The Punisher War Journal
Encyclopedia
The Punisher War Journal is the title of two Marvel Comics
comic book
series
featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher
. The first volume, published from 1988
to 1995
, was spun off of a self-titled series featuring the vigilante's exploits.
After this, the character went through a number of incarnations in Marvel's imprints, such as Marvel Knights
and MAX
, that were outside of regular Marvel continuity. The second volume of War Journal, published between 2007
and 2009
by writer Matt Fraction
, placed the character firmly in the ongoing Marvel Universe
inhabited by superheroes such as the Avengers
and Spider-Man
, and super-villains such as Doctor Doom
and the Masters of Evil
. This was reflected in the series by tying into crossover
events of the Marvel Universe proper, including "Civil War
", "World War Hulk
", and "Secret Invasion
".
to July 1995
. Originally written and pencilled by Carl Potts
, and inked
by Jim Lee
, who soon became series penciler, it changed creative teams with issue #25 (December 1990) to writer Mike Baron
and penciler-inker Mark Texeira
. Chuck Dixon
took over as writer with #38 (January 1992), continuing with it to the final issue, except for #65-74 (April 1994 – January 1995) which were written by Steven Grant. Others associated with the title include multi-issue pencilers Tod Smith, Ron Wagner
, John Hebert, Hugh Haynes, Melvin Rubi, and penciler-inker Gary Kwapisz.
The series was relaunched the following decade, titled simply Punisher War Journal, beginning with a new #1 (January 2007
). The initial creative team was writer Matt Fraction
and artist Ariel Olivetti
, with subsequent artists including Cory Walker
, Scott Wegener, and Howard Chaykin
. Later, writer Rick Remender
joined as a co-writer until the title was canceled to make room for a new ongoing volume of Punisher
that would be exclusively written by Remender.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series
Book series
A book series is a sequence of books having certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group. Book series can be organized in different ways, such as written by the same author, or marketed as a group by their publisher....
featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...
. The first volume, published from 1988
1988 in comics
-Events and publications:* Jack Binder, creator of the original Daredevil, dies at c. age 86.* Tarpé Mills, creator Miss Fury, dies at c. age 73....
to 1995
1995 in comics
-January:*After Xavier: The Age of Apocalypse is launched. All X-titles change to different names for the next four months.* Thor marks his 400th appearance in Marvel Comics with issue #482....
, was spun off of a self-titled series featuring the vigilante's exploits.
After this, the character went through a number of incarnations in Marvel's imprints, such as Marvel Knights
Marvel Knights
Marvel Knights is an imprint of Marvel Worldwide, Inc. that contains material taking place within the mainstream Marvel Universe .-Production:...
and MAX
MAX (comics)
MAX is an imprint of Marvel Comics aimed at a niche 'adults only' audience, launched in 2001 after Marvel broke with the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system...
, that were outside of regular Marvel continuity. The second volume of War Journal, published between 2007
2007 in comics
-January:*January 10: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator released.*January 24: The Boys is canceled with issue #6.-February:*February 2: Newsarama reports that The Boys has been picked up by Dynamite Entertainment....
and 2009
2009 in comics
-January:*January 1: The direct-to-DVD movie Hulk Vs was released.*January 6: The third and final volume of Hollow Fields has been released.-February:...
by writer Matt Fraction
Matt Fraction
Matt Fritchman, better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, The Immortal Iron Fist and Uncanny X-Men for Marvel Comics and Casanova for Image Comics.-Career:Fraction wrote two...
, placed the character firmly in the ongoing Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
inhabited by superheroes such as the Avengers
Avengers (comics)
The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...
and Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
, and super-villains such as Doctor Doom
Doctor Doom
Victor von Doom is a fictional character who appears in Marvel Comics publications . Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #5 wearing his trademark metal mask and green cloak...
and the Masters of Evil
Masters of Evil
The Masters of Evil is a name for a number of fictional supervillain teams that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first version of the team appeared in The Avengers #6 , with the lineup continually changing over the years....
. This was reflected in the series by tying into crossover
Fictional crossover
A fictional crossover is the placement of two or more otherwise discrete fictional characters, settings, or universes into the context of a single story. They can arise from legal agreements between the relevant copyright holders, or because of unauthorized efforts by fans, or even amid common...
events of the Marvel Universe proper, including "Civil War
Civil War (comics)
Civil War is a 2006-2007 Marvel Comics crossover storyline built around a self-titled seven-issue limited series written by Mark Millar and penciled by Steve McNiven, which ran through various other titles published by Marvel at the time...
", "World War Hulk
World War Hulk
"World War Hulk" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self titled limited series and various other titles published by Marvel Comics in 2007, featuring the Hulk....
", and "Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion
"Secret Invasion" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled eight issue limited series and several tie-in books published by Marvel Comics from April through December 2008....
".
Publication history
The first volume of The Punisher War Journal ran 80 issues, cover-dated November 19881988 in comics
-Events and publications:* Jack Binder, creator of the original Daredevil, dies at c. age 86.* Tarpé Mills, creator Miss Fury, dies at c. age 73....
to July 1995
1995 in comics
-January:*After Xavier: The Age of Apocalypse is launched. All X-titles change to different names for the next four months.* Thor marks his 400th appearance in Marvel Comics with issue #482....
. Originally written and pencilled by Carl Potts
Carl Potts
Carl Potts is an American comic-book writer, artist, and editor best known for creating the series Alien Legion for the Marvel Comics imprint Epic Comics.-Early life:...
, and inked
Inker
The inker is one of the two line artists in a traditional comic book or graphic novel. After a pencilled drawing is given to the inker, the inker uses black ink to produce refined outlines over the pencil lines...
by Jim Lee
Jim Lee
Jim Lee is a Korean-American comic book artist, writer, editor and publisher. He first broke into the industry in 1987 as an artist for Marvel Comics, illustrating titles such as Alpha Flight and Punisher War Journal, before gaining a great deal of popularity on The Uncanny X-Men...
, who soon became series penciler, it changed creative teams with issue #25 (December 1990) to writer Mike Baron
Mike Baron
Mike Baron is the creator of comic books Badger and Nexus. He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado.-Biography:Mike Baron broke into comics with an illustrated text piece in the 1974 debut issue of Marvel Comics's Comix Book...
and penciler-inker Mark Texeira
Mark Texeira
Mark Texeira is an American comic book artist. Classically trained as a painter, Texeira broke into the comics field in the early 1980s.-Career:Mark Texeira was born and raised in New York City...
. Chuck Dixon
Chuck Dixon
Charles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, best known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.-Biography:Dixon grew up in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, reading comics of all genres...
took over as writer with #38 (January 1992), continuing with it to the final issue, except for #65-74 (April 1994 – January 1995) which were written by Steven Grant. Others associated with the title include multi-issue pencilers Tod Smith, Ron Wagner
Ron Wagner
Ron J. Wagner is primarily known as an American comics artist who has drawn for titles such as G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, The Punisher, Nth Man: The Ultimate Ninja, and Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight. He is also an animation storyboard artist, games designer, and portrait artist...
, John Hebert, Hugh Haynes, Melvin Rubi, and penciler-inker Gary Kwapisz.
The series was relaunched the following decade, titled simply Punisher War Journal, beginning with a new #1 (January 2007
2007 in comics
-January:*January 10: Superman & Batman vs. Aliens & Predator released.*January 24: The Boys is canceled with issue #6.-February:*February 2: Newsarama reports that The Boys has been picked up by Dynamite Entertainment....
). The initial creative team was writer Matt Fraction
Matt Fraction
Matt Fritchman, better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, The Immortal Iron Fist and Uncanny X-Men for Marvel Comics and Casanova for Image Comics.-Career:Fraction wrote two...
and artist Ariel Olivetti
Ariel Olivetti
Ariel Olivetti is an Argentine comic book penciller best known for his work on American comic book titles such as Daredevil, X-Man, Space Ghost and Punisher War Journal.-Career:...
, with subsequent artists including Cory Walker
Cory Walker
Cory Walker is an American comic book artist and penciler. He is best known for work on Image Comics' Invincible a series and character he co-created with writer Robert Kirkman...
, Scott Wegener, and Howard Chaykin
Howard Chaykin
Howard Victor Chaykin is an American comic book writer and artist famous for his innovative storytelling and sometimes controversial material...
. Later, writer Rick Remender
Rick Remender
Rick Remender is an American comic book writer and artist who resides in Portland, Oregon. He is best known for his work on Marvel Comics' Punisher series, as well as Fear Agent, Uncanny X-Force, and Venom.-Career:...
joined as a co-writer until the title was canceled to make room for a new ongoing volume of Punisher
Punisher (2009 series)
Punisher, retitled Franken-Castle from issue #17 on, is a Marvel Comics comic book series featuring the character Frank Castle, also known as the Punisher...
that would be exclusively written by Remender.
Collected editions
- The Punisher War Journal Classic, Vol. 1 (collects The Punisher War Journal #1-8), August 2008, ISBN 978-0785131182
- Punisher War Journal, Vol. 1: Civil War (collects Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #1-4), April 2007, ISBN 978-0785127758 (HC), August 2007, ISBN 978-0785123156 (TPB)
- Punisher War Journal, Vol. 2: Goin' Out West (collects Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #5-11), December 2007, ISBN 978-0785128526 (HC), March 2008, ISBN 978-0785126362 (TPB)
- Punisher War Journal, Vol. 3: Hunter Hunted (collects Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #12-17), April 2008, ISBN 978-0785130215 (HC), July 2008, ISBN 978-0785126645 (TPB)
- Punisher War Journal, Vol. 4: Jigsaw (collects Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #18-23), December 2008, ISBN 978-0785130222 (HC), April 2009, ISBN 978-0785129646 (TPB)
- Punisher War Journal, Vol. 5: Secret Invasion (collects Punisher War Journal vol. 2, #24-26, Annual #1), February 2009, ISBN 978-0785131489 (HC), May 2009, ISBN 978-0785131700 (TPB)