The character of ‘The Punisher’ first appeared in ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ number 129, published in February 1974.

Created and developed by Gerry Conway and John Romita, The Punisher set out to kill Spider-Man, acting on the mis-apprehension that Spidey was a criminal. The treacherous Jackal attempted to persuade The Punisher to kill Spider-Man, and The Punisher, believing the Jackal was a crimefighter like himself - and that Spidey was a villain - fought a fierce battle with Peter Parker’s alter-ego before being convinced of his innocence.

Gerry Conway said of The Punisher, “I wanted to make a dark, street tough opponent for Spider-Man” With his skull-covered black outfit designed by artist John Romita, The Punisher had made his debut...

The Punisher went on to make various guest appearances in a host of Marvel titles, including Daredevil and Captain America, but it wasn’t until 1986 that he was finally given his own comic book series.

Artist Mike Zeck and writer Steven Grant teamed up and pitched the idea of a Punisher comic book to Marvel, which initially wasn’t well received. Marvel relented however, and a 5 issue mini-series was created and sold like hot cakes.

The success of this mini-series prompted an ongoing comic book, simply entitled The Punisher, which was to be followed by The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher Armory, and The Punisher War Zone.

In 1989 a Punisher movie, starring Dolph Lundgren, was also made which is dealt with in another section of this website.