'Punisher': Through the years

Breaking out

The Crime: More than a decade after his first appearance, the Punisher broke out of prison and into his own comics miniseries in 1986. Riding yet another wave of tough-guy heroes, including the films of Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger, this slick and tough story from writer Steven Grant and artist Mike Zeck was an immediate sensation and, to many, the character’s finest moment.

The Punishment: When the Punisher returned in his first regular comic book in 1987, he was saddled with a sidekick named Microchip who provided a high-tech arsenal in the manner of James Bond’s Q.