Friday, March 29, 2013


two pitches...

Acts of Vengeance is a crossover storyline that ran through several
titles published by Marvel Comics from December 1989 to February
1990. It was centered on the Avengers and Fantastic Four after
three consecutive fall crossovers were built around the X-Men and
related mutant teams. Promotional materials teased the idea of a
at least were villains that weren't part of the heroes' regular

The core titles include Avengers, Avengers Spotlight, Avengers West
an Avengers Annual.

Here’s the pitch...


Acts of Vengeance was the major comics crossover of 1989, involving
issues together.

BOOK ONE: The villains succeed in eliminating most of their targets
Washington D.C. to speak against the Super Powers Registration Act,
but remain in New York to coordinate the efforts of the surviving
heroes.  Damage and loss of life has been considerable.  Public
opinion is turning against the heroes.  The villains launch their

The heroes can hardly claim victory.  Public opinion has turned

initiated by the federal government itself, are illegal.  The Joint
Chiefs of Staff are creating their own version of the Avengers with
membership restricted to those super-powered individuals who are
American citizens, who have no criminal records and with identities
are not prepared for what happens next. 

Magneto reappears with a mutant army to establish a mutant homeland
on American soil.  The Kingpin seizes complete control of New York

their homeland in exchange for help against the Kingpin.  The tide

The United States and the world watch the new mutant homeland with
in guarded camps under government supervision.  They are prisoners
of the country they risked their lives to defend.



some Punisher story prior to 1990.


Our starting point is the first time the Punisher was arrested and
But never gets the opportunity.  A high-ranking federal official
offers the Punisher a pardon and support for his personal crusade.
The price? The Punisher must agree to undertake covert missions for
the government.  The deal is made.

eliminates several international criminals that couldn’t be reached
because they are friendly to our government’s interests.

When the Punisher refuses a mission, the official who recruited him
decides the Punisher must be terminated.  The Taskmaster, who has
studied the Punisher in action, is given the assignment. 

secrets of the nation must be protected.  The Taskmaster rephrases
the sentiment: what the public doesn’t know can’t hurt the people
in charge of these operations.

just received a very interesting manuscript. 

It’s titled The Punisher’s War Journal.


dates back to 1976.

© 2013 Tony Isabella


  1. Funny enough, 20 years later, your Punisher question was answered, as he is more or less working for the government in the not-very-good, very-red new Thunderbolts comic. Sadly, a great series written by Ed Brubaker was pushed out of the way to make it happen!

    I miss the days when What If would pose questions. No "What If... Secret Invasion," but full on titles like "What If The Champions Never Disbanded?" The new stuff has no real sense of wonder to it; just another Age of Apocalypse type alternate reality to see.

  2. I loved Acts of Vengeance and I loved What If...?, but I hated when they did multi-issue stories in What If...? Part of the fun of that series was getting it all in one dose. Of course, that often led to rushed storytelling--I have to recap a six issue storyline, explain a key turning point, involve all the original characters and find away to work in a few more, and kill everyone and destroy the universe in 22 pages?--but it also made for some crazy fun.

    I guess what I'm saying is I would have been very torn between my love of Acts of Vengeance and my frustration of having to get the story over four months.

    Your Punisher pitch sounds much better than the What if Punisher joined SHIELD? issue that came to mind when I read the title.

    Thanks for sharing these behind the scenes glimpses.

  3. I for one would have loved to have seen both stories!

    David Peattie

  4. I suspect that the problem Jake describes about fitting it into one issue is why the original What If series was published as double-size issues. When the book was revived as regular size issues, it suffered much more from those problems.

  5. Looking back it's surprising What If never did a proper Acts of Vengeance story, although there was #31 "What If Spider-Man had kept his cosmic powers?" but that wasn't focused on the core story. They did issues based on the Evolutionary War, Inferno, Atlantis Attacks, Infinity Gauntlet, Operation Galactic Storm, Age of Apocalypse, the Clone Saga and Secret Wars all ending differently so this gap stands out. It's nice to see this one wasn't forgotten at the time even if it never made it to an issue.