Punisher #51 (1991)

This was today's winner of "grab a random comic out of my 75 longboxes" method of reviewing comics.

I never was able to find the creative team listed for this issue, so I had to go to the grand comics database to figure out who worked on this fairly generic, if entertaining, Punisher story. It's not surprising that Mike Baron, the regular writer, comes up with another entertaining Punisher story. The narrative isn't tremendously original, Punisher lends a hand to a local restaurant owner only to find out everyone involved is dirty. What marks this story for me is that Punisher is a fairly reasonable guy. He's still pasting criminals, but the single-minded determination that I identify with the character these days isn't quite as strong. It seems Punisher is actually willing to compromise a bit to go after bigger fish. I also love the way Punisher always takes the time to mention what type of gun he's carrying.

Back in the days of Punisher Amory specials coming out, I loved seeing what the Punisher was blowing folks away with in each issue (this issue he mentions a glock, but only uses a mini-Uzi and a Mac-10).

In the end, Punisher has kills some Chinese exiles and has to cross a restaurant of his "safe locations" list, but nothing else really happens. The story is done-in-one and it does hold up as a solid, simple Punisher story.

Tom Morgan's art is vaguely reminiscent of Whilce Portacio or Erik Larsen. The guns and equipment look good and the Punisher looks ripped but realistic. It looks a fair bit different than his later Iron Man work.

Fair