Missing Links: Punisher/Batman

Punisher/Batman
“Deadly Knights”
Writer: Chuck Dixon
Penciler: John Romita Jr.
Inker: Klaus Janson
Separator: Steve Buccellato/Electric Crayon
Letterer: Richard Starkings/Comicraft
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Editor: Don Daley
Consulting Editor: Archie Goodwin
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
Released: Aug. 9, 1994

I read “Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire,” the DC-produced crossover between the Dark Knight and the... Guy Who Shoots Everybody, soon after its release in June of 1994. But it took me a quarter century or so to pick up the Marvel installment and a little longer after that to actually read it. After being a guest on Jesse Starcher's Source Material podcast for the latest installment of the Super Blog Team-Up to cover the first book, I figured now* was the time to finally read the second.

I'm not sure why I didn't get the issue when it originally came out, sucker that I am for crossovers. It might have something to do with the fact that this issue features classic Bruce Wayne Batman rather than his all-90s-upped replacement, Jean-Paul Valley, the once and future Azrael. Sure I know now that the original Batman is better, but back then I may have found the alternate version much cooler. Or maybe I just didn't have $4.95 to get it.

Although technically a one-shot, I filed this one under Missing Links because it is the second part of the story that started in Lake of Fire. Also, I made up these hashtags and categories, so if I say it fits, it fits.

You can listen to Jesse and me break down that story here (cover art on the left by Barry Kitson). This issue opens with the Punisher grudgingly heading back to Gotham City, from which his arch-enemy Jigsaw never returned following the events of Lake of Fire. We know it's because the Joker showed up and helped him escape while Punisher and Azbats were settling an argument with their fists. But Frank is perturbed, and when Frank is perturbed, people tend to get shot.

OK, that's reductive. The Punisher doesn't just kill people with bullets. Sometimes he shoots flammable materials to get more bang for his buck with an explosion, like he does here.

A surviving goon is about to get shot because he doesn't have the answers the Punisher wants, but he escapes when Batman intervenes. Their inner monologues indicate a grudging almost respect, but the collapsing building separates them.

The surviving thug – who recognizes neither Batman nor the Punisher, so maybe he's new to this line of work? – runs right back to the Joker and Jigsaw, who is all bandaged up from the plastic surgery Joker paid for. Apparently the idea is for Jigsaw to fill the vacuum left by the (in-DC-continuity) death of “Tough” Tony Bressi on Joker's behalf. Toward that end, they kill a lower-level mobster named Luke Tango in rather unpleasant-but-on-brand-for-the-Joker fashion.

Batman uses the Matches Malone identity to replace the driver for Jokesaw's next target, Jimmy Navarone. And Punisher tales Navarone so they all wind up at the same bar where Joker and Jigsaw spring their ambush.

Before the five-way gun/bat paraphernalia battle, Robin** and Punisher's righthand man Micro are featured on the undercard trying to hack into Navarone's system. I'm no computer expert now and I certainly wasn't in the early '90s, so I'm not sure if Robin's dialogue below contains hip techno lingo from that era or not.

In the IRL fight, Batman and Punisher's styles are contrasted by Dixon's writing and Romita's pencils. Despite bullet wounds in both shoulders, Punisher manages to re-mangle Jigsaw's face. Then,in classic comic fashion, the leads trade dance partners and Batman takes down Jigsaw while Punisher goes after Joker.

I've always found the Punisher most interesting when he's played off of other characters. I don't want to see a guy mowing down criminals, but a ruthlessly effective enforcer challenging heroes over whether their no-killing policy is effective and just? That's interesting. And here we have the Punisher going after one of the best arguments against mercy in all of comics, the Joker.

And Joker seems to be playing along with it, but his disbelieving pause when Castle puts a gun to his head – “You're really going to do it” – is a very effective moment.

Then, of course, we get Batman intervening, which is to be expected. But then... he tells the Joker... to run? And he lets the Punisher punch him once, then... tells him to leave town? I mean, I'm with Batman on the not killing but to let not one but two dangerous men just leave? I guess this wasn't going to end with Punisher in Arkham or Blackgate, but it's not in continuity, so it could have. The ending feels rather odd and abrupt.

I prefer this issue to Lake of Fire, the presence of alternate Batman notwithstanding. As I said on the podcast, that story, while entertaining, felt like it would be a fill-in issue in either of the characters' regular series. The stakes were not particularly high.

This issue was down to earth, as befits the characters, but having the Joker front and center and him making a play for control of a big chunk of Gotham's underworld felt more like an event. It could have just used some more pages.

I enjoy Romita's style with some (Spider-Man) but not all (Hulk) characters and wasn't sure how it would translate here, even though I know he's drawn Punisher before. But it works quite well.

I'm clearly not a Punisher aficionado, but I liked his dialogue in this issue better. Jesse pointed out that Chuck Dixon has written a lot of Punisher, much moreso than Denny O'Neill on Lake of Fire, so maybe that's why. O'Neill, of course, is a legend, but his Punisher dialogue sounded a bit like a film noir detective. It was clever; it was fun; but it didn't quite fit my idea of Frank Castle. Lines here like “You get in a gunfight, you have to expect to get shot. But you don't have to like it” seemed more on point than “He has more pockets than a pool hall” to me, for whatever that's worth.

Both crossover issues were dedicated to the memory of Ross Andru, an artist who co-created the Punisher and did a great deal of work for Marvel and DC, including multiple Batman stories, who passed away the year before.

* - Eventually, anyway. Life, work, seasonal crud, etc. kept pushing it back. But here we are!

** - Tim Drake edition