RETRO REVIEW: Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights

Marvel Comics; $4.95

Back in those halcyon days when Marvel and DC would do crossovers with their most popular characters and frequently put A-list creators on the projects, you could end up getting some truly fun reads. There was always a question about whether or not the stories would stand the test of time. Superman vs. The Amazing Spider-Man, the first of the crossovers, is an example of the ones that is definitely still worth a read.

And for Batman and Punisher fans, so is this one.

Writer Chuck Dixon immediately set the right tone for this crossover, casting Batman and The Punisher as two sides of the same coin.

Both were spawned by the deaths of their families, and of course both used that as their impetus to fight crime. But where the Punisher decided to mete out deadly retribution, Batman went to the extreme the other direction, regularly sparing even criminals like the Joker (one of the two main villains in this story).

The art by John Romita, Jr. and Klaus Janson is every bit as good as one would expect from the pairing of those two, though it’s definitely steeped in the ‘90s style that periodically required turning the comic sideways to continue reading. In that regard, this issue is a nice time capsule, and in any regard it’s a fun read.

– J.C. Vaughn