Punisher War Zone 16 NM Dan Abnett Andy Lanning DnA Microchip 1st print Mike McKone

Description

Punisher War Zone (1992) #16

Published Jun 1993 by Marvel.

Written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Art and cover by Mike McKone.

The Punisher gets captured by an organization that brainwashes criminals and then forces them to perform black ops missions, like assassinations. The group was actually targeting a criminal named Da Rosa, but the Punisher was chasing him and they both got caught. The group was once officially associated with the NSA and was called Project Artichoke. By the end of this story the implication is that they’re still unofficially associated with the government.

While the prisoners are getting conditioned and between jobs, they are put in a community where they live out a fake small town life.

Punisher’s wife and even the kids are all actually brainwashed criminals and psychopaths.

When the Punisher has been missing for long enough, Micro comes investigating, and he hacks into the tv network to show Punisher images of his family and of the Kingpin, which help him shake the conditioning that he was already resisting on his own. Micro then helps him escape, and the town is of course shot to pieces in the process.

Fun story in the style of something like The Prisoner, or Stepford Wives, or The Truman Show.

Near mint, 1st printing. Check description for more pictures.