Punisher: Other Than Garth Ennis

I had fun compiling last week's post so I thought I'd do something similar this week. I've chosen a character I got into due to my best friend: The Punisher. Punisher was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr and Ross Andru as a Spider-man villain, who was going to be a hero later on. Conway also helped design the character's distinctive costume. Conway, who had developed the habit of sketching out costumes ideas for artists, had drawn a character with a small death's head skull on one breast. Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. took the basic design and blew the skull up to huge size, taking up most of the character's chest. Amazing Spider-Man penciller Ross Andru was the first artist to draw the character for publication. Gerry Conway had come up with the name the Assassin but Stan Lee felt the name would not work for a character that would become later on. He suggested a name he had used for a relatively unimportant character (one of Galactus' robots): The Punisher.

Now most people would agree that the best Punisher stories comes from Garth Ennis. I'd agree. I thought, to be different, I'd give you some non Garth Ennis story selections. I'm gonna through in a synopsis of each too. However, if you want to try Garth Ennis, I'd suggest the MAX series. I particularly enjoyed In The Beginning and Kitchen Irish. These are collected in Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 1, which also includes Punisher: Born #1-4. I also enjoyed the From First To Last trade which collects Punisher: The Tyger, Punisher: The Cell and Punisher: The End.  These stories are also collected in Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 4, which also includes The Punisher, vol. 7,#50-60 (Long Cold Dark and Valley Forge, Valley Forge) and Punisher Presents: Barracuda #1–4. I guess I'd recommend those complete collections. 

Here's a list of Punisher's main titles:

The Punisher, vol. 1, #1-5 limited series (January to May 1986). Steven Grant, with art by Mike Zeck and Mike Vosburg.

The Punisher, vol. 2, #1-104, Annual 1-7 (July 1987 – July 1995)

The Punisher War Journal, vol. 1, #1-80 (November 1988 – July 1995). Features early art by Jim Lee.

The Punisher War Zone, vol. 1, #1-41, Annual 1-2 (March 1992 – July 1995). Starts out with some John Romita Jr art.

The Punisher, vol. 3, #1-18 (November 1995 – April 1997). Marvel Edge. All issues were written by John Ostrander.

The Punisher, vol. 4, #1-4 (November 1998 – February 1999). Marvel Knights. Also known as The Punisher: Purgatory, it was written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, with art by Bernie Wrightson. 

The Punisher, vol. 5, #1-12 limited series (April 2000 – March 2001). Marvel Knights. It was written by Garth Ennis, with art by Steve Dillon. 

The Punisher, vol. 6, #1-37 (August 2001 – February 2004). Marvel Knights. Garth Ennis wrote all but six issues.

The Punisher, vol. 7, #1-75, Annual 1  (March 2004 – October 2009). Though often referred to as The Punisher MAX, it was initially published as The Punisher, and changed to The Punisher: Frank Castle MAX with issue #66. Written by Garth Ennis up to issue 60.

Punisher War Journal, vol. 2, #1-26, Annual 1 (January 2007 – January 2009). Written by Matt Fraction.

The Punisher War Zone, vol. 2, #1-6 limited series (February to March 2009). Marvel Knights. It was written by Garth Ennis, with art by Steve Dillon.

The Punisher, vol. 8, #1-21, Annual 1 (March 2009 – November 2010). The series was retitled Franken-Castle with issue #17. Written by Rick Remender.

PunisherMAX, #1-22 (January 2010 – February 2012). MAX Imprint. It was written by Jason Aaron, with art by Steve Dillon.

The Punisher, vol. 9, #1-16 (August 2011 – September 2012). It was written by Greg Rucka, with art by Marco Checchetto.

The Punisher: War Zone, vol. 3, #1-5 limited series (October 2012 - February 2013). It was written by Greg Rucka, with art by Carmine di Giandomenico.

The Punisher, vol. 10, #1-20 (February 2014 – July 2015). It was written by Nathan Edmondson, with art by Mitch Gerads.

The Punisher, vol. 11, #1 -17, Annual 1 (May 2016 – October 2017). It was written by Becky Cloonan, with art by Steve Dillon and Matt Horak.

The Punisher, vol. 12, #1-11 (November 2017 – July 2018). It was written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Guiu Vilanova.

The Punisher, vol. 13, #1-16, Annual 1 (August 2018 – October 2019) with one annual (2019). It was written by Matthew Rosenberg, with art by Szymon Kundranski.

After all that, I'm wondering which character has the record for most volumes. Maybe an investigation for another time. Anyway, I said I was going to give you guys some story recommendations of a non Garth Ennis nature. I think there is some nice variety. I particularly like Punisher: Noir.

• The Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988) Frank Castle joins forces with a bunch of assassins to take on a mobster who fixes things for a price. This one was a recent discovery. I found the ideas fun. Weird to say for Punisher. Beautiful looking art particularly the colours by Julie Michel. Notable to me as an early Punisher story written by a woman. I looked writer Jo Duffy up and she had quite the Marvel bibliography in the late 80s and early 90s including short runs on Star Wars and Wolverine. Artist Jorge Zaffino later worked on Punisher: Kingdom Gone. 
• Punisher: The Prize (1990) While on a stakeout, Frank Castle learns that a volatile weapon will be up for grabs on the Black Market. Punisher teams with an American journalist to blow the lid on this story, but they’re inadvertently pulled into a criminal underbelly of thieves, cutthroats and stone cold killers. Recently recommended by a friend. Good build up and a fun pay-off. Written by Chris Henderson. Art by Mike Harris.
• Punisher: Noir #1-4 (August–November 2009) It's the Roaring Twenties and mobster Dutch Schultz's iron-fisted reign is about to meet its greatest challenge in the form of a man sporting a familiar skull symbol and a gun in his hand. Because once the Punisher hits the scene, the mean streets are about to get a whole lot meaner. The art really captures the noir feel and there is some clever character ideas in the 1930s versions. Easily my favourite Punisher story. Still waiting for a sequel. Written by Frank Tieri with art by Paul Azaceta.
• Space: Punisher #1-4 (July–October 2012). Punishment is a dish best served-in Space! Exactly what it says on the tin. The Punisher is after a space mob. Whacky space versions of various characters. I love how out there the story is. Frank Tieri at his insane best. The villain reveal was brilliant. Beautifully painted by Mark Texeira. 
• Punisher Max: The Complete Collection Vol. 6 (2017) Collects Punisher MAX X-Mas Special, Punisher: Naked Kill, Punisher: Get Castle, Punisher: Butterfly, Punisher: Happy Ending, Punisher: Hot Rods of Death, Punisher: Tiny Ugly World, Untold Tales of Punisher MAX #1-5. Frank Castle's relentless war on crime continues! It's Christmas, and the Punisher is checking off his naughty list! Frank gets creative to take down snuff filmmakers! In the United Kingdom, he takes on some of Earth's hardest soldiers, the SAS, and unleashes his war wagon against a biker gang! But when a hit woman releases her lurid tell-all book, will the Punisher be her salvation, temptation...or damnation? Plus: stories from the murky world that exists in the Punisher's shadow, starring an opportunistic psycho, a frantic father, a mild-mannered accountant and the young son of one of Frank's victims. An interesting and diverse collection of stories. Written by Rob Williams, Jonathan Maberry, Jason Aaron and Valerie D'Orazio. Art by Esad Ribić, Shawn Martinbrough, Juan José Ryp, Laurence Campbell and Roland Boschi.