just two months later Batman/Punisher: Lake of Firethe second DC/Marvel crossover, these two characters take to the stands, this one ending with actual Batman is Bruce Wayne, not his temporary replacement Jean-Paul Vallee.
I think this is the better of the two comics, and not just because of the fact that this is what readers have come to expect from a crossover between these two characters. The creative team also seems better suited to the task, especially as the art is much larger than in previous comics, at least to my personal taste.
The creative team includes writer Chuck Dixon, penciller John Romita Jr., and inker Klaus Janson.
By 1994, Dickson was a prolific Punisher writer as well as a prolific Batman writer, so he was an ideal choice for a book where the two met. While I’ve never read his work on The Punisher, I’ve read a lot of Dixon’s Batman comics (as well as those featuring other members of the Bat-family, especially his long run on the first one) Robin in progress).
While Dickson wasn’t my favorite Batman writer (it was probably Alan Grant at the time) and never wrote particularly inspired, imaginative, wild stories, Dickson was still an incredible Solid comics writer, a determined guy whose name will definitely be on a book.
I’ve always thought he was good at coming up with challenging and frustrating plots for his heroes, often with interesting crimes that seemed perfect for an action movie (yes, as a fan of his work, it saddens me that His personal politics seem to have alienated him from the mainstream industry and led him to create truly bizarre comics, such as 2016’s Clinton Cash: Graphic Novela comic adaptation of Peter Schweitzer’s best-selling election cycle book).
JRJR is a very familiar character in Marvel comics and has attracted punisher war magazine, But this comic is his first official drawing of a DC Comics character. That in itself was pretty exciting at the time.
As for Klaus Janson, not only is he a frequent JRJR collaborator, but he also worked with Frank Miller on the 1986 film Batman: The Dark Knight Returns This means he’s a name every Batman fan knows.
So the art, colored by Christie Scheele, is obviously great, and the intense and dynamic cover you see above of the two characters wrestling in the pouring rain is just a small taste.
Romita’s protagonists are tall, blocky, and imposing… muscular, but with a lively elegance. Many of the gangster characters in the book are similarly large and bulky, with jagged edges on their suits and faces.
The art has a rough tactility under Jensen’s heavy inks, and there’s plenty of black, from the busy cross-hatching to the rings around the stalactites in the Batcave, to the wrinkles and shadows on the suit, to the violence in the climactic encounter Black rain.
Dixon’s script also offers some great opportunities to really showcase Romita and Janssen’s artistry, and they don’t waste it.
Both characters are introduced in a fun spread that requires the reader to turn the open book from standard horizontal to vertical orientation (no easy feat for a 1,000-page hardcover book!) and end it in this way way to read them, which is different from needle reading.
The Punisher is introduced first, standing on some crates at a low angle, a series of muzzle flashes and arcs of spent shell casings emanating from the guns in his hands (they look like Ugis to me, even though he calls them for “MAC”) later in the story; are these different things?
JRJR’s Frank Castle is larger and thicker than Barry Kitson’s, and his face is covered in stubble and shadows. Two inset panel strips at the bottom of the Castle image keep it from being a true two-page splash; these panels feature regular Batman supporting cast members Harvey Dent, Renee Montoya, and Commissioner Gordon.
Batman appears a few pages later in a similar fashion, although he’s at the “bottom” of the spread, with a panel above it. He leaps up as if falling from the sky, his hands outstretched like claws (his fingers look particularly flat, like how JRJR tends to draw his hands), and his face and cape are black.
Later in the book, at the climax, when the two fight for the second time, there’s another two-page spread that requires one to turn the book over to see it right side up, in which the Punisher punches Batman face.
I’m not sure about this image because it provides the most impactful moment of the entire story, a specific blow in the battle, and it’s not the most dramatic moment of their conflict. It also devotes all of the comic page space to the moment when Castle “wins” the fight with Batman, although in the two instances in the book where they fight each other, Dixon’s script makes it clear that Batman will eventually Be victorious in this battle. lake of fire The same hypothesis goes for the fight between Punisher and Punisher That Batman, although the Punisher won the conflict through the use of guns and some trickery).
It’s perhaps worth pausing to consider JRJR’s Batman, as this is the first time he’s drawn the character (of course, he had another shot at the character during his time at DC Comics from 2016 to 2020, where he Writer Scott Snyder’s first arc is charted. all star batman).
Of course, this is Batman in his “classic” costume, blue and gray with a fitted utility belt and a yellow circle around the Bat-emblem (Batman will be debuting his new, An all-black, no briefs outfit) that’s what he’ll be wearing this year; Next Marvel crossover with Spider-Man in 1995). I say “blue” of course, but considering how many lines Romita and Jensen used and how heavy the ink is, it might look black to you; it does match the Punisher’s costume in this crossover The colors are the same, so I guess one could say they’re both blue-black, or maybe comic book black.
JRJR’s Batman is just as tall and imposing as his Punisher counterpart, but, on the rare occasions we see him unfurling his cape and flying behind him, he’s also much lighter and more muscular, with his waist well under his massive barrel chest It looks almost comically elongated.
On the front of the ear, JRJR was on the longer side, which was popular at the time. Unusually for many Batman artists, however, his bat ears are very thick at the base, forming two large black triangles on top of his head.
As for Dixon’s plot, it’s very simple and somewhat perfunctory, basically manipulating these two into rainy Gotham City alleys so they can attack each other and focusing on their role in the perfect test case possible. Differences in crime-fighting philosophies: unrepentant mass murderer clown, put a bullet in his head or beat him up and take him to Arkham?
There’s no overarching villain plot like Jigsaw’s plan to turn Gotham City’s reservoir into a lake of fire. lake of firenor is there any focus on the characters’ inner lives, like Wally’s struggle with his delusions and the conflict between his religious beliefs and his inherited crime-fighting mission.
Perhaps surprisingly, there is little real connective tissue between the two. Deadly Knight and lake of fire. Characters mention it in passing (for example, the Punisher notes that Batman’s fighting style seems as different as his costume, or when Batman notes the Punisher’s “absence” in Gotham). Now it obviously doesn’t matter that these two comics are collected back-to-back in a comprehensive collection, but people can read them easily Deadly Knight In 1994, I hadn’t read a book yet lake of fire.
We open with the Punisher having a massive firefight with generic gangsters in a Gotham City paint factory, and his narration tells us that he’s returned to the city in search of Jigsaw, who never made it back to New York as he expected. Just as Castle prepares to execute the last surviving gunman, Batman lands on the back of his head and they fight for a few pages.
“There’s something different here,” Castle recounted. “Last time I was in Gotham, this guy was a reckless brawler. Now he seems to be more skilled. There’s something refined About him.
Meanwhile, Batman is somewhat dismissive of the Punisher’s abilities: “The Punisher is tough. Very strong. At heart he’s just a brawler. Full of rage and brute force.”
Although the Punisher received several hits, including breaking a crate over Batman’s head, Batman was able to throw him across the room when the burning building collapsed and the Punisher escaped.
Meanwhile, Jigsaw, now with a bandaged, mummy-like face, the work of, in the words of his new partner Joker, “the best plastic surgeon blackmail can buy,” is trying to solidify Surround yourself with power and become the new plastic surgeon.
It’s perhaps worth noting that JRJR’s Jigsaw looks completely different from Kitson’s. He’s much smaller, his hair is longer and shaggier (and a different color, though I guess that’s a matter between colorists), and he’s lost the weird metal neck brace he seemed to be wearing.
As for “Joker”, I really like JRJR’s version, although the smile is fixed, the full range of emotions is conveyed through only the eyes and eyebrows.
Dixon’s Joker is more like a typical gangster than the crazy guy with a little tricks up his sleeve, even as he’s usually portrayed. Here he’s not as wild or dramatic as he is in most of his other performances, even the ones Dixon wrote himself. He’s not carrying out any real plan here either; one assumes that he’s just helping Jigsaw consolidate power because… well, because Dixon wanted to find the two protagonists’ nemesis in a relatively short 45 or so page story.
As the two vigilantes conduct parallel investigations, their respective computer-savvy partners Mike and Robin engage in a computer battle that leads to the immortal team, but they all end up pitted against the Joker, Jigsaw, a local crime lord, and a A large group of people entered a nightclub together. Fist,” Punisher observed).
Finally, the crime fighters end up facing off against each other’s villains, which means the Punisher sticks a gun in the Joker’s face and says, “I’ve got all the cure you need.” here,comedian.
Of course, Batman shows up before Castle pulls the trigger, sparking first a brief argument and then the Punisher throwing ink at Batman.
A brief fight ensues, with Dixon having Batman assure us that he can totally kick Castle’s ass if he wants to: “I let You have that because you probably think I deserve it,” he said, and as Castle punched him again, Batman grabbed his fist and threw him into a pile of boxes. “I said one……No test Me, Castle.
Batman threatens him that if the Punisher comes to Gotham City again, he will see him imprisoned in ” other Murderer,” but seemed very complacent about the Punisher’s last few nights killing a dozen or two people in his city, and, rather perversely, seemed content to let the Punisher go (to be fair, Dixon, he have The allocated pages have been used up).
The Punisher, meanwhile, had one final word, but otherwise slipped away. And, so far, he’s followed Batman’s orders and never returned to Gotham.
This would be the last meeting between the two…unless you count the off-credits scene in the show Justice League/AvengersIn one, the Justice League’s mission to visit the Marvel Universe was apparently delayed by about 20 minutes when Batman stopped to beat up the Punisher. But again, this is outside the panel.
if Deadly Knight It’s the kind of crossover we’d expect from DC and Marvel in the mid-1990s – two popular top headliners with interestingly opposing philosophies, and a creative team that’s perfectly suited to the scene – both The next collaboration between authors and publishers will be anything but.
Of course, that’s not to say it’s not fun, just unpredictable.
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