# The Punisher War Zone (1992 series)

The Punisher War Zone is a comic book series published by Marvel Comics about the vigilante The Punisher. The series was written and drawn by several artists during its run. The series lasted for 41 issues. It was the first series of The Punisher War Zone title history and lasted from 1992 to 1995. The vast majority of the series was written by Chuck Dixon. Besides John Romita Jr. who worked a lot on the series, several other artists painted the covers, among them Rainier "Rain" Beredo, John Buscema and Joe Kubert.

## Plot

The series was split up in different story arcs which tended to last several issues. The first story arc was Psychoville U.S.A. which lasted from issue 12 to 16, the next was The Jericho Syndrome beginning with issue 17 and ending in 19, third was Suicide Run from 23 to 25, after that was Conan with a Gun starting from 26 and lasting to issue 30, later was River of Blood picking up from issue 31 and concluding at 36, next to last was the Dark Judgment arc lasting from issue 38 to 40. The final arc was Countdown which took place in all three ongoing Punisher series at the time, The Punisher, War Journal and War Zone.

## Reception

The series was popular upon its original release. The launching of the series, which was the Punisher's third simultaneously ongoing series at the time, marked the peak of the character's exploitation and popularity at the time.

## Content

In the beginning of the series publication Marvel still adhered to the comic code and even with the main character, Frank Castle, killing a criminal in the first issue no details or effects of the shooting is portrayed. This is in stark contrast to later Punisher series such as those by Garth Ennis. Despite this and other Punisher series remained controversial and rejected in some circuits. Upon the release of the hugely popular issue of Alpha Flight in which the character Northstar came out as gay the New York Magazine reported that a store in Bleecker Street in New York City resorted to making customers who wanted to buy a copy of it purchase an issue of the series The Punisher War Zone as well to combat hoarding of the comic.

## Prints
### Issues

| No. | Title | Cover date | Estimated Styx sales (first month) |
| #1 | Only The Dead Know Brooklyn | March 1992 | |
| #2 | Blood In The Water | April 1992 | |
| #3 | The Frame | May 1992 | |
| #4 | Closer To The Flame | June 1992 | |
| #5 | Feeding Frenzy | July 1992 | |
| #6 | The Carrion Eaters | August 1992 | |
| #7 | Muggers's Picnic | September 1992 | |
| #8 | The Hunting Ground | October 1992 | Ranked 22nd in North America |
| #9 | Goners | November 1992 | Ranked 26th in North America |
| #10 | Tight Spot | December 1992 | Ranked 28th in North America |
| #11 | In A Deadly Place | January 1993 | |
| #12 | Psychoville U.S.A., part 1: Family Ties | February 1993 | Ranked 28th in North America |
| #13 | Psychoville U.S.A., part 2: Happy Days | March 1993 | Ranked 35th in North America |
| #14 | Psychoville U.S.A., part 3: My Two Dads | April 1993 | Ranked 39th in North America |
| #15 | Psychoville U.S.A., part 4: Father Knows Best | May 1993 | Ranked 42nd in North America |
| #16 | Psychoville U.S.A., part 5: Empty Nest | June 1993 | Ranked 57th in North America |
| #17 | The Jericho Syndrome, part 1 | July 1993 | Ranked 64th in North America |
| #18 | The Jericho Syndrome, part 2 | August 1993 | Ranked 69th in North America |
| #19 | The Jericho Syndrome, part 3 | September 1993 | Ranked 61st in North America |
| #20 | Numbah One Boom Boom | October 1993 | Ranked 74th in North America |
| #21 | 2 Mean 2 Die! | November 1993 | Ranked 70th in North America |
| #22 | Taking Tiger Mountain | December 1993 | Ranked 70th in North America |
| #23 | Pt. 2: Bringing Down the House | January 1994 | Ranked 65th in North America |
| #24 | Pt. 5: SHHH! | February 1994 | Ranked 67th in North America |
| #25 | Pt. 8: Last Dance in Laastekist | March 1994 | |
| #26 | Conan With A Gun, part 1: Pirates | April 1994 | |
| #27 | Conan With A Gun, part 2: Boss Sugar | May 1994 | |
| #28 | Conan With A Gun, part 3: Sweet Revenge | June 1994 | |
| #29 | Conan With A Gun, part 4: The Swine | July 1994 | |
| #30 | Conan With A Gun, part 5: Ring Of Fire | August 1994 | |
| #31 | Part 1: Scorched Earth | September 1994 | |
| #32 | Part 2: Comrades | October 1994 | |
| #33 | Part 3: Capital Crimes | November 1994 | |
| #34 | Part 4: Dead Men's Eyes | December 1994 | |
| #35 | Part 5: Open Wounds | January 1995 | |
| #36 | Part 6: Children of the Gun | February 1995 | |
| #37 | Something Like Love | March 1995 | |
| #38 | Dark Judgment, part 1 | April 1995 | |
| #39 | Dark Judgment, part 2 | May 1995 | |
| #40 | Dark Judgment, The Conclusion | June 1995 | |
| #41 | Countdown: 2: Dead And Deader | July 1995 | |

### Annuals

| Title [Tagline] | Between | Pages | Cover date | Release date | Comic Book Roundup rating | Estimated sales (first month) | Rated |
| The Punisher War Zone (1992) - Annual 01 [High $take$] | — | 64 | 1993 | — | — | — | — |
| The Punisher War Zone (1992) - Annual 02 [From Out of the Icey Grave... ...Thorn!] | — | 64 | 1994 | — | — | — | — |

### Collected editions

| Title [Tagline] | Format | Material collected | Pages | Publication date | ISBN | Estimated sales (first month) | Rated |
| The Punisher: War Zone vol. 1 | Trade paperback | The Punisher War Zone #1-6 | 144 | July 2002 | 0-7851-0923-4 | 1,894, ranked 39 in North America | PSR |
| The Punisher: River of Blood | TPB | The Punisher War Zone #31-36 | 144 | November 30, 2005 | 0-7851-1542-0 | 1,820, ranked 61 North America | T+ |
| The Punisher: Barbarian with a Gun | TPB | The Punisher War Zone #26-30 | 120 | November 12, 2008 | 978-0-7851-3428-2 | 1,735, ranked 66 in North America | T+ |