'Punisher': Through the years

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The Crime: When the comics business hit tough times in the mid-1990s, the Punisher was unable to fight off slumping sales and his regular series were all canceled by 1997. Two years later, the creators of the hit series Preacher, writer Garth Ennis and artist Steve Dillon, re-launched the character in a 12-issue series called “Welcome Back, Frank” that hit just the right mix of serious action tinged with giddy, often comic results.

The Punishment: Before Ennis and Dillon signed on, Marvel hit a dead end with a series that recast the Punisher as a pawn in an ages-old battle between demons and fallen angels. The supernatural take on the character flopped hard and remains one of fans’ least-favorite stories.