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drifting-pieces-blog-blog · 9 months ago

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Breaking down the comics: Soldiers (Punisher Annual #2: Knight Fall)

You guys. YOU GUYS.

I am so excited to bring you this next one for SO MANY REASONS.

The first reason is that this is the FIRST Moon Knight comic I ever read.

And this comic os pure WTFer set off an obsession that has directed the course of my life for over ten years now.

Marc Spector: Moon Knight

Punisher Annual #2: Knight Fall. 1989

Written by: Mike Baron

Art by: Bill Reinhold

Gerbil: Tom DeFalco

(Tom is the editor in chief for Marvel at the time)

We got ourselves a Punisher Annual with a Moon Knight guest appearance!

Now I’ve talked about guest appearances again and again and again. It usually means that the guest star is going to show up HUGE on the cover with some dramatic depiction in an attempt to lure in more new readers to the title comic.

But look at this comic cover. This isn’t Moon Knight showing up to save the day or in a little blurb bubble or box. He’s battling Frank! This looks more like a cross-over style comic! Those always depict the main character FIGHTING the other guest star! And damn if this cover isn’t amazing. Look at those two locked in close quarter combat! And that dagger! This might be a Punisher comic, but Moon Knight isn’t about to roll over!

Now, as we all have come to expect, when you have a crossover for the first time, the two characters always spend the first couple pages fighting in some misunderstanding before they make up and team together to fight the real bad guys. But Punisher takes no quarter and Moon Knight is grumpy at best.

Alright, so we open up on a Long Island Petshop where a Mr. Morton is purchasing Gerbils for their kids.

For those that do not know, a Gerbil is about the size of a large mouse with a long tufted tail and kangaroo like hind feet. They're fast, bite hard, and are fun. (I used to own them as a kid for many years and loved them).

They actually aren’t that well known, even though you can always find them in pet shops next to the hamsters. I wonder why they chose gerbil over say, mice or rats or hamsters. I get the feeling there was some inside joke among the writers here.

…..Oh.

Snake guy. Got it.

MARC.

Marc… “That man just ate a gerbil! Why does it set off all my emergency alarm bells?”

Marc…

So... After that... Marc calls up Frenchie on his radio and tells him that he's tailing a car and gives him details on the vehicle.

"Oui, Marc, what's up?"

"I'm not sure... Maybe nothing."

MARC SPECTOR. You just watched a man eat a gerbil in a pet shop....WHOLE. What do you mean 'Nothing'?!

He tails the car to an old run down mansion .

"That's the old Borgwardt estate--It's been taken over by something called Save Our Society... Time to head home."

Frenchie confirms the car info with Marc. It is registered to the SOS non-profit agency that is privately funded by physicians.

"Sort of an east coast version of the Betty Ford Clinic. Why would a man eat a gerbil?"

Marc… You have fought werewolves. You fought a literal rat king. We’ve seen you fight ghosts and get your ass handed to you by a snake.

AND WHAT ARE YOU WEARING!? Does Steven know you’re wearing his clothes?

He asks Frenchie to dig into the petstore's files and get him a credit card for the guy that ate the gerbil and an address.

Meanwhile, we meander on over to the star of our show:

"Punisher's War Journal-- I've been on the trail of Ralph Newton, a junkie who makes a living ripping off old ladies' social security checks. Two weeks ago he pushed a seventy year old woman down a flight of stairs and she died. Newton seemed to have disappeared, butt now I have a lead--This shooting gallery in the Bronx."

For those of you unaware of the Punisher, here's a brief howdy-do for you!

The Punisher, AKA, Frank Castle. Originally a VietNam vet who came back with a little PTSD. His family (wife and child) were murdered by the mafia and Frank decided he'd had enough of evil in the world. He makes it his life's work to hunt down and kill anyone that makes it a living to hurt people.

Historically, the other heroes (ESPECIALLY DareDevil and Captain America) despise Frank and often rally the other heroes to try to hunt him down and stop him from continuing his war on crime.

He got his start in a Spider-Man comic of all places and branched out from there.

Frank is a pretty gruff and serious man and depending on who is writing him and what series you are reading, he can be pretty violent.

War Journal was a very popular series where he drives around in his Battle Van and writes about his missions. It works nicely because Frank isn’t much of a social man. So if you rely on the story conversations, like in all the other comics, you aren’t going to get much. But having him writing things down in his journal you get a beautiful narration that reads like a Noir film and you also get a fantastic way to get to know Frank and how he thinks. I appreciate it.

Often when Frank meets up with other heroes, there is a fight with them telling him he's wrong for killing and them eventually trying to stop him.

Now, we know he's going to meet up with Marc in this. And I am so excited for you guys to see this epic encounter.

So we see Frank in his usual attire walk up to a safe house and knock on the door.

He gets the guy to open the door posing as a seller.

Yeah. By now, everyone knows what it means when they see that skull design.

"Junkies. I swear they don't feel pain. You've got to break something before they stop coming at you."

Frank shoots all but one. He tells the remaining guy he's looking for Newton.

Lucky for the junkie he says he last saw Newton going into a rehab clinic saying he was going to get straight.

So Frank heads up to the clinic. It's a Save Our Society clinic.

"The place reeks of sweat and stale cigarettes, ashtrays filled to overflowing."

Man that's good Noir.

Frank walks up to the main desk (in his street clothes, which just means he put on a turtle neck and a coat).

"Department of social services. I'm here to verify our use of federal funds."

"I'm sorry, sir. There must be some mistake. This clinic is privately funded --we receive no federal funds."

"*SIGH* Sounds like another department screw-up. Could I speak to your director?"

(What works about this is that no one actually knows what Frank Castle looks like! He doesn’t need a disguise. Everyone knows him by what he wears. They see the giant skull and the guns. It WORKS. And Frank is surprisingly good at acting. He knows the system.)

He's told that the director isn't in. She's Leona Hiss. (Hiss? Really? We're going there?)

Frank heads to get info from Microchip. Hey! Microchip! I missed him!

Microchip was Frank's old tech guy. He was the man in the van that would give Frank info and hack into things for him.

I'd say they were good friends...But Frank doesn't have friends. I'd give you spoilers on what eventually happens to Microchip but... It's kinda a BIG spoiler and maybe someone here wants to head on over into Punisher land. So I'll leave it at that. (I came to Moon Knight from Punisher land. It was all thanks to this crossover comic… so I guess their ploy really does work sometimes.)

Anyways... Microchip looks up this Leona Hiss person.

A widow of an anesthesiologist who started the clinics to help drug addicts. He goes on and on and tells Frank it "Smells like a smoke screen. All her life, the lady shuns publicity. Now all of a sudden she's a big philanthropist?"

Man, look at that light and shadow in the first panel. This art team is amazing.

Frank sets up position on a roof across from the clinic.

"Clock Street's eerily alive at two A.M. I see a knife fight, several drug deals...Lights are burning in the clinic but no one's entered or left. There are guards on the roof. Better move.

I take position a block away, behind the clinic. I can easily make my way back over the rooftops--Nobody's watching back here. Overhead, a faint Whoosh. Some kind of high-tech chopper."

Oh boy. Oh boy. Oh boy.

(This art. This art is SLAYING.)

Oh man. Look at this meet up. Frank and his shotgun, Moon Knight facing him down.

They know who each other are! Every time Moon Knight meets up with someone he has to introduce himself! No one knows who he is! But Frank knows him. And Moon Knight doesn’t call him Frank. He knows who he is dealing with.

Oh man, that cover called for such an epic showdown. Both ex-marines. Both know how to handle themselves.

Uh.

“I presume we’re both interested in Save Our Society.”

“Right this afternoon I saw a man eat a gerbil. He came from here.”

“What’s his name?”

"Helmut Snead. He used a solen credit card. Six feet, brown eyes, scar above his left eye."

"Ralph Newton--A Junkie Murderer. What's he doing on Long Island?"

"I don't know--But he didn't look like a junkie. I want to know how he got out of the South Bronx and into a fancy clinic."

"How would you take this guy out?"

WHAT IS HAPPENING.

This is incredible. You have no idea.

Frank doesn't have friends. Frank doesn't do team-ups. Frank is brutal and tells it like it is.

And this isn't Frank being the victim to a new writer making nice in someone else's ball park. This is a PUNISHER comic. Moon Knight is the visitor.

And on that note... MARC doesn't have friends. MARC doesn't play well with others. We literally just came off of him being a part of the West Coast Avengers and leaving because he doesn't team well!

And here these two are, meeting for the first time and being BFF.

In fact, the fact that they already know who one another is despite never meeting means that they have heard others talk about them. And when people talk about the Punisher or Moon Knight, they generally don't have good things to say!

So these two heard "Yeah he's a brutal lunatic" they went "I gotta meet this chap."

I can't stress enough how amazing this is.

Frank is even asking Moon Knight to show how he'd take down a guy. He wants to see how Moon Knight works. And Moon Knight is letting Frank go first.

THIS in itself is amazing. Why? Because we have two highly skilled specialists from a high combat militarized zone that were both known for ambush settings and traps.

They know everything about this building isn't reading right, they have seen some guards and they don't know what's going on inside. So they are essentially walking into an unknown through a closed space doorway into a stairwell with numerous blind spots and possibilities for traps/ambushes.

If it were anyone else, Marc would go first to clear the way and possibly take that first hit because he knows he can take it.

BUT. If you REALLY look at it, Frank is older than Marc. Frank went to 'Nam. Frank has been at this longer and has turned New York into his own personal jungle.

He offers Frank the lead out of respect AND because he knows and Frank knows that if anything is out of the ordinary, Frank will spot it FIRST and deal with it.

This is grade A military tactics and my lord it’s beautiful.

And you know what?

Frank’s history is that he was team leader. And when Marc gives him lead, Frank takes it and Marc RESPECTS him. They are both used to working in this sort of setting.

And when you think about it, Marc was NEVER the leader. He followed other people. Bushman was his leader. Marc joined other groups and let other people tell him what to do. If he didn’t like it, he went off and joined a new group.

So when Frank says “Hold it….!” he is treading Marc like an officer under him and he has now automatically accepted Marc as following him and thus putting him under his protection. This is beautiful. I could wax on about this all day you guys.

Uh… Back to the comic. So… Frank spots a Black Mamba that’s sluggish from being in a cold setting.

Marc makes light chatter (he’s kinda of a goof and light chatter is what he does.) Frank quiets him. He knows there’s trouble ahead.

In the next room, we find a junky going through withdrawal and begging the doc to hurry up.

The 'doctor' injects him with something just as Frank and Marc bust in.

"Hello, Ralph. I didn't know you had a license to practice medicine... And only last week you were a lousy junkie..."

"Punisher!"

"Drop the needle."

"I don't think so.... SSSST!"

And the 'Doctor' suddenly has a snake tongue and snake eyes.

This bodes well.

Frank opens fire on his target and it hardly phases him.

"What have we stumbled into? They move slowly but they don't feel any pain." Moon Knight calls out while pummeling one of the snake guys.

"It's the cold. [....] Reptiles. The colder it gets, the slower they move. You saw Ralph eat a gerbil--Snakes eat gerbils. This place looks like a herpetology lab."

Very astute Frank.

They manage to take down all the snake guys and Moon Knight asks if he recognizes any of them.

Frank recognizes a couple of them as crackheads and various junkies.

They find Ralph to be a card carrier for S.O.S.

"Last week he's a junkie with an armful of holes and this week he's front man for a fancy long island cure club."

"I think we know where to go next. Why don't you come with me in the chopper?"

"Thanks, I will."

(WHY ARE THEY SO POLITE TO ONE ANOTHER. IT'S SO OVER THE TOP.)

So... Frank takes a ride in Marc's chopper.

"Nice set-up. How do you keep the engines so quiet?"

"It's a new kind of fiberglass packing."

And they arrive back at the mansion.

"Come on in--I've got a war room. We'll do a little digging."

"This place is a little ostentatious, don't you think?"

"There are so many private choppers flying in and out of the neighborhood nobody notices mine--Especially at night. The surrounding mansions and trees also cover our entrances and exits from the concealed hangar."

I don't think that's what he meant by ostentatious, Marc.

Inside, Frank, Marc, and Frenchie stand around a table with some maps.

Marc tells Frank about the Borwardt estate he initially tracked snake man to earlier.

"I ran a check on cult leaders and you'll never guess who was released from a federal prison last month--Viper."

Frenchie tells Frank who Viper is.

"She used to head up zat facist group Hydra, zen she went solo. She was busted in connection with the so-called snake riot in washington last year...[....] A mass hallucination where people believed they turned into snakes. I also learned that Viper was recently sprung from prison by a Dr. Tyrone."

We head on over to SOS where we see a green lady, "Madam Viper".

She is in a room of snake men who are 'newly converted'.

They say they are hungry and Viper tells them that they have "a rabbit, five hamsters and a gerbil. We'll have to make another run to the pet store soon."

She has a bit of a thing for hitting people with a whip and demanding that they all call her 'Madame Viper'.

She is then informed that the other clinic was hit and that Newton is dead.

She sends the new snake men out to the yard for guard duty. She's pretty sure SHIELD is out to get her. Which makes sense since she worked for Hydra.

Unfortunately for her, it's far from shield.

Overhead, we find the Moon Copter flying by and Moon Knight drops in with his cape and Frank drops in on a glider.

The guards immediately open fire on them and Frank returns fire.

FRANK. DO NOT ENCOURAGE HIM.

….I don’t know if I should count this as a window dive or not. It’s tempting. I’m not going to count it. He decides to abstain from window entrance for once.

Unfortunately for Frank, he runs in without checking around and Marc isn't there to watch his six.

Madam Viper jumps him and injects him with a serum.

Now... Unfortunately for her... Frank has never responded well to drugs of any sort. He's got a history of this not going well for people that try to drug Frank Castle.

He doesn't go down.

In fact, it actually makes him go a little berserk. A berserk Frank Castle is NEVER something anyone wants to face.

He’s doing fine.

She makes a run for it.

Elsewhere, Moon Knight is fighting his own snake man army.

"Lets of gunfire and then it stopped! The time to start worrying about Punisher is when the gunfire stops.

Viper injects one of her larger helpers turning him into a very large and strong snake man.

Moon Knight faces off with the big snake guy. His usual methods of just 'hit it as hard as I can' doesn't work. They don't feel pain thanks to the drugs.

He's wearing a heat pack to keep him moving so Moon Knight decides to take this outside and....WINDOW! WE GOT A WINDOW!

I mean… This one was legit. And he was exiting with a good reason… But I’m still counting it.

Heat pack removed and out in the cold air, the lizard guy goes down easy.

Moon Knight goes to find the Punisher now.

He finds a room full of bodies and Frank in the middle having a lovely hallucination time.

In the window outside, Marc watches a rocket thing take off with Viper escaping in it to fight another day.

Marc manages to distract frank with his crescent darts, moving them around and letting the light reflect off of them in a hypnotic way. This lets him get close enough to take away Frank's gun.

At this point, Frank calms down and the adrenalin that was coursing through his system and probably helping to stave off the toxic affects of the drugs wears off.

Frank goes into convulsions and Moon Knight moves to get him out of there. Not to mention the cops are starting to show up and they need to leave.

The cops have never been fans of Punisher (Despite what the right wing wants you to think when they put punisher logos on their giant trucks) and Frank has never liked the cops. Time to leave!

Marc takes Frank back to his mansion and puts him to bed.

I kid you not.

This... This is a thing that happens a lot. He did the same thing to Jack Russel. Just... Take the drugged up guy home and let him sleep it off in his big bed in the mansion.

Frank has a rough night, hallucinating and putting up a big of a fight but he sleeps it off.

The next day, he wakes up feeling a bit better.

And it ends here. Frank heading off to his next mission and Marc casual as hell as he watches his new buddy leave.

Again I’m going to say it. WHAT.

You don’t understand just HOW bizarre this issue was. ON BOTH SIDES. Frank was so…NICE… Marc was so amendable! They acted like long lost friends! WHAT WAS WITH THE CONSTANT REFERENCES TO GERBILS?! Why does Marc keep putting drugged up men in his bed? Why was he wearing Steven’s clothes? I have so many questions.

And from this casual weird encounter… An obsession was born.

ALRIGHT. Let’s talk about why this works. (This is gonna get long. You can stop here if you don't want to hear me ramble and are just here for the comics).

In the Marvel universe (616), we have a lot of veterans of different wars.

WWII has Captain America, Bucky, and Nick Fury

Vietnam has Frank Castle.

Wolverine....a lot of wars. All the wars. Every war.

Apparently Charles Xavier was in the Korean war (I didn't know that)

Ben Grimm was in the Marines before his space accident (Awww. Another thing for him to bond with Marc over.)

Then of course you have Carol Danvers who worked for the CIA in the cold war.

Rhodes (War Machine) who was in Afghanistan and Vietnam.

There are a LOT of veterans of different wars and different time periods (Marvel time is a soup).

The initial problem was which war. And this is where we are going to once more step onto the Drifting Pieces History soap box.

We all know the saying “There’s no good war”. But that’s not right. Not according to politics and public opinion.

To be a veteran of WWII was a noble and good thing. You fought a clear cut enemy, (nothing worse than a Nazi) liberated suppressed people, and most important, you came home a winner.

What’s that? There was another war? In Korea? Never heard of that one. We totally didn’t go to Korea and fail miserably and we certainly aren’t going to talk about what happened over there.

Oh look, Vietnam! The first publicly broadcasted war. Not like “The Whole World is Watching”. Oh no, the average citizen is suddenly getting their first look at what happens in war. Oh no, it’s not as nice and pretty as it’s supposed to be. No one talked about the atrocities that were committed by the good guys in WWII! And the Korean War certainly didn’t happen.

This was the first war where American soldiers came home and were shunned. They were booed. They lost their jobs, lost their homes, and lost their families. Disgraced and forgotten by their country and their people.

So we have nice shiny Captain America. A literal representation of the good of America and ideal soldier, punching Nazi and saving people in WWII.

Then we have Frank Castle, a dirty soldier from Vietnam. I’m sure people screamed “Baby killer” at him fresh off the plane. What’s that? Frank served THREE tours in Vietnam?! He was the sole survivor of a huge ambush? He was awarded the Medal of Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Navy Cross, Silver and Bronze stars, and four Purple Hearts? That don’t mean shit to the average citizen that only cares about two things: 1. We lost. 2. We shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

So he comes home, one of the best Marines in the business, and he’s got nothing.

He gets married to a sweetheart, has two kids (a little girl and boy), and settles in living an ideal life. A quiet life. Too quiet. Frank’s got a little PTSD going on and he was very good at what he did. He didn’t want to leave. He was good over there. He was respected. He was needed.

But he’s doing the best he can. Until that’s taken away from him in an event he’d seen over and over again in war. Blazing gun fire and his family is gone.

He gets revenge. But there’s a problem. He isn’t seen as a loving family man that takes down the people that murdered his kids and wife. He’s seen as a violent ex-soldier from Vietnam that’s gone crazy and is shooting up the place.

They say that for Frank, “the war never ended. It just changed missions.”

And all these other Heroes that are also veterans? They came from good wars. Captain America spouts speeches of being a Good Soldier at Frank. He doesn’t know what it’s like to question if the bad guy really is the bad guy.

If Frank hadn’t of been such a family man, he would have made an amazing mercenary. The best there was.

But then you have Marc Spector. He went to war to escape trauma. He was good. He was VERY good at what he did. And dollars to donuts, he heard about another Marine that was also very good named Francis Castiglione.

But Marc could only be good so long as it wasn’t obvious that his mental illness was a thing. Even if he lied signing up for the military, when he took the jobs working for SHIELD and the CIA, they HAD to know about his history in the mental hospital. But the second he starts to dissociate in public, he’s kicked out. Can’t have a mentally ill person hanging out around all those weapons, right? I’m sure that’s what they told themselves as they kicked him to the curb.

Marc could have gone home here. He’d have been a disgraced hero, sitting on the side of the road on a Veteran hat asking for change. But Marc was still running. He didn’t have a childhood sweetheart waiting for him. He had trauma.

So Marc carries on the mission and he’s GOOD. And he’s a follower. He likes being told what to do. It prevents him from thinking and taking responsibility. If people get hurt, it isn’t his fault.

Now Frank is very thorough. There’s a chance that the first time he hears about a new Superhero showing up in Manhattan he immediately looks into it. He’s got access to SHIELD info. He finds out who Marc Spector is and he sees another soldier that was let down by his country. Another soldier that was looking to make a wrong right despite how the war went.

And Marc? Frank’s a hero. He’s tough. He does what needs to be done to keep people safe. Frank’s a leader and he takes care of his soldiers.

They look at one another and see soldiers struggling to find their place here in the normal life again because they never HAD normal lives to begin with.

Moon Knight is the only one who can probably understand where Frank is coming from and not judge him.

Much later on in the comics, when Moon Knight is desperately trying to fit in with the Avengers and be a better hero, we see him come up against Frank again. Frank understands what Moon Knight is trying to do and he asks him if he really thinks it’s going to work.

And despite how everything else was going in that particular run (a lot. A lot was going), it was a very real moment. Frank saw through him. I’ll get more into it later when we eventually get there. But man… These two together both make me so happy and also break my heart.

ANYWAY. Uh… Long extended explanation over! I love this issue with my whole everything.

This writer? This artist? Why couldn’t THEY have been the ones to take over the Marc Spector run? They get it! Look how pretty they make him! Look at all that cape action!

They even get the dichotomy of Marc in this time. We may not have STEVEN, but did you see the way Marc was dressed in the mansion? How very Steven -esque. Even the way he treats Frank at the end there.

UGH I could go on about this all day. I’m going to stop here before I write a dissertation. I HAVE FEELINGS ABOUT THIS OKAY.

#Moon Knight #Moon Knight comics #Analyzing the comics #Marc Spector #Jake Lockley #Steven Grant #Frank Castle #The Punisher #They deserve to be friends #These two disasters #Why was there so much Gerbil in this #I love this issue #I could wax poetry about it all day #Two reviews in one day? Spoiling you

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