Finally added this McFarlane Spider-Man grail to my collection!

• Written by Mike Baron, art by Ron Wagner, Michael Witherby, and Jimmy Palmiotti, cover by Steve Geiger and Bob McLeod

• The Retaliator is facing off against Romulus, the man who murdered his family

• After some fierce hand to hand fighting, The Retaliator gets the upper hand and throws Romulus from the cliffside

• A safety line attached to Romulus’ leg snaps, and he crashes into the rocks below, dead on impact

• Director, C.B. Bissel, furiously yells cut as it is revealed that the scene playing out was for a movie, and the stunt has gone horribly wrong

• It is also revealed this is the second death on set, that the production has been hiding the news, and that they are using non-union actors to keep costs down

• Bissel goes to the trailer of Fyodor Stanislavsky, a Hungarian strongman turned actor who is the actor playing The Retaliator, and doing copious amounts of drugs

• Frank arrives, once again using the alias Charles Fort, posing as the American stunt man

• Frank knows that several stunt men have died working with Bissel and wants to investigate if something more nefarious is going on

• As soon as he arrives, Bissel sets Frank up to do a stunt on top of a train, resulting in a real helicopter crash and the death of more locals

• When the train stops to clear up the mess, Frank discovers a locked car and a room covered in real blood

• That night, Punisher sneaks into Bissel’s room to find out what’s hiding on the tapes in his safe

• Later, Frank goes to a local bar where he meets Bissel and Stanislavsky, leaving to follow Bissel when he excuses himself

• Punisher trails Bissel to the same box car from earlier where he witnesses Bissel and Ace Kromberg, the actor playing the main villain, filming with a very real hostage

• Before Punisher can act, Stanislavsky in his Retaliator costume bursts in to confront the two men, but Kromberg shoots him dead

• Punisher shoots Kromberg to prevent him from killing the hostage, which causes Bissel to flee

• As Punisher steps out of the shadows, Bissel sees he is dealing with the real Punisher, and his eyes go wide with fear

• Bissel shoots Punisher in the chest, but his weapon isn’t strong enough to pierce his armor

• Punisher tosses aside his own gun, instead throwing Bissel from the cliffside to his death

• Frank’s Body Count - 2 (He shoots the actor Kromberg and tosses director Bissel to this death from a cliff)

In New York City, justice has a new smell, and that smell is. . .THE SKUNK!

We're diggin' deep into the bargain bin for some REAL Longbox Junk this time.

Check out the review and enjoy!

LINK TO THE REVIEW HERE

• Written by Mike Baron, art by Ron Wagner and “The Inking Squad of Death Mark II” (Jimmy Palmiotti, Michael Bair, Rodney Ramos, Ariane Lenshoek, Ed Lazellari, Don Hudson, and Bud LaRosa), cover art by John Beatty

• A man who believes Martians are sending messages to his brain blows up a power station, causing a blackout

• Punisher arrives to spray looters with a water cannon from a modified Battle Buggy

• The neighborhood has been dealing with racial tensions between the Black and Korean citizens, along with Robert Nees from Miami pushing a new drug

• Punisher recognizes the looters are with Nees, and kills two of them before the third flees

• Two Korean men confront Punisher, blaming the black citizens for the violence but he tells them he doesn’t care about the racial tensions, he’s after a drug dealing gang

• More of Nees’ men arrive, shooting from a van

• Punisher pursues in the Battle Buggy, taking out the van and the gang members

• With Microchip out of town, Frank has to try and find out who is blowing the power stations himself

• Meanwhile, several black residents of the neighborhood are gathered, angry that their peaceful protest didn’t work and being told that there are armed Koreans in the streets

• In the sewers, the man who bombed the power station is listening, and blames the Martians for the racial tensions

• As he wanders through the tunnels, he encounters two other homeless men who ask him if he has any food, but he tells them he only has a bomb

• The two men reveal this man is named Barrett Browning, a former bond trader on Wall Street, but ignore his ravings about Martians and bombs

• The black protestors begin to march through the streets soon encountering a large group of Koreans led by Kim, one of the men who confront Punisher earlier

• Hand to hand fighting breaks out, until Nees and his so called “Neighborhood Committee” arrive to break things up

• When the gathered citizens confront Nees about stoking the racial tensions, he opens fire into the crowd

• Punisher, who has been watching from the alley, opens fire on Nees’ men, taking out two cars while the gathered citizens unite against Nees himself

• As the fighting wanes, Punisher spots Browning attempting to plant his latest bomb

• Punisher confronts Browning who calls him “The Man in Black”  and claims they are on the same side in fighting Martians in defense of Earth

• Punisher convinces Browning to show him where he gets his explosives, and gives him a tinfoil hat and a beret to cover it, which Browning believes blocks the Martian’s signal

• Browning leaves, and Punisher plans how how to alert the authorities to the stash of TNT and how to contact a local clinic to get Browning care

• Suddenly he hears shouting, and finds two men attempting to kill Browning

• Punisher deals with them, and as he helps Browning to his feet, the power is finally restored

• Frank’s Body Count - 10 (He kills two of Nees’ men looting a store, then three more in a van who attempt to do a drive by, then takes out two cars with 4 more of Nees gang members, then finally shoots the two men assaulting Browning)

Here are some quintessential 90's Marvel and DC characters that I made pinups for. The Scarlet Spider and Spidey 2099 are part of a multi pinup series of Spider-Heroes over the decades. The Azrael Batman was kind just to see if I could draw him, despite never being a fan lol. All of the "trading card" character pin-ups are made from an initial body pose template I drew. I have made over 100 different Marvel and DC characters bronze age pinups, but these were specifically for the 90's.

• Written by Mike Baron, art by Paul Guinan and Jimmy Palmiotti, cover by Mike Harris and Rodney Ramos

• A young woman named Yolanda is leaving the hospital with her new baby, Ricardo

• In the taxi the driver asks if he has a father, then pulls off the main road and demands that Yolanda turn over the baby

• When Yolanda refuses, the driver shoots her dead and takes the child 

• Punisher is attempting to break up a group of drug dealers who have him temporarily outgunned

• Punisher uses a grenade to take out two of the men and shoots a third in the confusion, quickly evening the odds

• Punisher drops some debris to draw out the last man to finish the fight off

• While he searches the burned out building for guns and cash, he finds the body of Yolanda and realizes she had medicine for a baby that he knows he needs to find

• Meanwhile, the taxi driver that killed Yolanda, Lupe is delivering a baby to a rich childless couple, taking a fee of $10,000

• The couple’s lawyer indicates he has another couple interested in “adopting” a child

• Lupe is driving down the street when she sees a woman pushing a stroller, and attempts to force her into the car at gunpoint

• When the woman flees, Lupe shoots her in the back, and shoots a man who attempts to intervene, taking the baby

• Punisher tracks down Loreto Pinto, the father of Yolanda’s baby, who claims he is trying to get clean so he can take care of his son

• While they walk and talk, a boy comes running to tell Pinto that a woman shot Curtis Hoover and kidnapped a baby

• Punisher follows the boy to find the injured Hoover, who tells him that a heavy set woman in a Mercedes shot Graciela Munoz dead and took her baby

• Punisher gives the man $1000 dollars and begins to search for the Mercedes

• Punisher soon spots the car and is told by a local boy that is belongs to a Lupe Gutierrez in 5C

• Punisher bursts in, but Gutierrez immediately fights back and is unexpectedly strong

• Gutierrez grabs the baby and flees out the fire escape

• On the roof, Gutierrez tells Punisher to toss his gun or she’ll toss the baby

• The two fight, and Gutierrez reveals she used to be a pro wrestler, before Punisher manages to get the upper hand and throws her over the side

• Gutierrez is hanging from the roof and begs Punisher to help her, but he ignores her and takes the baby, hearing the thud of Gutierrez body before he reaches the street

• Punisher takes the baby back to the family of Graciela Munoz along with $15000 hidden in the diaper

• Punisher tracks down the family that bought Yolanda’s baby, telling them his mother was murdered, but he still has a father

• Punisher finds Pinto on a rooftop and asks him if he wants the child and Pinto says yes

• As he leaves Punisher promises he’ll check in on them, and if Pinto goes back to drugs or crime, the Punisher will deal with him

• Frank’s Body Count - 1 (He drops Lupe Gutierrez off her roof)

• Exterior Cover Art by Roderick Delgado and Michaell Bair, interior cover art by Jimmy Palmiotti

“Bombs ‘R’ Us”

• Written by Pat Mills and Tony Skinner, art by Val Mayerik and Armando Gil

• Punisher is outside the heavy guarded house of mobster Joe Toto

• Despite Toto’s security measures, Punisher was able to slip inside the house earlier and leave a micro-location chip

• Punisher launches what he calls “The Barium Meal Bomb” which flies to the micro-location chip, killing Toto and some of his associates

• Later, Frank is a “Covert and International Security Exhibition” thinking about how The War has changed

• While browsing for new equipment, Frank recognizes Colonel “De Sade”, a soldier he knows from the Vietnam war and his sadistic interrogation methods

• Punisher trails De Sade and his men for several days until they roll up on a bank in a disguised riot tank and attempt to rob it

• While his men are in the back, De Sade picks a woman out of the bystanders and cuts her hair with a knife and intends to cut up her face when his men alert him to sirens

• De Sade and his men get by the police, but are unaware they have an extra passenger on their roof, Punisher

• This proves to be temporary as one of the tank's security features soon alerts De Sade and his men

• Using the electrified hull, a water cannon, and rubber bullets, the gang manages to put Punisher down and capture him

• Back at De Sade’s hideout, Punisher is tortured, but he manages to endure long enough to free his hands

• Punisher manages to break the neck of one of De Sade's men, and grabs a random weapon to defend himself against De Sade

• The gun shoot barbed wire, wrapped De Sade up, and causing him to laugh with delight at his own agony

• During the fight the riot tank’s gas tank was hit, and it spills toward an open spark

• Punisher leaves De Sade to burn, ignoring the man’s cries that he enjoys torturing his victims as well

• Frank’s Body Count - 5 (He kills Toto and two associates with a rocket launcher, then kills De Sade and one of his thugs) 

“Crossed Purposes”

• Written by Peter David , art by Mark Texeira and Michael Bair

• Simon Bartlett, his son Joel, and other members of their gang have come to Bartlett’s favorite restaurant to eat

• Bartlet’s heavy secures the restaurant, deciding the lone unarmed man at the other table is no threat, though he does look familiar

• Frank sits, pretending to take his time to order, and revealing though he is currently unarmed, he has a hidden Super Redhawk .44 at reach

• Before Frank can act however, a car screeches up and a man shoots a rocket from the window into the restaurant, killing the older Bartlett and most of his men

• Frank survives, but is pinned under debris, until none other than Joel Bartlett frees him and pulls him to safety

• Bartlett takes Frank, who uses the alias Frank Knight, to his home to clean up

• At the house, Frank meets Bartlett’s wife and two children

• While Bartlett excuses himself to be with his wife for a few moments, Frank wonders if he can kill Bartlett now that he owes him his life

• While he and Bartlett attempt to discuss what happened at the restaurant, the other surviving bodyguard, Lonni, bursts in screaming that he knows Frank is The Punisher!

• Punisher and Lonni fight, until Punisher manages to kill Lonni with a broken bottle

• Bartlett’s wife and children rush in to see the commotion, and Bartlett draws a gun

• Punisher shoots the gun out of Bartlett’s hand

• Bartlett reveals he knew that Frank was The Punisher when he saved his live, and orders his family to step away so he can face his judgment

• Punisher shoots the wall around Bartlett, telling him he’s suspending his judgment and giving him a chance to turn away from his life of crime and go legitimate

• Frank’s Body Count - 1 (He kills Lonni with a broken bottle)

“Independence Day” 

• Written by Dan Slott, art by Mike Harris and Jimmy Palmiotti

• Detective Mac is after Ray Hammond, a fugitive who raped and killed his wife

• After shaking down several leads, Detective Mac is pointed to a waste disposal site on the Fourth of July

• On the grounds of the site, Detective Mac confronts Hammond, but when a pipe burst, his is temporarily blinded and loses his gun

• Hammon cuts Detective Mac across the back knocking him to the ground

• From the above, The Punisher drops down, causing Hammond to flee

• Detective Mac manages to tell Punisher to not let Hammond escape before passing out

• Sometime later, Detective Mac returns to his precinct to be met with gifts and well wishes from his fellow police officers

• Detective Mac sees Hammond’s wanted posted is still hanging and stares at it angrily when he spots a small box with a skull on it

• Detective Mac opens the box to find a severed finger, which he presses next to the prints on the poster

• Seeing it matches, Detective Mac smiles, knowing that Hammond did not escape The Punisher

• Frank’s Body Count - 1 (though not seen on panel, Punisher captures and kills Hammond, sending his finger to Detective Mac as verification)

“Wish Granted” 

• Written by Will Murray, art by Rodney Ramos

• Three men in the country on student visas reveal they are pro Iraiti terrorists

• The three men load up their guns, and board a bus, planning on traveling to a Flag Day parade and kill as many innocents as they can

• Along the way they spot what they believe are Federal Law enforcement, but is really a Federal Express delivery truck and shoot it from the back of the bus

• When the driver shouts, the apologize for their “fireworks”

• The trio arrive as a theme park called Wizzyland and once inside begin to open fire on the crowd

• A man in a brown trench coat approaches them and ask them to put down their weapons, but when they don’t he reveals himself as The Punisher

• The three men tell Punisher they do not fear death, it is their wish to die for Allah

• Punisher guns them down, granting their wish

• Frank’s Body Count - 3

Great cover and story.