'Punisher': Through the years

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The Crime: Few did more to make comics characters grim and gritty in the 1980s than Frank Miller, who laid the groundwork for the Punisher’s huge success in a compelling special issue of Spider-Man and then in a hugely popular showdown with Daredevil.

The Punishment: But the law finally caught up with the Punisher, who was reduced to tears in Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man #83 when he was declared mentally incapacitated and sentenced to a mental institution in a scene that would even embarrass the writers of “Boston Legal.”