I don’t suppose I need to explain to anyone reading this just why the topic of today’s post is so significant. After all, even if you didn’t know anything about the 129th issue of Amazing Spider-Man before you arrived here, just a look at the comic’s iconic cover by Gil Kane and John Romita would quickly clue you in to its contents. And what other comic-book character’s fiftieth anniversary in this month of October, 2023 could possibly compare in importance to the first appearance of… the Jackal?
Nah, just kidding. I’m talking about the other guy. (Although I freely acknowledge that the debut of the Jackal is significant in its own way, especially for ’90s-era Spider-Man fans who still have nightmares about the Clone Saga.)
Having said that, however, it’s worth noting that the creation of the Jackal does seem to have preceded that of the Punisher. and may even be said to have prompted it. According to the web-spinner’s scripter at that time, Gerry Conway, the Jackal himself was spawned as an indirect consequence of the epochal storyline in Amazing Spider-Man #121 and #122 in which Spidey’s great love, Gwen Stacy, and his great foe, the Green Goblin, both met their ends (though in the case of the latter, said end would prove less than final, some two decades later). As Conway wrote in his 2010 introduction to Marvel Masterworks — The Amazing Spider-Man, Vol. 13:
With the Green Goblin out of the picture, I needed a new, mysterious nemesis to plague Spider-Man. As a fan of the original Stan Lee/Steve Ditko run on Amazing Spider-Man, I loved how Stan and Steve developed the Goblin from a mystery figure on the periphery to a central enemy in Spider-Man’s gallery of rogues. I wanted to accomplish something similar, so six months after killing the Goblin, in issue #129, I introduced a character I called The Jackal.
Intending for the Jackal plotline to play out over an extended period, Conway was keen to have the new villain function at first as a mostly behind-the-scenes manipulator, rather than as someone who’d confront Spidey head on. Still, this being superhero comic books, the web-slinger had to fight somebody, as Conway explained to writer Dan Johnson a couple of decades ago for a “Punisher at 30” retrospective that was published in Back Issue #4 (May, 2004):
I needed to have some secondary villains who would be coming in, either partnering with the Jackal, as hirelings of the Jackal, or being misdirected by the Jackal. The character of the Punisher was really an answer to that need.
But though that explanation accounts for the creative impetus behind the introduction of a new physical antagonist for Spider-Man in issue #129, it doesn’t tell us where the idea for this particular antagonist — the gun-toting vigilante called the Punisher — originated. For that, we’ll turn to Comics Interview #75 (1989), where Conway told David A. Kraft:
I was fascinated by the Don Pendleton Executioner character, which was fairly popular at the time, and I wanted to do something that was inspired by that, although not to my mind a copy of it.
For anyone who may not know, The Executioner was a paperback book series that began in 1969 with War Against the Mafia (1st edition cover shown at left; artist unknown); credibly credited with inventing “men’s action-adventure” as a genre (or at least as a commercial publishing category), it ran through 2020, racking up over 460 volumes plus any number of spinoffs. The series was originated by Don Pendleton, who created the title character (also know by his given name of Mack Bolan), and wrote 37 out of the first 38 novels. Its initial premise? An American soldier comes home from Vietnam to find that his family has been destroyed as result of the Mafia’s criminal activities, and begins a one-man, take-no-prisoners war on the mob as a well-armed vigilante. And if that sounds like it could be the origin story of Marvel Comics’ Frank Castle with just a minor tweak or two… well, I think you may be on to something there.*
Of course, a comic-book character needs more than a premise; he’s got to have a catchy name, as well as a distinctive look. According to Conway, the latter of those had its beginnings not with any of Marvel’s artists, but with him. As he related to Kraft in 1989:
When I was creating characters and villains back in the early ’70s, I used to sketch a crude costume design for the artist. I guess a lot of comic book writers are frustrated artists… I sketched the basic Punisher costume design, with a small skull on his chest, and a black jumpsuit, and brought it to John Romita. I wanted a character whose primary colors would reflect his basic attitude on life — the world is black and white. Light and dark. Quick and dead. John played around with the sketch, and came up with the terrific notion that the Punisher’s belt could be part of the skull’s jaw. That’s a pretty good example of artistic collaboration, John springboarding from my crude little sketch, and doing things I never would have done… But it all started with that crude little sketch, I guess.
Cover to Exciting Comics #9 (Jan., 1941). Art by Elmer Wexler.
It must be noted that the late John Romita recalled the genesis of the Punisher’s design slightly differently; in his account, the idea for the white skull emblem against a black background originated not with a preliminary drawing by Gerry Conway, but with his own memory of the Golden Age superhero, the Black Terror:
I was in the office and I was an available art director. I did [the design for the Punisher] even though I wasn’t penciling Spider-Man anymore… The first thing that came to mind was, if the Punisher is a killer, is to use a skull. I remembered the Black Terror from the 1940s, all in black, with a small skull and crossbones on his chest. When I sat down to draw the Punisher, I didn’t want to make the small skull and crossbones on his chest, so I devised it where the skull became almost his entire torso and the nose hole of the skull and the eyes coordinated with his musculature. The eyes fit where the pecs were and the nose fit right at the base of his sternum. I ended up putting the teeth of the skull as a buckle and to look like a cartridge belt…
I did [the Punisher] without a mask. In my mind, I was thinking somebody will be coming in and saying, “we can’t have him without a mask, he’s a vigilante.” Believe it or not, [no one] ever questioned it. I left him without a mask because I was tired of designing masks and not being able to see the expressions on a villain’s face. I left him without a mask expecting [someone] to come back and say, “put some kind of a mask on him.” I always chuckle under my breath every time I see the Punisher. I think I got away with one. (Back Issue #4 [May, 2004])
That left the character’s name as the only major piece yet to be put in place. As indicated by Romita’s sketch shown at left, early possibilities appear to have included “the Grim Reaper” and even “The Executioner”; the latter of those was obviously way too on the nose (one has to wonder if it was ever really seriously in consideration, or if someone mentioned the paperback hero in Romita’s presence and he simply jotted the name down, not realizing it was a reference to an existing property), while the former was presently in use as the moniker of an Avengers villain who, if not exactly an “A”-lister, was nevertheless deeply embedded enough in Marvel continuity that he would almost certainly be used again soon. In the end, the winning entry came by way of Marvel’s publisher, Stan Lee, who recalled in a 2005 interview:
Gerry Conway was writing a script and he wanted a character that would turn out to be a hero later on, and he came up with the name The Assassin. And I mentioned that didn’t think we could ever have a comic book where the hero would be called The Assassin, because there’s just too much of a negative connotation to that word. And I remembered that, some time ago, I had had a relatively unimportant character…a throwaway character…who was a robot. It was one of Galactus’ robots, and I had called him The Punisher, and it seemed to me that that was a good name for the character Gerry wanted to write — so I said, “Why not call him The Punisher?” (Alter Ego #104 [Aug., 2011])
It’s true that “the Assassin” probably wouldn’t have worked for the kind of character the Punisher turned out to be; although it’s interesting to note that the term still made it into the cover copy — “The most lethal hired assassin ever!”
Of course, it would be clear to any reader after only the first few pages of the story that the Punisher was something more than — or at least something different from — your standard issue hitman-for-hire. And speaking of those first pages…
Ross Andru had come on board as the series’ new penciller with #125, beginning what would be an almost-unbroken five-year run. John Romita inked Andru on that first outing, but largely stepped away after that, ending what had been an almost constant hands-on relationship with Amazing Spider-Man since his own replacement of Steve Ditko as the title’s artist with issue #39 (Aug., 1966). (For completeness’ sake, we should note that just three months after this, Romita would contribute to the artwork of issue #132; but that was clearly a fill-in job, in which he collaborated with Paul Reinman and Tony Mortellaro.) While Romita would continue to make his presence felt on the book in his role as Marvel’s art director — his contribution to the introduction of the Punisher in this very issue being one obvious example — this nevertheless represented the end of an era for Marvel’s flagship hero.
Joining Andru on art duties were the inking team of Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt, who first stepped into their dual role with AS-M #127, and who would continue thusly (with minimal breaks for one or both) through #145.
It’s interesting, I think, that in comparison to the Punisher, for whom there are at lest two claimants to the distinction of having come up with his initial visual concept, no one (to the best of my knowledge, anyway) has ever rushed to take credit — or should that be blame? — for the green, furry bodysuit (complete with full head mask and matching-color briefs) in which the Jackal first made the acquaintance of comic-book readers. (I mean, a green jackal? What were they thinking?)
Ross Andru was unquestionably a competent graphic storyteller, moving the narrative along briskly and maintaining visual interest by the use of varied camera angles; that said, I’ve always found his action poses to be generally awkward and unappealing. Call it a blind spot in my personal taste, if you like, but I’m pretty certain that his taking over the art on Amazing Spider-Man was a major factor in my dropping the title about a year after this issue came out (for the record, #141 would be my last… at least for a good long while).
Anyway, I hope you won’t mind if we skip the rest of the present scene, a generic Spidey-versus-crooks action set piece that ends with our hero triumphant (duh) and doesn’t advance the issue’s plot — although its aftermath, in which Spidey avoids being seen by the police who arrive to collect the webbed-up would-be robbers, does give Gerry Conway an opportunity to remind us that our hero is still a wanted man, wrongly suspected of the murder of businessman Norman Osborn (who of course was actually the Green Goblin, who’d actually died as a result of his own actions following his murder of Gwen Stacy, back in the climax of issue #122).
Rather, we’ll jump ahead to the scene where Spidey’s alter ego, Peter Parker, shows up at the Daily Bugle hoping to sell the photos he’s just taken…
Did the Punisher know that the building behind Spider-Man was abandoned? Let’s hope so. (Of course, in superhero comics stories, the odds of any building which might get damaged in the course of a battle being completely uninhabited are amazingly good.)
If the Punisher wants Spider-Man dead, why’s he bothering with a wire-gun? You almost feel like Conway and/or Andru were still getting their heads around the idea of “lethal vigilante”.
I’m not really sure that “just” is the right word for the Punisher to be using in this situation; “honorable” would seem to be a better fit. But we get the idea — the Punisher wants to kill our hero, but he’s set on doing it in a nice way. The man has standards, you see…
“The maw of female hysteria“? C’mon, Gerry.
Before our hero can follow up on tracing the wire-gun’s maker, he has to go home and mend his mask, the back of which has been rent by the Jackal’s electrified claws. As Peter sews away, he’s unaware that his mentally ill roommate Harry Osborn (the son of the supposedly-late Norman) is listening from the other side of a door…
The “crazy stuff with the Vulture” that Mary Jane Watson is referring to above involved that villain — or, more accurately, someone posing as him — kidnapping MJ with the intent to kill her after she witnessed his committal of a murder. So, yeah, it really wasn’t the best time for Peter to discuss his academic progress with his biology professor, Miles Warren.
As for Prof. Warren himself, he’s been a (very) minor supporting player of Spidey’s cast ever since issue #31, way back in 1965… though he’s about to become a much more significant figure in our hero’s life — and in fact already has, beginning with this very issue. You see, he’s the Jackal.
Yeah, I know I’ve let the cat out of the bag really early on this one. But, as I’ve already noted, I stopped buying Amazing Spider-Man regularly with issue #141; and so, I wasn’t around for the Big Reveal in #147-148 concerning Prof. Warren’s unhealthy fixation on Gwen Stacy, and his decision to become a super-villain so he could avenge her death upon Spider-Man. That means I won’t be able to write about those issues on the blog come summer, 2025; ergo, if I don’t finger Warren as the Jackal now, when will I?
Gerry Conway has indicated (see Back Issue #44 [Sep., 2010]) that when he first came up with the Jackal, he figured that he should be someone Spider-Man already knew, but wasn’t entirely sure who that would be. The pacing of the two preceding pages certainly seems to support the idea that the writer had no clue as yet that Prof. Warren and the Jackal were the same guy, considering the abrupt transition from the scene in which we follow MJ after her chat with Warren, to the next one featuring the altercation between the Punisher and the Jackal. In retrospect, we’ll have to assume that the period of time taken up by Ms. Watson’s stroll through the streets of New York at the top of the last page is long enough for Warren to leave the Empire State University campus, get to his secret lair, and change into his Jackal duds, just in time to be backhanded by the Punisher… despite these scenes not really reading that way.
Ah, comics. Where else but in a superhero genre universe would a skin-tight black bodysuit (complete with boots and gloves) sporting a giant skull on the front not be considered a “fancy costume“, I ask you?
Looking back from our half-century-later perspective, it’s fascinating to realize what we still don’t about the Punisher after his debut appearance. We don’t learn his real name, or about how his family was murdered in front of him when they stumbled upon a mob hit in Central Park. We don’t even know for sure that he’s killed any of the people he’s “punished”, although his eagerness to put Spider-Man down for good, as well as that New York Star photo of him firing at a couple of distressed-looking gentlemen seems to indicate that he’s not particularly interested in sending wrongdoers to jail. That latter ambiguity may help explain why Spider-Man himself doesn’t treat this new adversary as a villain; indeed, once he’s cleared things up so that the Punisher is no longer gunning for him, he’s content to let the vigilante walk, and even seems sympathetic to him (“Something tells me that man’s got problems that make mine look like a birthday party.”)
It’s likely that all the questions mentioned above (including the implied one regarding the appropriateness of Spidey’s laissez-faire attitude) would have gone unanswered, had reader reaction to the Punisher been negative, or even indifferent. But evidently, the response from fans was huge; the new character would return as early as Amazing Spider-Man #134, and after just a couple more appearances with Spider-Man, would strike out on his own as a solo headliner (albeit only in Marvel’s supposedly more mature black-and-white titles, at least at first).
Why did the Punisher take off the way that he did? Probably for at least some of the same reasons that his fictional progenitor, Don Pendleton’s Executioner, had not only been a huge success but had also spawned a plethora of imitators; reasons which had also helped make Dirty Harry (1971), and would make Death Wish (1974), hits at the movie theater. For more, we’ll turn one last time to the words of the Punisher’s creator, Gerry Conway, who offered the following musings in an interview that was conducted in 2011 and 2013 (and published in Alter Ego #31 [Mar., 2015]):
At that time there was a kind of zeitgeist in the air about violent vigilantes taking the law into their own hands…. There was a real sense of lawlessness, a paranoia of living in New York City at that time that led to the belief that violence could attack you at any time from any quarter. A sense that the government and the police were really kind of helpless against it.
It should be noted that the “paranoia” invoked by Conway wasn’t entirely irrational, neither in New York City nor in the rest of the U.S.. There had in fact been a surge in violent crime in America over the last decade; a trend that, in 1973, had yet to peak.** Of course, that wouldn’t justify police officers acting as judge, jury, and executioner, let alone private citizens doing the same, any more than it would in 2023… not in the real world, anyway. Still, perhaps an awareness of that phenomenon can help us better understand how such fictional entertainment offered at least some readers a sort of safety valve for vicariously releasing the tensions of that earlier period. (Although, considering that violent crime declined during the 1990s and 2000s*** — a period in which the Punisher appears to have grown even more popular — perhaps we should be cautious in making assumptions regarding the effect of fluctuating crime rates on the appeal of violent crimefighters.)
Meanwhile, the same trend was finding a somewhat different form of expression over at Marvel’s main competitor, DC Comics — where not only had the very lethal crimefighter of pulp fiction and radio drama known as the Shadow recently been revived, but a vintage superhero from the comics publisher’s own Golden Age was being relaunched for the second time in eight years… this time, as an avenging angel of death whose extreme (and extremely grisly) sanctions of the criminal element might well make the Punisher himself envious. But we’ll have more to say about that particular subject in our very next post.
Cover to Marvel Preview #2 (1975). Art by Gray Morrow.
*You might expect that Pendleton would be a bit miffed at how much Marvel “borrowed” from his creation in the process of developing the Punisher, but he in fact seems to have been pretty chill about the whole thing, at least during the 1970s, as evidenced by his giving a lengthy interview for the black-and-white magazine Marvel Preview #2 (which featured the first solo appearance of Frank Castle), not to mention writing a follow-up letter that was printed in Marvel Super Action #1 (Jan., 1976) (which featured the second solo appearance of Frank Castle). Perhaps the author (who passed away in 1995) considered imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery; he may also have never considered the possibility that the Punisher would eventually achieve a considerably greater pop-cultural presence than his “inspiration” could ever quite manage.
**According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the violent crime rate increased by 126 percent between 1960 and 1970, and by 64 percent between 1970 and 1980.
***Again according to the Brennan Center, the violent crime rate declined by 51 percent between 1991 and 2015.
“Although, considering that violent crime declined during the 1990s and 2000s” But the media still have a “if it bleeds, it leads” approach to crime at times. And for some people (conservatives, particularly) there’s still a sense it’s 1969: crime’s running riot in the street, police have their hands tied by having to respect people’s legal rights, politicians are too cowardly to take the Necessary Steps. Dark Knight Returns, much as i like it, has a worldview interchangeable from Dirty Harry 15 years earlier (even though by DKR’s time the cowards were the ones terrified of anything that might look like they could be called soft on crime).
Politics aside, I’ve never been comfortable with heroes who kill wantonly like the Punisher (the Shadow, because he’s in the 1930s, gets a Times Were Different exemption). He worked okay as an anti-hero in contrast to Spider-Man but that’s about it. And yes, it’s obvious looking at this in light of later stories that they haven’t got it all figured out yet.
I have mixed feelings about Andru. I think what bugs me most is his distinctive way of drawing faces which come off very odd. I have the same reaction to Infantino, who draws so many criminal faces with an identical sneer.
Slightly modifying my previous statement: killing crooks is an area where I can’t put my politics aside. I can accept Batman making illegal search and seizure or assaulting crooks even when they’re not doing anything criminal, but killing is another matter. It’s one reason I never cottoned to the female Manhunter “Well I can’t convict these hoods as a prosecutor but they’re obviously guilty so I’ll kill them” pisses me off too much.
The Spectre, somehow, got a pass on the killing. I have no idea why.
The Spectre acts under divine direction, so there’s no chance of him harming any innocents. Hence, he gets a pass.
Good point. Also the stories are more horror than ASM or PUNISHER and I’m more chill about people dying horribly in horror
Loved the Kane-Romita cover, but hated the interior art. Ross Andru is certainly competent, but there was something very off-putting about his characters (to me, as a child, and even now). Romita (and Kane) had made the supporting cast very warm and likeable. Ross Andru did great background architecture, but his characters were either drawn as too rubbery in exaggeration, or too square jawed and/or angular.
He could certainly draw. Some of his faces of the Kangeroo in #126 were very realistic (and un-Marvelish). But his figures in his Spidey run largely left me cold. Seemed too rushed, and his surface inks had *none* of the panache of Romita Sr. or Joe Sinnott (as a house style guide).
As for the Jackal, remember Edward Fox played the title assassin in the 1973 hit film “Day of the Jackal.” Superb picture, by the way. Dazzling.
Aside from #132 where Romita briefly returned to interior art, I was done with Spidey at the time.
A belated thanks for the reminder about #132, Chris A. I’ve added an additional sentence to my paragraph about Romita’s withdrawal from the series.
I remember this book very well. I had only been getting into Marvel comics for a year or two and was very excited about Spider-Man. I didn’t like Andru on the pencils either–the arms and legs of his characters always seemed to stick out at odd angles in the actions scenes making everything seem stiff and unnatural, but the Punisher certainly made an impression. We didn’t quite know what the Punisher was about in this introduction; who he was or where he came from, but his costume, while not “fancy,” perhaps, was certainly striking and it was a powerful first step for what was yet to come.
The Jackal, on the other hand, was just a dime store “Goblin-Lite” as far as I was concerned. Their facial features and coloring were even the same. I realize Conway needed to replace the Goblin as Spidey’s Big Bad, but he could have stepped outside the box a LITTLE bit in creating him.
I stuck with Spidey in and Andru era longer than you did, Alan, though I don’t remember how long. I remember the reveal of the Jackal as Professor Warren, but after that…nope, I got nothing.
Anyone still thinking MJ was Peter’s soul mate at this point only needed to listen in on her converstation with Warren and her own thoughts afterward to realize how wrong they were. For someone who was supposedly all-in on Team MJ, Conway wrote her as the most vapid airhead in comics. Gwen was the better choice for Peter, hands down, and Pete (and the rest of us) would have been better off if she’d lived. Thanks, Alan!
In hindsight, Conway ended up giving MJ all the qualities he supposedly hated about Gwen. Later writers actually did a far better job with MJ than Conway did.
Yeah, but Conway’s scripting here is in keeping with how MJ was always written…a vain and shallow party girl who thought the whole world revolved around her. What later writers did, IMHO, is turn MJ into Gwen 2.0, because Gwen was a more completely realized character in the first place. #JusticeForGwen
Preaching to the choir!
It was at least interesting to see other writers explore MJ’s commitment and trust issues; Conway really didn’t do anything with her. He just preferred her as arm candy for Peter, apparently. Overall, Conway didn’t write women well; or at least not at this stage of his career.
He did very well with Wonder Woman during her WW II period in comics following the TV show (https://frasersherman.com/2017/02/07/wonder-woman-all-this-and-world-war-ii-sfwapro/)
Lee/Ditko Gwen was a stronger character than I remembered. In the Lee/Romita years she’s much more the sweet love interest and daughter to Captain Stacey. I’m curious to see if that changes as I work through more issues.
I want to thank you for the Ross Andru comment. In my opinion, he was the weakest artist ever to work on the comic. There was no fluidity or agility to Spider-Man, actually none in any of the characters he drew. Conway didn’t help as a writer. I still can’t believe there was a Spidermobile. It was during their run, I quit buying Spider-Man.
I never cared for Andru on this book either – can’t think of anywhere that I did like his art enough to buy something unless it was a title i was utterly devoted to and by this point, Spidey had lost that status. I will give him credit – he did some good stuff now and then: the pg 2 (I guess pic of Spidey swinging on a web, last panel – that’s nice, and I really admire the overhead shot of Spidey chasing the Punisher along a rooftop – that’s a lovely work of perspective and framing, and all around just good comics art. But honest to Galactus I’d rather Jim Mooney … at least there’s a chance Supergirl might show up.
I always thought Jackal was a z-lister about par with PlantMan and not quite as good as The Porcupine and The Eel. And Mandrill … don’t even get me started. The House of Ideas was in sad shape at this point
I’ve noticed , Alan, that there is a trend in these after the fact interviews you methodically track down. The memory of the people involved invariably runs along the lines of “I was the one, or I was the genesis of the idea.” Like Conway and Romita here, both taking credit for the costume design. I see this again and again, in regards to what turns out to be a successful character or idea. It reminds me of the old saying “Success has a thousand fathers while failure is an orphan.”
To be fair to Conway, he does pretty much say that the costume we see in the comic is Romita’s.
Roy Thomas has a site listing everyone he created for comics and he’s careful to credit all the co-creators, whether writers or artists.
I did not like Andru’s art as a kid; I much preferred Sal Buscema’s Spidey in Spectacular and MTU. As an adult, I can see how much effort Andru put into his Amazing Spider-Man work and greatly appreciate it. The amount of photo research that he did alone was staggering.
Yes, and that photo research was for the background buildings in different parts of NYC. Nice work on those. His figures and faces are what most people took issue with. Ross Andru fared better with simpler cartooning on Wonder Woman in the 1960s and more complex drawing on The Flash in the early 1970s. Even his Superman vs. Spider-Man treasury edition had a lot of unofficial art doctoring by Neal Adams and others.
I did not like Andru’s Flash at all (and it was mostly late 1960s IIRC) He just could not make super-speed work the way Infantino had or Irv Novick would later.
I think the name of the bad guy comes from the film, Day of the Jackal,,which did not sell many tickets but was talked about. I think that might also be why the Punisher is presented as a sniper/assassin-type in this book. Later efforts made him more of a close-combatant/gun fighter like the Donald Eugene Pendleton hero.
Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood took a stab at a Don Pendleton-type super hero with The Destructor over at Atlas in 1974-’75. There is a bit of Donald Westlake’s The Hunter (filmed in 1967 as Point Blank) in all three works.
It really isn’t an ethnic or cultural organized crime, it is more like an evil and opressive corporation that makes crime instead of widgets and the middle managers actually are sociopaths.
Yeah, this probably was a reaction to what was going on in the streets (the rumor is Orlando went with a Spectrer stripe in Adventure instead of a Deadman one because he got mugged.). But it wasn’t just violence, it was loss of trust. John D, McDonald (a Harvard MBA)’s A Key to the Suite (1962) presents mid-cap public companies as onlt slightly less corupt than Westlake or Pendleton’s “Outfit” and the middle managers in both being only distiguished by methods and scope.
I like Conway as a writer. He often wrote great, striking stories . . . but his arcs (at this poin)t were based on Stan’s, as this one is. Jackal is the Green Goblin (with a pinch of Crime Master) and it does not work.
I liked Andru on Spider-Man, He stayed wihin the broad peramiters of what Ditko and Romita had done and tried to keep the mask and costume consistant. Although Pollard tried to modernize the stripe in te early 1980s and late 1970s, I think McFarlane might have been the major break with the past (as Swan was with Superman’s Sigal/Shuster Studio in the 1950s). Andu (other than on Wonder Woman) did not excel on more wiry heroes, like the Flash of Spider-Man. His best work tended to be on war and adventure stripes.
Speaking of Andru, their is a bit of Lee Marvin in the early Punisher, His hair style is early 1970s Marvin (albeit, darker)..
Day of the Jackal was also a well-known book before the movie came out.
“It really isn’t an ethnic or cultural organized crime, it is more like an evil and opressive corporation that makes crime instead of widgets and the middle managers actually are sociopaths. ” Well put. Keeping it non-ethnic was a way to keep outraged Italians from complaining if anyone called it “the Mafia.” Which is why we get the Maggia in Marvel and “the syndicate” in TV of that era.
Mario Puzo spent most of the ’50s and ’60s working for Martin Goodman’s “men’s sweat” pulps. So, the same guy who re-itroduced the world to Italian Organized Crime is in and out of the same offices Stan is working out of, so The “Maggia” did not drop off the Moon.
I think Puzo (who was looking fr money to live on while writing The Godfather) actually took the Marvel Comics writer’s test at one point.
Pop Culture is a boiling stew of elements . . . .
Living in the UK, I first made my acquaintance with The Punisher when this issue was printed in the hardback Spider-Man Annual 1976 (which I received as a present for Christmas 1975; annuals of any type always referenced the forthcoming year).
I wasn’t a big Spider-Man fan, but comics were comics and you didn’t get much access to anything other than b&w weekly re-prints where I lived. Therefore, a full colour annual with relatively recent stories was something to be savoured and kept… and I still have the book.
Strangely, though, newsagents did carry lurid pulp fiction novels (often on spinners) and I had already read a couple of Mack Bolan Executioner novels by this point, though I seem to recall my Dad as the purchaser. Thus, on Christmas morning 1974, devouring the annual whilst still abed, I couldn’t help but see the resemblance between The Punisher and The Executioner, something that has stuck with me ever since (and with which I inevitably bore people).
Oddly enough, last night saw me start reading Garth Ennis’ “Punisher: The Platoon” (tpb) for the first time and, two issues in, I am thoroughly enjoying it. The character has come a long way since that first appearance fifty years ago.
Continuing my unbroken string of ASM starting with 120 and ending when I missed 141, I got this issue. Liked it well enough but I wouldn’t have guessed at the time that the Punisher would become such a big deal. The Jackal was sort of intriguing, but the way he was written in this issue and the next few are in marked contrast to the way he was written in the latter part of Conway’s run, apparently when he’d decided it was Professor Warren under that mask, which didn’t make a lick of sense to me when it was revealed. I don’t see any indication in this issue that the Jackal had any sort of personal vendetta against Spider-Man, but seems to simply want to eliminate him as a potential threat to his schemes to “take over the underworld” (a common comics trope that long ago struck me as utterly ridiculous). Having by now read those early Green Goblin stories by Lee & Ditko, I can more clearly see the close parallels between Gobby & the Jackal that went over my head in 1973.
Also, I vaguely recall my dad (who turned 33 in that year) had at least a couple of those Executioner novels around the house, although I don’t remember actually reading them myself. Dad also read a lot of western novels, which I never got into. Of course, one I read about the connection between the Executioner novels and the Punisher, it was obvious, but again, I didn’t make the connection 50 years ago. I had seen the first Dirty Harry flick, at a drive-in with the family when we lived in Long Beach. Memory of the film stuck with me, but it didn’t exactly enthrall me all that much, although it sticks in my mind as the first film I remember seeing that made much of the big bad, filthy, crime-ridden city rather than a somewhat more fantasy-like setting. By then, I’d lived in both small towns and big cities, northeast and southwest, so neither setting was alien to me. I know Dirty Harry wasn’t quite the first of its kind of film, but with actor Clint Eastwood the genre had found someone who could really play up the roll of someone who despite being part of the establishment law & order was perfectly willing to break the rules in order to take out the trash, consequences be damned. And mostly get away with it. Really, still a fantasy character in a realistic setting, and with a dark sense of humor – small wonder that he became a big hit. The Punisher somewhat vaguely resembles Dirty Harry, but although an ex-Marine, is certainly not part of the establishment and doesn’t display any sense of humor at all, at least not in this appearance. Re-appraising this issue with more adult sensibilities, clearly if a character like the Punisher wanted to take out Spider-Man, our webbed hero would have been a goner without having ever seen who did him in. But, of course, mainstream comics can’t work that way, certainly not with their most popular character. So, naturally, even when he has Spidey helpless, even if momentarily, rather than execute him right away as a professional killer would have doSpne in real life, the Punisher has to go into an exposition to explain himself to his victim-to-be. Giving Spidey just enough time to free himself and fight off his would-be killer.
Regarding Andru’s art, I can appreciate his skill better now, but back then I was wishing “the real Spider-Man” artist, aka John Romita, would get back on the job! But I kept on collecting and still regarded Amazing Spider-Man as my favorite comic. Heck, I stuck with Captain America when Frank Robbins took over the art on that mag and IMO his art was far worse than Andru’s. I was a loyalist back in those days once I became enamored of a particular comic and would stick with it through thick and thin, at least until the early ’80s.
More fun recalling my fandom from half a century ago.
Compared to Frank Robbins, Fred, Andru was the second coming of Steve Ditko. Robbins was a terrible penciller, who should have stuck to writing. Absolutely terrible!
I haven’t read any of Robbins’ writing, although I’ve read about his run on Batman. Strangely, I did collect The Invaders on which Robbins was the artist from the get go — I missed the Giant-Size issue but the got the first regular one, with a great cover by Romita. But I couldn’t resist a mag featuring the three top Timely-era superheroes set in World War II with them actively fighting Nazis in occupied Europe. I was willing to overlook my distaste for Robbins’ artistic style to read the stories and sort of got used to Robbins’ weird anatomy and faces. I think really bad writing was more of a turn-off for my enjoyment of a comic than bad art, although bad art certainly dimmed the experience.
Robbins and Irv Novick were doing what O’Neal and Adams did on Batman but earlier. They deserve a better rep but hey, it’s hard to compete with Adams.
Some Invaders fans say despite Robbins’ sketchy style, his detailed knowledge of the era visually (lots of reference material from his Johnny Hazard strip) made them very happy.
Robbins/Novick predated O’Neil/Adams, true, but Adams had already gotten the “creature of the night” ball rolling in Brave and the Bold. https://50yearoldcomics.com/2018/06/30/the-brave-and-the-bold-79-aug-sept-1968/
I’m just the opposite, Fred. No matter how good the story is, if I don’t like the art, I can’t enjoy the story. As an artist myself, I just can’t divorce myself from what I see as deficiences in the graphic part of the story-telling and it just makes my heart hurt. That’s why I can’t enjoy The Sandman. First of all, there are too many artists, and with a few notable exceptions (Sam Keith, Chris Bachalo, etc), the artists you have don’t do work that uplifts the narrative and it sends me running. I can’t tell you how many times I started to read the Sandman straight through and could never get past the tenth issue. I hate that about myself, but there it is.
Andru at first seems a strange choice to replace Romita, but Andru had been doing Spidey in Marvel Team-up for a little while, in a tag team with Gil Kane, so someone in Marvel management must have been happy with Andru’s version. Romita obviously didn’t have the time anymore, and Spidey is hard to draw…..so they needed someone regular and disciplined ( you don’t want to be late with your top-selling book); can do a decent version of the character, without having Romita coming in to amend half of the book ( as had been happening with Kane…it seems Stan did not care for Kane’s version) and be an experienced pro to counter the fact that Conway (born 1952) was really still a kid!
Just like most of the commentator’s here, I hated Andru’s version of Spidey at the time. I did however like Andru’s version of the Punisher. Now, of course, I miss Andru’s quirky version of Spidey. It has grown on me over time. For those Andru non-believer’s out there, his Metal Men is worth looking at, and of course he formed an effective team with Dick Giordano producing some highly attractive covers over at DC in the late 70s/ early 80s.
Re Conway copying Stan’s story arcs…well Stan had been doing it himself for years! That was the edict was it not?… don’t make changes to a winning formula!
Love Andru on Metal Men.
My own mis-appreciation was that when Neal Adams took over Spectre from Murphy Anderson i was outraged — why did they replace the good Spectre artist with this guy? In hindsight, the issue was more my taste than any weakness in Adams.
Sorry to keep coming back to my Andru bashing, but even time has not tempered my dislike for his work with superheroes. I’ve seen some of the westerns he drew many years earlier, and I honestly didn’t recognize it. It was very well done. Marvel brought back Doc Savage, which I compared to DC bringing back the Shadow. DC featured Mike Kaluta. Marvel used…Ross Andru. I think the most annoying trait with Andru’s work for me, was the constant “motion” lines he had to put around every one of his figures. Everyone always looks fidgety & spastic. Ok, rant over.
The Shadow also had…Frank Robbins!
One of my earliest US Marvels was Doc Savage#4…with art by Andru and Tom Palmer. It was gorgeous…a bit of Andru…and lots of Palmer!
I was just looking at one of the Alan Kupperberg stories from Invaders over on Tom Brevoort’s blog and for all his faults, Robbins was way more appealing as an artist.
For those of you wanting to learn more about Robbins, Mark Evanier did several posts on the artist on his News from Me blog. So if you are interested, the link is here: https://www.newsfromme.com/2023/10/01/about-frank-robbins-part-3-of-three/
I sort of liked Robbins on the Invaders, especially once Frank Springer became his inker. He did a nice Ghost Rider with Tony Isabella, and also his Morbius was good. But fandom was not that accommodating to diverse styles in the 70s……I would be interested in seeing the Johnny Hazard strip if someone ever gets round to reprinting them.
The Punisher is a character who, in 2023, I am just not all that comfortable with any longer.
It’s been observed by various commentators on social media that the Punisher is a character very much rooted in a specific moment in time, i.e. the 1970s, when crime was skyrocketing, trust in the political system was at an all-time low following Watergate, veterans suffering from PTSD were coming home from fighting a controversial, divisive war in Vietnam that many felt we had no business getting involved with, inner cities were crumbling, the economy was in a recession, and international terrorism was spreading across the globe seemingly unchecked. The Punisher as a character makes sense in that environment.
In the year 2023, though, crime is waaaay down, but as has been observed elsewhere in the comments, conservatives continue to try to make the country look like a crime-infested hellhole so that they can remain in power and scare people into willingly giving up their rights & civil liberties and convince them to scapegoat minorities & immigrants as the causes of society’s problems. And the people who buy into this dangerous message actively attempt to emulate the Punisher, to become armed vigilantes in real life, claiming innocent victims who aren’t actually criminals, but in fact members of those minority & immigrant groups who just so happen to look “wrong” according to Donald trump and Fox News and right-wing propaganda. When you have an actual police force becoming increasingly militarized even though crime is down, with officers publicly idolizing the Punisher, things have gone very wrong indeed.
I am certainly not blaming any of this on the existence of the Punisher. Nevertheless, I cannot help but feel that the character has in recent times become just another tool right-wing fearmongers have used to continue to convince the segment of this country who have a great deal of difficulty separating fact from fiction, reality from propaganda, that society is on the verge of collapse, and the only effective ways to preserve order are to embrace violence & fascism.
Crime was way up during the Pandemic, but that (knock wood) appears to be a transiant phenomenon in most places.
NYC (and some other large cities) seem to have a more enduring problem, but that may have to do with size and the problem of “turning an ocean liner around.”
There are similar problems to teh early 1970s but: 1) they are not unfamiliar as they were in (say) 1973; and 2) people have more of an idea of what works to address them..
And even when it went up, it was nowhere near 1970s levels.
Vehicular homicides went up while they went down in the rest of the world. Reducing them would be a better priority but it doesn’t align as well with stock political tropes.
One big difference between the Punisher and the Spectre, at least as written by Michael Fleischer and in his original conception, was that while the Spectre’s supernatural powers enable him to know an individual is guilty as hell of a particular violent crimes, the Punisher had no such power and, as shown in ASM 129, could all too easily be swayed to make mistakes and attempt to execute people only suspected of crimes despite having no credible evidence that they were at all guilty of the crime. The Punisher assumed Spider-Man was guilty as charged solely based on accusations that he was guilty, not on any evidence he had first-hand knowledge of. That by itself, indicates that the Punisher may very well have successfully executed others likewise accused of crimes which they didn’t actually commit. Of course, regular longtime readers of ASM knew Spidey did not murder Norman Osborne nor Gwen Stacy (that he inadvertently killed her while attempting to save her is actually irrelevant — it was Norman who purposely knocked her off the bridge with the intent to murder her and any competent and sane court of law would find him guilty of first degree felony murder, not Peter Parker). So as far as readers in
As things stood in the story itself, the Punisher was shown attempting to execute Spidey on false assumptions twice and failing both times, and while the Punisher wasn’t shown actually killing anyone, there was strong indications that he had previously done so, although Spidey appears to give him the benefit of the doubt as he makes no effort to capture the Punisher when he had the opportunity. Meanwhile, over in Adventure Comics, the Spectre is explicitly shown executing genuine criminals whom both he and the readers know to be guilty as charged, although only one of them was shown to be an outright murderer. But what Earthly power could possibly rein in the Spectre from his brand of vigilantism??? The Big G gave the Spectre a grim mission and he was carrying it out and no one other than the Big G himself could stop him — at least in respects to this version of the character.
Just for clarity, there is no C in his surname. It is FLEISHER, not Fleischer:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Fleisher