It worked for Superman, and it works for the Punisher in today's book! From 1997, Punisher #17, "Dead Man Walking" Written by John Ostrander, pencils by Tom Lyle, inks by Robert Jones.
The Punisher is dead, killed in Oklahoma in a battle with Simon Trask. So why is a quirky team of U.S. Marshals getting saddled with the job of hunting Frank down? Because the military and the intelligence community don't believe it, and you don't either. The marshals interview Ben Urich, Daredevil, Spider-Man, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Kymberly Taylor; who mostly tell us things we already know. Taylor seemed both convinced of Frank's death and a little soft on him; a fact noted by her superior, the Black Widow, who is still pissed at Frank for killing Nick Fury. (This was also post-Onslaught, so several heroes were currently believed dead.)
Frank is of course alive, living in an abandoned church in Alphabet City--again, post-Onslaught, there was still a wrecked Sentinel head in the building. I can only assume Frank had to drive out the vampires and whatnot, but he takes a job from a little boy, whose mom was getting beat by her new boyfriend. (It might help convince Frank that the mom's name was Maria, same as his late wife) Frank delivers a relatively light beating--for him, I mean--but tells the abuser the next time, it's a broken arm, then the kneecaps, then dead. Ugh, that seems like a lot of trips, just kill him now. Meanwhile, the marshals visit the hospitalized Thermal, a member of Trask's forces, until he started shooting them for disobedience. She had been shot, but someone got her out of the explosion: Frank.
At the church, Maria and her son bring a hot dish for...they don't know who, since Frank says he can't remember who he is.
Based on the cover, I thought this was the last issue of this series, but instead it's setting up a new status quo...and would be cancelled next issue! This would be the second-to-last issue, before the much-maligned "angel" Punisher mini-series.
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