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! Hit us up on Facebook or Bluesky!

And as always, thanks for listening!