Episode 254: The Punisher Origins

**Note:** *This episode was recorded before the death of Gerry Conway, who wrote two of the stories we talk about.* The Punisher is gearing up for a busy summer on the big and small screens (with Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Punisher: One Last Kill, respectively). So what better time to dive into some key early stories charting the evolution of everyone's favorite gun-toting vigilante? We start with a look at the Punisher's pop-culture inspirations, including the Executioner and Dirty Harry, before discussing his first appearance in 1974's Amazing Spider-Man #129, where he joins forces with (wait, this can't be right, can it?) the Jackal to take down your friendly neighborhood wall-crawler! Then it's on to Marvel Preview #2 from that same year, in which we learn the tragic backstory behind his one-man war on crime! Finally, we jump ahead a few years to Daredevil #183-184 and a gritty, street-level take on the character that's closer to the version we're all familiar with. Is our (anti)hero just a poor judge of character? What type of story suits him best? And can our surly sentinel of the streets survive a frontal assault from that Whack Attack known as … The Comics Canon? **In This Episode:** - What happened to Curt on our April 1 episode? - The Spotmaker - Punisher War Journal #19 - Punisher: Circle of Blood (1986) - Daredevil Born Again Season 2 - Questions about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot Join us in two weeks as we delve into the acclaimed three-part series Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons, by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Phil Jiminez, Gene Ha and Nicola Scott! Until then: Please consider donating to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund Impress your friends with our Comics Canon merchandise! Rate us on Apple Podcasts! [Send us an email!](mailto:letters@comicscanon.com) Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky! And as always, thanks for listening!