 33,022, ranked 55th in North America. #44 April 20078.0 by one professional critic. 32,945, ranked 61st in North America. #45 May 20077.0 by one professional critic. 33,243, ranked 64th in North America. #46 June 20078.0 by one professional critic. 33,393, ranked 65th in North America. #47 July 200710 by one professional critic. 33,881, ranked 70th in North America. #48 August 20078.0 by one professional critic. 33,783, ranked 62nd in North America. #49 September 20078.0 by one professional critic. 34,305, ranked 73rd in North America. #50 Long Cold Dark October 200710 by one professional critic. 36,455, ranked 75th in North America. #51 December 20078.6 by two professional critics. 33,735, ranked 72nd in North America. #52 January 20087.8 by one professional critic. 32,897, ranked 65th in North America. #53 February 2008 31,753, ranked 78th in North America. #54 March 20089.5 by two professional critics. 31,628, ranked 68th in North America. #55 Valley Forge, Valley Forge May 20088.4 by two professional critics. 31,627, ranked 60th in North America. #56 June 20088.6 by two professional critics. 30,789, ranked 65th in North America. #57 July 20088.4 by one professional critic. 30,519, ranked 71st in North America. #58 August 20088.5 by one professional critic. 29,791, ranked 70th in North America. #59 September 20087.0 by one professional critic. 30,058, ranked 82nd in North America. #60 October 20088.1 by three professional critics. 30,667, ranked 79th in North America. #61 Girls in White Dresses October 20086.2 by four professional critics. 28,358, ranked 87th in North America. #62 November 20085.1 by two professional critics. 26,898, ranked 91st in North America. #63 December 20086.3 by one professional critic. 25,930, ranked 106th in North America. #64 January 20096.1 by one professional critic. 24,656, ranked 76th in North America. #65 February 20096.8 by one professional critic. 23,878, ranked 113th in North America.

As of issue #66, the series was officially re-titled Frank Castle: The Punisher. No. Story arc Cover date Estimated sales (first month) #66 Six Hours to Kill March 2009 22,799, ranked 81st in North America. #67 April 2009 22,263, ranked 85th in North Americe. #68 May 2009 22,252, ranked 85th in North America. #69 June 2009 21,841, ranked 112th in North America. #70 July 2009 21,864, ranked 91st in North America. #71 Welcome to the Bayou August 2009 21,311, ranked 107th in North America. #72 September 2009 21,035, ranked 100th in North America. #73 October 2009 20,354, ranked 104th in North America. #74 November 2009 20,242, ranked 121st in North America. #75 Dolls/Gateway/Ghoul/Father's Day/Smallest Bit of This December 2009 22,197, ranked 95th in North America.

Collected editions

Trade paperbacks

Vol. # Vol. title Material collected Writer Artist Publication date ISBN 1 In the Beginning The Punisher #1–6 Garth Ennis Lewis Larosa 2004 2 Kitchen Irish The Punisher #7–12 Leandro Fernández 2004 3 Mother Russia The Punisher #13–18 Dougie Braithwaite 2005 4 Up is Down and Black is White The Punisher #19–24 Leandro Fernández 2005 5 The Slavers The Punisher #25–30 2006 6 Barracuda The Punisher #31–36 Goran Parlov 2006 7 Man of Stone The Punisher #37–42 Leandro Fernández 2007 8 Widowmaker The Punisher #43–49 Lan Medina 2007 9 Long Cold Dark The Punisher #50–54 Howard Chaykin (#50)Goran Parlov (#51–54) 2008 10 Valley Forge, Valley Forge The Punisher #55–60 Goran Parlov 2008 11 Girls in White Dresses The Punisher #61–65 Gregg Hurwitz Laurence Campbell 2009 12 Six Hours to Kill Frank Castle: The Punisher MAX #66–70 Duane Swierczynski Michel Lacombe 2009 13 Welcome to the Bayou Frank Castle: The Punisher MAX #71–74 Victor Gischler Goran Parlov 2009

Hardcovers

Title Material collected Publication date ISBN Volume 1 The Punisher #1–12 2005 Volume 2 The Punisher #13–24 2006 Volume 3 The Punisher #25–36 2007 Volume 4 The Punisher #37–49 2007 Volume 5 The Punisher #50–60 2009 Volume 6 The Punisher #61–65Frank Castle: The Punisher MAX #66–75 2011

Complete Collections

Title Vol. # Material collected Publication date ISBNThe Punisher MAX: Complete Collection 1 Born #1–4The Punisher #1–12 February 2016 2 The Punisher #13–30 April 2016 3 The Punisher #31–49 October 2016 4 The Punisher Presents: Barracuda MAX #1–5The Punisher #50–60Punisher: The Tyger #1Punisher: The Cell #1Punisher: The End #1 December 2016 5 Punisher MAX Annual #1The Punisher: Force of Nature #1Punisher MAX Special: Little Black Book #1 The Punisher #61–65Frank Castle: The Punisher MAX #66–75 February 2017 6 Punisher MAX X-Mas Special #1Punisher MAX: Naked KillPunisher MAX: Get CastlePunisher MAX: Butterfly #1Punisher MAX: Happy Ending #1Punisher MAX: Hot Rods of DeathPunisher MAX: Tiny Ugly World #1Untold Tales of Punisher MAX #1–5 August 2017

Omnibus

Title Vol. # Material collected Publication date ISBN The Punisher MAX by Garth Ennis Omnibus 1 Born #1–4The Punisher #1–30 May 2018 2 The Punisher #31–60The Punisher Presents: Barracuda MAX #1–5Punisher: The Tyger #1Punisher: The Cell #1Punisher: The End #1 August 2018

Reception The series holds an average rating of 7.9 by 38 professional critics on the review aggregation website Comic Book Roundup.

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