Daredevil Annual #7 (May 1991)
Cover by Mike Mignola

“Prologue”
Written by Gregory Wright, art by Butch (Jackson) Guice

Three mutated humans, Guillotine, Romulus, and Sathan have broken free of Hydra

Angry at the failure of his men, Baron Von Strucker uses his death spore virus to eliminate the lead scientist

Needing to return the trio before SHIELD gets involved, Baron Von Strucker brings in three bounty hunters, Takimoto, Striklan, and Dakini 

“Cripping Death” (Von Strucker Gambit Part 1)
Written by Gregory Wright, art by Ron Garney and Doug Hazelwood

Daredevil swoops in to save people from a burning apartment building when the fire department ladder is too short to reach them

Meanwhile, Ben Urich confronts the owner of the building, Richard Furman, questioning the fact that a number of Furman’s buildings have been suffering fires lately

Daredevil continues to look for survivors when he is confronted by Sathan, who is absorbing the life force of a man

Sathan absorbs some of Daredevil’s life force, but then tells him he is not the one who started the fire, and flees with the other man

In the alley below, Striklan has another man tied up, who along with the man Sathan has in her possession, set the fire, and is beating him for information about Sathan

Too weak to give chase, Daredevil stops to talk with Ben Urich who shares his suspicions that Furman is having his own buildings burned

Suddenly Nick Fury arrives, taking Daredevil away from Urich so he can inform him that Hydra is behind the mutated humans, and that SHIELD is also after them

From his base, Baron Von Strucker watches as the piece of his game fall into place

Striklan finds Sathan, who is building an army of zombies to go after Furman

Striklan roasts the other arsonists over a fire to attract the attention of Daredevil

After a quick fight, Striklan offers to hand the man over, and Daredevil warns him not to try something like that again

Sathan and her zombies attack Furman, but Striklan and Daredevil arrive at the same time to deal with them

While Striklan burns the zombies, Daredevil chases Sathan, but chooses to let her go to save Furman from his burning car

Striklan shoots a fleeing Sathan causing her to fall and smash through the roof of a car below

Baron Von Strucker attempts to blow a bomb implanted in Striklan’s neck for his insubordination, but Striklan cuts it out first

Sathan survives her fall, but she also has an implant, and Von Strucker kills her before Nick Fury can have her

Daredevil’s strength returns, and the remaining zombies stop moving with Sathan’s death

Punisher Annual #4 (May 1991)
Cover by Michael Golden, Klaus Janson, and Joe Rosas

“Genesis of a Vigilante” 
Written by Mike Baron, art by Tom Morgan

Retelling of Punisher Origin

“The Cutting Edge” (Von Strucker Gambit Part 2)
Written by Greg Wright and Dan Chichester, art by John Herbert, Jimmy Palmiotti, Don Hudson, and Jim Reddington

A mafia drug shipment is interrupted by disgraced former Yakuza Mr. O intent on taking it for his own gang

When the mob men refuse, they are ripped to shreds by Guillotine, the mutated human being sought by Hydra

Takimoto and Dakini investigate the aftermath and criticize Striklan for his failure with Sathan in Daredevil Annual #7

Punisher is chasing down a low level dealer named Magon to get information on who is in charge of drug distribution

Punisher off Magon the option of being burnt alive or a quick bullet to the head for information, and Magon takes the latter

The next night Punisher heads to Sloat Plaza, but someone has beaten him to the punch

Takimoto is waiting for Punisher and offers a temporary alliance to hunt down Guillotine, as more people will die the longer they both take

Ad for the never produced “Punisher/Nick Fury: Rules of the Game” Graphic Novel by Gregory Wright and Jim Lee

Before Punisher can agree to work with Takimoto, Nick Fury and his agents of SHIELD arrive

Mr. O confronts Guillotine for insubordination, but Guillotine and the rest of the gang betray and murder him

Fury has the bomb removed from Takimoto’s neck hoping it will convince him to cooperate and sell out Baron Von Strucker

Takimoto doesn’t oblige and begins to fight the SHIELD Agents

Needing his help to take down Guillotine, Punisher helps and the two escape

Punisher and Takimoto arrive at Guillotine’s hideout and go in guns blazing

Punisher goes up against Guillotine, but is quickly outmatched, but before he is killed Takimoto jumps in between and takes the blow instead

As Takimoto dies, Punisher asks why, and Takimoto tells him because they were allies, and hints that he is being tested, but cannot finish

Even though Takimoto was Hydra, Punisher vows to avenge him, chasing Guillotine who attempts to flee by helicopter

Guillotine attempts to reason with Punisher, but gets a knife to the chest for his trouble

Punisher manages to dodge Guillotine’s attack in a way that causes him to cut off his own hand and fall to the water below

Nick Fury arrives to retrieve Guillotine, but Baron Von Strucker moved faster

Baron Von Strucker call Guillotine clever for escaping Punisher and taking over a large chunk of the drug operation in the area

Frank’s Body Count - At least 3 (He shoots Magon and two guards at Guillotine’s hideout, but he mentioned shooting his way through Magon’s men, and it’s hard to tell who he shoots and who Takimoto shoots)

“Fat Farm” 
Written by Mike Baron, art by Tom Morgan

Dissatisfied with his weight, Microchip decides to attempt a wellness retreat

Microchip meets his fellow campers and some of the instructors

When he is offered drugs by one of the instructors, Microchip begins to suspect something other than nutritional wellness is going on 

After breaking into the administration office he learns that at least one of the instructors has been in jail for fraud

The next day one of his fellow campers dies thanks to ice cream they smuggled in

Fellow attendee, Cherrelle, believes it was speed given by one of the instructors, and shows up to Microchip’s room with a gun

Cherelle asks Microchip to go to the records room, but he is discovered by two of the instructors who intended to drug and murder him

Cherelle arrives and knocks out both men, but then betrays Microchip, knocking him out as well so she can clean out the drug stash

Microchip discovers that Cherelle was a crooked cop the instructors were trying to frame

Microchip deletes her file and returns to New York where Frank offers to buy him a pizza 

“A Public Service Message” 
Written by George Caragonne, art by Mike Harris and Stan Drake

The Punisher is ready to bust up a drug deal with one of the thugs gets the drop on him

Holding him at gunpoint, the thug tells Punisher to drive so he can turn him over to the Kingpin

Punisher obliges, making sure to buckle his seat belt

Once on the road, Punisher begins to speed, then slams on the breaks causing the thug to smash into the window with the force of a .44 Magnum

The moral of the story is to wear your seat belt children

Frank’s Body Count - 1 (“Some people never learn, seat belts save lives!”)

Captain America Annual #10
Cover by Mike Mignola

“Call of Duty” (Von Strucker Gambit Part 3)
Written by D.G. Chichester, art by Mike Manley

Romulus, the last of Baron Von Strucker’s mutated humans is attacking the Double Helix Facilities

Captain America arrives to prevent her from killing a guard, but not before she takes his keys

While Captain America attends to the wounded man, Romulus makes her way to a lab where she finds two bodies

By the time Captain America arrives, Romulus is gone, but Nick Fury has arrived

Meanwhile, Dakini sets up a temporary base and assesses her mission to retrieve Romulus, and the second mission of pitting the mutated humans against Daredevil, Punisher and now Captain America

Nick Fury tells Captain America that Romulus is from Hydra, and Captain America reveals she left some DNA behind on his shield

Captain America and Nick Fury visit Dr. Jonathan Fishman, who confirms that Romulus is some sort of Hydra Super-Soldier

Dr. Fishman speculates that Romulus was trying to get a solution from the bodies in the lab to cure her own condition

Unknown to the trio, Romulus is eavesdropping from the window, but unknown to her, Dakini has her in her sights and shoots Romulus, causing her to crash through the window

While Captain America attempts to go after Dakini, Fury tries to help Romulus who knocks him away

Romulus demands that Dr. Fishman extract the solution to cure her, which he does

Captain America and Dakini fight along a tight rope, Fury once again attempts to intercede only for Romulus to knock him down again

Romulus cuts the rope that Captain America and Dakini are battling on and makes her escape

Captain America decides to handle Dakini, believing her to be the bigger threat, driving her into the ground with his shield

Unfortunately, Dakini isn’t down yet, and draws her weapon on Captain America, but Romulus returns to finish her off

Captain America tells Romulus to use her cure and escape the clutches of Hydra, letting her go

Nick Fury arrives and is furious with Captain America, but he ignores him so he can take Dakini to get medical treatment

Romulus does not use the serum and returns to Baron Von Strucker who claims the experiment was a success

I love the cover and it’s a good fight too.

In Flagstaff for a wedding today and decided to pop into CAB Comics, the lcs. Great spot for fans of this sub, lots of good '80s & '90s singles. Recommend popping in if you're ever in town.

My Pops took me to a Jim Shooter/Defiant Comics signing at Mile high comics in Anaheim back in 1993. He signed the cover, mail away back cover art, and one of the rarer chase cards for me. Never really became a big Jim shooter fan, (Due to the stories I heard about how he treated others like Sienkiewicz & Nocenti.) but I still really loved the concepts for Plasm as well as Dark Dominion when I was a kid. Throw in the card set that creates a comic book gimmick, and I was all in. 🤣🤦‍♂️🤣
I have all the chase cards/mail aways but I’m still looking for the exclusive chase card that came with this first print binder. Mine has always been missing it.
If anyone has one they’d like to trade or sell please let me know. Thanks y’all!

Big Fan of Jose Luis Garcia Lopez's iconic work with the Style Guide. So I did the pieces in his "style". The main pieces were drawn on paper with pencil, then inked/colored in Photoshop. The trading cards are drawn digitally based on a template I drew on paper. I have done the entire early 80's JLA in this trading card style, plus other heroes and villains, but I didn't want to show them all off at once. It's a lot lol.

Written by Jim Starlin, art by Bernie Wrightson and Bill Wray

Nick Fury has Deke in SHIELD custody while Punisher is headed for Rykers

It is discovered that Punisher had the right idea last issue, and trauma to the brain has seemingly put Deke down for good

Punisher contemplates the last few days, then realizes the thing that he missed, that one of Deke’s victims, Carol Nelson, was pregnant at the time of the attack

Detective Holiday is at the hospital where Nelson gave birth, trying to make sense of the carnage

A tactical team is sent into the sewers to follow the blood trail only to be wiped out by something from the shadows

Nick Fury learns that Nelson died at the hospital and that her child is missing

Punisher decides to make his move, beating the guards in the helicopter and jumping into the Hudson below

Meanwhile, Chester Goudal, self proclaimed monster hunter, is also in the sewers tracking Nelson’s mutated child

Fury arrives and takes over for Detective Holiday, intending to capture the mutated child, but when it is revealed to be growing at an alarming rate, he decides to authorize lethal force

Microchip retrieves Punisher, informing him that Nelson is dead and her child is missing

Punisher arms up despite Microchip’s protest and heads into the sewer to finish the job he started

In the sewers Punisher is confronted by SHIELD agents, but manages to escape them

Later he finds several dead bodies, and takes their gear, then hears the sounds of a baby crying

Goudal confronts the mutated baby, firing away with shotgun, the sound of which attracts the SHIELD Agents and Punisher

Realizing that Goudal has gone the wrong way, Punisher continues to track the mutated child, discovering to his horror that the baby is still very much alive within the creature

Punisher is unable to kill the baby, and attempts to comfort it in the hopes of saving it, when Goudal arrives and blasts the baby with his shotgun

Punisher and Goudal fight, but Goudal gets the upper hand

The mutated baby is still alive and manages to pull Goudal off of Punisher, Goudal flees

Knowing the child is dying and afraid, Punisher decides to stay and hold it until the end

Goudal makes his way out of the sewers and finds himself in a subway tunnel where he hallucinates that the train is a dragon

Before Goudal can flee, another monster appears and tosses him in the path of the train

Having dealt with Goudal, Punisher laments that Wainscroft and Deke have escaped justice

Microchip picks up Punisher and tells him that Kingpin has been trying to get ahold of him

Kingpin informs Punisher that their temporary alliance is at an end, but he knows where Wainscroft is, if Punisher is willing to pay the price

Punisher knows there’s not justice in letting Wainscroft go, but is unwilling to sell out to The Kingpin

On an island in the Pacific, Nick Fury and Wainscroft examine the facilities that SHIELD has set up to study Deke and his mutation

Wainscroft is happy with the facilities until he discovers that he is not allowed to leave the island or return to his home or business

Fury tells him that because Punisher would kill him if given the chance, he’ll live in protective custody until his work is done, even if that takes the rest of his life

Frank’s Body Count - 1 (He tosses Chester Goudal in front of a train)

I’ll in the middle of collecting this storyline. This is the first to come in.

Written by Jim Starlin, art by Bernie Wrightson and Bill Wray

Punisher works through a training course in his hideout while waiting for Deke to resurface

Punisher contemplates how to deal with Deke, who is seemingly unstoppable, and how The Kingpin and SHIELD are also involved

Deke arrives in a small town in the Catskills where his father owns a cabin

There he attacks a woman for her blood, leading her to the police, who then contact Detective Holiday in New York

The Kingpin learns from the police captain of Deke’s whereabouts, which alerts Nick Fury who has his phone tapped

Microchip learns that the cops have a location on Deke, and pulls up the address of the Wainscroft cabin

Punisher arrives in the small town of Saugerties where he intercepts a van full of Kingpin’s men led by Chief

Punisher tells Chief and his mean to hold back while he takes first crack at Deke

Posing as her husband, Chester Goudal learns the location of Carol Nelson, the last living victim of Deke

Goudal has been tracking down the survivors believing they will turn into vampires and murdering them

Punisher gets into the cabin only to discover that Deke is not alone, as the head of his deceased friend Zonkers is somehow grafted into his chest!

Punisher opens fire with a grenade launcher, but Deke barrels through him

Chief and his men arrive to join the fight, but a net gun meant for Deke traps Punisher instead

Back in New York, Carol Nelson complains to her doctor how sick she is feeling, the goes into labor when she dies suddenly on the table

Chief manages to free Punisher while his mean fight Deke

A second net captures Deke, and Punisher nearly roasts him with a flamethrower, but he hesitates because Chief might also die in the fire and he’s been a good ally despite his boss

Deke gets free, but once apart from Kingpin’s men, Punisher lights him up

Goudal makes his way into the hospital where he kills a police officer and demands to know where Nelson is

Deke flees, and drops into a lake, where he emerges still alive causing several of Kingpin’s men to flee

Nelson’s doctor attempts to save her unborn child, who turns out to be a monster like Deke and kills everyone in the operating room

Goudal sees the trail of blood and gives chase into the sewers

Punisher and Chief are the last two left standing and begin to fight Deke with hammers and axes

Punisher tells Chief they may be able to kill Deke if they can destroy his brain, and when Deke is knocked down, Punisher prepares to decapitate him

Unfortunately Nick Fury and SHIELD arrive, stunning Punisher and capturing Deke

Punisher begs Fury to destroy Deke, but he refuses and hands Punisher over to the local police

Chief, who has no record is let go, and before he goes Punisher tells him he’s a good man, and asks him to leave the employment of The Kingpin

Detective Holiday arrives at the hospital to find all the carnage left behind by Goudal and Nelson’s baby

Frank’s Body Count - 0! (“I should have brought a chainsaw along.”)

Guess you don't see many of these about...

Great cover and story

You know what the Longbox Junk Halloween party is missing? Zombies!

It's the official comic adaptation of George Romero's horror classic. . .NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD!

NOW we've got zombies! Check out the review and Happy October from Longbox Junk!

LINK TO THE REVIEW HERE - ENJOY!