• The Marvel Univers (you think they're kidding?)

• Punisher
• Don Signore

PUNISHER (VOL. 3) #1-12:

Script: Garth Ennis
Pencils: Steve Dillon
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Chris Sotomayor

Punisher #1: "Welcome Back Frank"
22 pages • April 2000

Frank Castle lives as his alter ego John Smith, in a tenement with neighbors Spacker Dave, morbidly fat Mr. Bumpo, and the lonely wallflower Joan. Punisher begins his clampdown on the Gnucci family by taking down brothers Eddie and Bobbie. His next target is brother Carlo, who he tosses off the Empire State Building.

Punisher #2: "Badaboom, Badabing"
22 pages • May 2000

Det. Soap, a department loser, is put on the case to tag Punisher. Soap is given a behavioral psychologist to work with, a nerdy guy named Buddy Plugg. At the same time, mob boss Ma Gnucci sends her man Joa Malizia out to recruit bounty hunters to nail the Punisher. He finds three: cowboy Harry "Heck" Thornton, karate master Eddie Lau, and war Tall Joe Small. Punisher kills them all, very quickly. His last victim is Joe Malizia himself, which gives a clear signal to Ma Gnucci that she is next. Meanwhile, a Catholic priest taking confession from a drug-dealing killer goes nuts and hacks him to pieces with an axe.

Punisher #3: "The Devil By The Horns"
22 pages • June 2000

Punisher is tracked in Malizia's car by a Gnucci gang. He is able to unleash a flame-thrower on them, and suckering the rest of them into offing themselves by firing on gas cannisters. Det. Soap deters Buddy from turning in "psychobabble" reports to help find the Punisher, recommending more useful information to help catch the vigilante. This send Buddy into a depression and he hangs himself to death by his tie at the precinct. The Catholic Priest killer is put in the awkward position of having to clean up his mess from last issue, and a blind and batty old lady is only too happy to help him. Punisher's next mission is to assassinate Dino Gnucci, Ma Gnucci's brother, who is standing trial and defended by Matt Murdock. A showdown ensues on the top of a rooftop when Punisher is set to snipe Dino. Daredevil winds up tied to a post with a chain and his hand forced in a position holding a gun at the Punisher, who tells him he will get one shot to shoot him in the head before he is able to kill Gnucci. This sends bleeding heart DD into an existential reverie that results in him accepting that he must kill Punisher to keep Gnucci from being assassinated, but Punisher has removed the firing pin from the gun. Gnucci is shot to death. The Catholic priest, who is trying not to kill again, nonetheless is unable to hold his psychosis at bay and murders another lawbreaker.

Punisher #4: "Wild Kingdom"
22 pages • July 2000

The suicide of Buddy Plugg is met with derision at the precinct. Soap is made to feel bad because the note implicates him to a degree. Punisher is staking out Ma Gnucci when he is spotted by her bodyguards and hit with machine gun fire. He takes a couple bullets and races for cover inside the Central Park Zoo. Ma Gnucci screams at her bodyguards to follow, and they do. Inside the zoo, the Punisher is able to off his opponents one by one using the zoo's tank of piranha fish and a giant boa constrictor. Soap meets his new partner, Lt. Molly Von Ricthofen, a woman tasked with cleaning up the Gnucci crime family, and who sees her destiny and Soap's combined, since the Punisher is eliminating them one by one. The Punisher winds up his evening in the zoo by goading the polar bears to mauling Ma Gnucci and her bodyguard. Ma Gnucci manages to live. Lastly, the Catholic priest, asking for a sign from God to help clarify his madness, sees a newspaper talking about the Punisher. Thus, clarity, and a knowledge that he is no longer alone.

Punisher #5: "Even Worse Things"
22 pages • August 2000

Ma Gnucci has lost all her limbs in the bear mauling, and is merely a stump in a hospital bed at home, but she has lost none of her hate and vitriol, goading her minions to prove themselves by killing each other at her command. Punisher goes home to take bullets out of himself and is given a pie by lonely Joan. Soap and Lt. Molly formulate a plan to stake out the Gnucci house and wait for Punisher to show up, looking like heroes when they sweep in after the carnage to clean up. Meanwhile, the Catholic priest is at it again, killing another miscreant. In other scenes, we meet more vigilante killers: Mr. Payback, who is killing corporate criminals, a masked man called Elite who cleans up a car full of dope dealers, as well as a well-heeled woman's dog who was peeing on the sidewalk.

Punisher #6: "Spit Out Of Luck"
22 pages • September 2000

Ma Gnucci is tipped off to the apartment building where the Punisher lives, and she sends her goons out to catch him unawares. Meanwhile, the tide of copycat vigilantism rises, with Mr. Payback blowing a corporate helicopter from the sky and Elite sniping at a car-full of drug dealers. The Punisher is indeed caught by surprise, but is able to dispatch all the goons but not before he is shot several times.

Punisher #7: "Bring Out Your Dead"
22 pages • October 2000

The Punisher wanders back to his apartment in a daze and passes out. Soap and Lt. Molly are charged with investigating the Church murders, and meet up with the Priest who is committing them. The Priest is able to avoid suspicion. Lonely Joan finds a trail of blood leading into the Punisher's room, and enlists the aid of Spacker Dave to take care of him. The Elite blows up a hot dog stand and Mr. Payback kills a corporate fat cat live on the TV news. A couple of Ma Gnucci's goons come back to Punisher's building and are able to glean verification on the Punisher's condition from a startled Spacker Dave.

Punisher #8: "Desperate Measures"
22 pages • November 2000

As Joan and Frank have an "intimate" conversation, Ma Gnucci's goons begin to extract information from Spacker Dave by taking plyers to all his face jewelry. Punisher hears him screaming from next door and stirs himself into action, killing the goons and saving Spacker Dave. Soap and Lt. Molly discuss their strategy, and she reveals she's a lesbian and Soap has no chance with her. Frank calls in an "old school" patchup doctor to take care of his considerable wounds. All the way on the other side of the planet, in Kazakhstan, a paramilitary force called Bravo Force attempts to take the life of a character called "The Russian." They are quickly and comedically torn to shreds by the Russian. Ma Gnucci dials him on the phone and requests his services in America. He gladly accepts.

Punisher #9: "From Russia With Love"
22 pages • December 2000

The Russian arrives in America and gets his mission to kill the Punisher from Ma Gnucci. The Punisher is attending to his final things before he leaves the apartment building for good. He warns Mr. Bumpo and Spacker Dave to forget about him. Soap and Lt. Molly are staking out Ma Gnucci's place in hopes they catch the Punisher cleaning up there. Lt. Molly sees The Russian and knows what kind of events will transpire. TV news reports talking of their common deeds inspire the three vigilantes- The Holy, Mr. Payback, and Elite- to join forces.

Punisher #10: "Glutton For Punishment"
22 pages • January 2001

The Russian has arrived at the Punisher's apartment. The fight begins. Alot of stuff happens. It goes on a long time. The three vigilantes all manage to find each other and begin to discuss joining forces. Soap and Lt. Molly continue their never-ending stakeout.

Punisher #11: " Any Which Way You Can"
22 pages • February 2001

Round two of the fight between the Punisher and the Russian begins. And then it ends. (You don't want to miss this one.)

The three vigilantes continue to bicker about their goals as criminal killers. After defeating the Russian, Punisher kills the goon waiting in the getaway car and takes off for Ma Gnucci's. Lt. Molly and Soap see him wheeling into the driveway. Punisher calls everyone out. He is carrying the head of the Russian, asking Ma Gnucci if she's got any more to throw at him. Her remaining goons all drop their guns and take off.

Punisher #12: "Go, Frank Go!"
22 pages • March 2001

Ma Gnucci, with no arms and no legs, is unable to stop the Punisher from pouring gasoline all over her home. He sets it afire and she manages to hop out the window, biting at his ankles. He kicks her back into the flaming house. Punisher meets up with Lt. Molly and Soap, offering a trade: information he found inside Ma Gnucci's safe for their information on the three vigilantes. They accept. They gain possession of incriminating photos of the mayor and other city officials, which gets them all leveraged into high-ranking jobs on the force. The Punisher has left loads of cash behind for Mr. Bumpo, Spacker Dave and Joan, to pay them back for their kindness. The Punisher's last duty is to meet up with the three vigilantes who were inspired by him and gun them all down.

PUNISHER KILLS THE MARVEL UNIVERSE one-shot
46 pages • November 1995

Script: Garth Ennis
Pencils: Doug Braithwaite
Inks: Robin Riggs, Sean Hardy, Don Hudson, Michael Halblieb, Martin Griffith & Livesay
Colors: Shannon Blanchard & Tom Smith

In a flashback, a teenage Frank Castle defends a teenage Matt Murdock from getting beat up by a gang of bullies.

Flash forward to a battle royale in Central Park between a group of heroes (among them the Avengers, X-Men and Daredevil) and the alien Brood. In the crossfire of battle, the family of Frank Castle is killed. He arrives on the scene and realizes what has happened, blames the heroes and takes out a gun and offs Hawkeye, Kitty Pryde, Cyclops and Jubilee among others. He's thrown in jail for life after being defended unsuccessfully by Matt Murdock. Before being released into prison custody, he is sprung on behalf of a very rich, disfigured man who leads Castle into his home, where they are joined by a roomfull of other disfigured people. They have gathered together as people who were maimed or had their lives otherwise ruined as collateral damage from super-hero fights. They convince Frank Castle to take the identity of the Punisher, and go on a mission to kill all super-heroes and super-villians. He agrees, taking their arms and money to fund his mission.

His partner Micro helps him track the heroes down and kill with lethal force. His first target is Spider-Man and Venom. He then follows the Hulk's rampage and waits for him to turn into Bruce Banner and shoots him to death. Next, he takes on the Kingpin. He is arrested after murdering the Kingpin and once again sentenced to jail, and once again sprung.

His next mission is to kill Dr. Doom and get at the Latverian dictator's formidable weapons stash. After doing so, he gains control of a nuclear device that he launches at the moon, where he has suckered all the world's mutants to gather in final battle with each other. The nuclear device destroys them all at once. He tracks down Wolverine, who he arranged to not have as part of his lunar kill, and takes him on in one-on-one combat, eventually tossing him into an electrical grid that fries him to ashes.

His rampage continues, getting arrested and sprung from jail more times, and finally he faces off against Captain America, shooting him in the head. He has saved Daredevil for last, and before facing him, confronts the people that funded his mission. They demand his eternal servitude to confront super-human threats that have yet to blossom and be born. He doesn't take nicely to that idea and kills them all.

Finally, he faces Daredevil, and at the end of a long battle, stabs him to death. He pulls his mask off to reveal his longtime defender, Matt Murdock. The final act of the Punisher is to kill "the last superhuman," and he kills himself.

MARVEL KNIGHTS DOUBLE-SHOT #1 "Roots"
11 pages • June 2002

Script: Garth Ennis
Pencils: Joe Quesada
Inks: Danny Miki
Colors: Chris Chuckry
Cover: Glenn Fabry

The Punisher makes his violent and bloody way into a dentists office where a mob boss, Don Signore, is having his teeth worked on. From the point of view of the boss' mouth, we see the Punisher taking his time to work information from Don Signore before killing him.

-- synopsis by Gormuu