Random Happenstance

I missed the first issue, but I loved Marvel's brief mid-80's Savage Tales--or, at least the issues I got; the serialized stories were uncermoniously dropped by #5, partly because of the sudden death of Will Jungkuntz. I wish Herb Trimpe's Skywarriors had continued, but of course the big hit was Doug Murray and Michael Golden's "5th to the 1st," which would get spun off into its own title, the 'Nam. I had the first issue, then probably read the black-and-white reprint magazine for a stretch; but it might've taken a guest-star to bring me back: from 1991, the 'Nam #52, "The Long Sticks" Written by Roger Salick, pencils by Mike Harris, inks by James (Jimmy!) Palmiotti.

This probably felt like a shameless cash-grab even at the time, because it kinda was a shameless cash-grab; but it was a shameless cash-grab almost everybody wanted, if that makes sense. I don't know that the Punisher was ever more popular than he was around 1991: checking Mike's, he had his regular book and War Journal that same month, along with the Prize one-shot and Return to Big Nothing in softcover. (The next issue, and probably most Marvel books that month, had the Punisher NES game ad on the back!) Fans were well-primed for a story about Frank's time in Vietnam; and there had been changes in editorial for the 'Nam that opened the door for him to appear there; which undercut the serious, realistic tone of the title probably more than a bit but had to boost sales a ton. That link mentions that Chuck Dixon had been commissioned to write a Frank Castle in Vietnam story; I don't know how Salick got there instead. It feels a little more action-movie dramatic than the book usually ran, though not entirely out of line; as sniper Sgt. Frank Castle is given an assignment, to take down N.V.A. sniper "the Monkey." Like a supervillain, the Monkey wears a monkey skull around his neck, giving him a little visual flair and setting him apart from other Vietnamese soldiers.

While not quite the Punisher yet, Frank was already an accomplished shooter, and manages to get close enough to kill the Monkey...'s double; a volunteer wearing a decoy monkey skull; which maybe makes that smarter than I gave it credit for! (That and in the next issue, Frank takes his skull motif and turns it up to 11.) Frank's back-up is killed and he is captured and locked in a cage in a cave. The Monkey gloats, his next target was the captain that started the sniper program and trained Frank. Frank refuses to let the Monkey come back and rub that in his face, so he tears up his uniform--and hangs himself in his cage! Like I said, dramatic; although I think the Viet Cong usually would've kept prisoners in cages too short for that to work. Even though Frank has five kills this issue, it still feels pretty straight; I'm kind of expecting a three-digit count the next issue. By the way, I love the cheeky little corner box on these two.