The Punisher 2099
Encyclopedia
The Punisher 2099 is a comic book
series following the account of Jake Gallows (the Punisher
) in the year 2099 in an alternate Marvel Universe
. The majority of the issues were written by Pat Mills
and Tony Skinner
, with art by Tom Morgan
. The rest were written by Chuck Dixon
. The series ran from February 1993
through November 1995
with a total of 34 issues.
, lost his mother, brother, and sister-in-law (and was himself seriously injured) when they were slain on the orders of Kron Stone, psychotic son of powerful businessman Tyler Stone
. After recovering, Jake comes across the original Punisher's war journal, stolen from the archives of the Public Eye. The last page bore the challenge: "You who find this, I charge you to carry on my work." Soon after, he became the new Punisher. Jake would get revenge against Kron Stone, or so he believed. Kron, after threatening the lives of several children, confronts Jake with a device that stops all high-speed projectiles, such as bullets. Jake pulls a knife and slowly stabs Kron, who seemingly dies. Kron would later become Venom 2099 in the pages of Spider-Man 2099
.
Jake fought against the unique crimes of the dystopian 2099 future. He kills rogue organ-thieves, those who track down and steal organs from unwilling victims. He tries to protect those who cannot afford their police subscriptions and thus are ignored. Conversely, he also goes after those who use their money to get away with crimes. Jake also deals with a technologically minded partner named Matt Axel, and struggles with the uncaring attitudes of his bosses and colleagues towards the poor and the attentions of a police psychiatrist who believes Jake is up to something. Jake battled such foes as the Street Surgeons, Saucers (who he executed after the death of one of his victims), the Cyber-Nostra, and Multi-Fractor. Over the course of the series, he would deal with a recurring villain who causes grotesque physical transformations with his hand, named the Fearmaster
.
For a time, Jake establishes a prison underneath his house (regular prisons have been abolished) and instead years are subtracted from people's lives by injection. Occasionally, he would sentence one to death in a molecular destabilizer if he felt their crimes truly horrific. Jake himself ponders the merits of such a facility. After a carefully planned breakout, most of the prisoners died. The prison was rarely seen again.
Along with other current era heroes, such as Bloodhawk
, Spider-Man
, and Ravage
, the new Punisher would help to bring down the false Norse Gods
. He struck the final blows against Thor, his patron deity.
Jake encounters several "versions" of classic heroes where he arrives to protect a poor neighborhood from a Cyber Nostra land grab. The people, celebrating the old heroes by dressing up like them, reject Jake's violent ways, even when the Nostra kill the "Barrio Man", their leader. When all the Nostra are dead, the new Barrio Man, who seems to be someone else with an identical costume, approaches Jake. He expresses gratitude for Jake's help, but asks that he leave.
Unlike his predecessor, Jake is completely unwilling to kill corrupt police officers, no matter how heinous their crimes. In one instance, he refuses after several officers try and kill him with a cyborg gladiator. After Jake manages to kill the gladiator, the officers attempt to kill Jake themselves. He hides, refusing to fire, but his suit is over-ridden by his partner Matt, who kills the cops (ironically, Matt himself is a policeman, and, as a more sensible, charitable man, usually acts as Jake's conscience). Matt would be involved with several more incidents with the Punisher, sometimes teaming up with others to help him.
Jake later confronts illegal hoverboard racers. These races would result in many deaths, as the riders were not averse to tricking each other into fatal obstacles. Oddly, racers would willingly catch any opponents who fell off their board.
. He creates a new police force with wide-ranging powers. Curfews are enforced. The age of legal responsibility is lowered to seven. Matt Axel joins up with the Punisher again, working out of his mobile base. He literally quits on the spot after believing Jake has gone too far in employing thought-crime devices. In detecting homicidal tendencies in one man, the devices scan the neighbors next door who are simply enjoying spousal activities. It is not confirmed what the activities are, but the Punisher clearly indicates he disapproves of them, that they are not illegal... yet. The homicidal man is confronted and subdued after attacking a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer. The Punisher forces one of his officers to kill the man.
During this time, he confronts an alternate reality version of himself that is much more brutal. Jake Gallows is killed by the Wave Spiders of Herod, after Herod gives an order to kill superheroes as part of his overthrowing of Doom's presidency.
The Punisher also wears a cybernetic suit of body armor of unknown materials with a "heat sink" capability, equipped with multiple technological devices, such as "face-scrambler" circuitry to avoid detection by the many security cameras on the city streets, and turbo kickboots. The armor covers his exo-muscular undersuit, which is equipped with microwave sensors, a computer trajectory mapping system, and bio-synergetic capacity for programming with various martial arts techniques and fighting styles for hand-to-hand combat.
The Punisher also uses a super-sonic motorcycle
for transportation, the H.D. Stealth Stinger. This is a unique police motorcycle capable of 800 mi/h speeds, equipped with an air screen, computer probability mapping system, city traffic system override capability, sound bafflers, inertia brakes, various weaponry, a projection holo-beam, and wrap-around projection holo-image system enabling functional invisibility. He has also used the Black Ambulance, which is equipped with security support systems to prevent prisoner escape.
Jake keeps a secret base in the basement of his home. The base contains a complex prison, which he uses to temporarily detain prisoners. The Punisher interrogates
prisoners and when finished he executes them via an electric chair
-like molecular disintegrator.
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series following the account of Jake Gallows (the Punisher
Punisher
The Punisher is a fictional character, an anti-hero appearing in comic books based in the . Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr., and Ross Andru, the character made its first appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 .The Punisher is a vigilante who employs murder,...
) in the year 2099 in an alternate Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe
The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...
. The majority of the issues were written by Pat Mills
Pat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....
and Tony Skinner
Tony Skinner
Tony Skinner is a British comic book writer who collaborated with comics legend Pat Mills in the 1990s. Together they worked on scripts for ABC Warriors, Finn and Flesh for 2000AD and Sex Warrior, The Fear Teachers, Psycho Killer and Accident Man for Toxic!.-Bibliography:*Accident Man :** "Accident...
, with art by Tom Morgan
Tom Morgan (comics)
Tom Morgan is an American comic book artist known primarily for his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America, The Punisher 2099, Excalibur and Iron Man.-Biography:...
. The rest were written by Chuck Dixon
Chuck Dixon
Charles "Chuck" Dixon is an American comic book writer, best known for long runs on Batman titles in the 1990s.-Biography:Dixon grew up in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, area, reading comics of all genres...
. The series ran from February 1993
1993 in comics
-January:* Doom Patrol #63: " The Empire of Chairs," Grant Morrison's final issue as Doom Patrol writer.-February:* Action Comics, with issue #686, suspends publication following "The Death of Superman."...
through November 1995
1995 in comics
-January:*After Xavier: The Age of Apocalypse is launched. All X-titles change to different names for the next four months.* Thor marks his 400th appearance in Marvel Comics with issue #482....
with a total of 34 issues.
Fictional character biography
Jake Gallows, a member of the Public Eye Police Force (a private police protection service charging money to citizens) and Church of ThorThor (Marvel Comics)
Thor is a fictional superhero who appears in publications published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #83 and was created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby....
, lost his mother, brother, and sister-in-law (and was himself seriously injured) when they were slain on the orders of Kron Stone, psychotic son of powerful businessman Tyler Stone
Tyler Stone (comics)
Tyler Stone is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics universe.-Fictional character biography:Tyler runs the Alchemax Corporation, one of the largest corporate powers in the dystopian 2099 future of Earth...
. After recovering, Jake comes across the original Punisher's war journal, stolen from the archives of the Public Eye. The last page bore the challenge: "You who find this, I charge you to carry on my work." Soon after, he became the new Punisher. Jake would get revenge against Kron Stone, or so he believed. Kron, after threatening the lives of several children, confronts Jake with a device that stops all high-speed projectiles, such as bullets. Jake pulls a knife and slowly stabs Kron, who seemingly dies. Kron would later become Venom 2099 in the pages of Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Man 2099 is a fictional comic book superhero, created by Peter David and Rick Leonardi in 1992 for Marvel Comics' Marvel 2099 line. His secret alter ego is Miguel O'Hara, a brilliant geneticist living in New York in the year 2099 A.D...
.
Jake fought against the unique crimes of the dystopian 2099 future. He kills rogue organ-thieves, those who track down and steal organs from unwilling victims. He tries to protect those who cannot afford their police subscriptions and thus are ignored. Conversely, he also goes after those who use their money to get away with crimes. Jake also deals with a technologically minded partner named Matt Axel, and struggles with the uncaring attitudes of his bosses and colleagues towards the poor and the attentions of a police psychiatrist who believes Jake is up to something. Jake battled such foes as the Street Surgeons, Saucers (who he executed after the death of one of his victims), the Cyber-Nostra, and Multi-Fractor. Over the course of the series, he would deal with a recurring villain who causes grotesque physical transformations with his hand, named the Fearmaster
Fearmaster
Fearmaster is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe.-Fictional character biography:Fearmaster is a high-ranking officer in the Alchemax Corporation in the year 2099. He is also the head of the Cyber-Nostra. He was first seen issuing orders to Benneli and the Multi-Fractor. He next changed...
.
For a time, Jake establishes a prison underneath his house (regular prisons have been abolished) and instead years are subtracted from people's lives by injection. Occasionally, he would sentence one to death in a molecular destabilizer if he felt their crimes truly horrific. Jake himself ponders the merits of such a facility. After a carefully planned breakout, most of the prisoners died. The prison was rarely seen again.
Along with other current era heroes, such as Bloodhawk
Bloodhawk
Bloodhawk is a fictional character owned by Marvel Comics, who was featured in X-Men 2099, one of the tites of Marvel's Marvel 2099 imprint. He sees himself as the lone protector of the desert he resides in, attacking all those he perceives as threats.-Fictional character biography:Lemuel had been...
, Spider-Man
Spider-Man 2099
Spider-Man 2099 is a fictional comic book superhero, created by Peter David and Rick Leonardi in 1992 for Marvel Comics' Marvel 2099 line. His secret alter ego is Miguel O'Hara, a brilliant geneticist living in New York in the year 2099 A.D...
, and Ravage
Ravage 2099
Ravage 2099 is a Marvel Comics superhero, a fictional character created by Stan Lee in 1992 for Marvel's Marvel 2099 imprint...
, the new Punisher would help to bring down the false Norse Gods
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
. He struck the final blows against Thor, his patron deity.
Jake encounters several "versions" of classic heroes where he arrives to protect a poor neighborhood from a Cyber Nostra land grab. The people, celebrating the old heroes by dressing up like them, reject Jake's violent ways, even when the Nostra kill the "Barrio Man", their leader. When all the Nostra are dead, the new Barrio Man, who seems to be someone else with an identical costume, approaches Jake. He expresses gratitude for Jake's help, but asks that he leave.
Unlike his predecessor, Jake is completely unwilling to kill corrupt police officers, no matter how heinous their crimes. In one instance, he refuses after several officers try and kill him with a cyborg gladiator. After Jake manages to kill the gladiator, the officers attempt to kill Jake themselves. He hides, refusing to fire, but his suit is over-ridden by his partner Matt, who kills the cops (ironically, Matt himself is a policeman, and, as a more sensible, charitable man, usually acts as Jake's conscience). Matt would be involved with several more incidents with the Punisher, sometimes teaming up with others to help him.
Jake later confronts illegal hoverboard racers. These races would result in many deaths, as the riders were not averse to tricking each other into fatal obstacles. Oddly, racers would willingly catch any opponents who fell off their board.
Corruption
Ultimately, Jake would become the premiere law enforcer under the Doom administration, as the Minister of Punishment, head of the Ministry of Punishment, Federal Law Enforcement for the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He creates a new police force with wide-ranging powers. Curfews are enforced. The age of legal responsibility is lowered to seven. Matt Axel joins up with the Punisher again, working out of his mobile base. He literally quits on the spot after believing Jake has gone too far in employing thought-crime devices. In detecting homicidal tendencies in one man, the devices scan the neighbors next door who are simply enjoying spousal activities. It is not confirmed what the activities are, but the Punisher clearly indicates he disapproves of them, that they are not illegal... yet. The homicidal man is confronted and subdued after attacking a S.H.I.E.L.D. officer. The Punisher forces one of his officers to kill the man.
During this time, he confronts an alternate reality version of himself that is much more brutal. Jake Gallows is killed by the Wave Spiders of Herod, after Herod gives an order to kill superheroes as part of his overthrowing of Doom's presidency.
Abilities, equipment, and base of operations
Jake Gallows is an athletic man with no superhuman powers. As a Public Eye Officer, Gallows has received police training in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts and is an expert marksman and motorcyclist. He is also a weapons expert, collecting some of the best weaponry of his time, including smart-targeting grenazers, a plasma gas cannon, and flame sticks; additionally he carries some notable firearms from the past, including a Smith & Wesson .54-caliber Magnum handgun (2015 vintage) and a Stark-Fujikawa .48-caliber Street Pacifier. One of his key weapons is the "power bat" which can vary in density settings from hard rubber to titanium, to either injure or kill an opponent. Jake keeps this set at "soft rubber" as default, a precaution which saves his life on at least one point.The Punisher also wears a cybernetic suit of body armor of unknown materials with a "heat sink" capability, equipped with multiple technological devices, such as "face-scrambler" circuitry to avoid detection by the many security cameras on the city streets, and turbo kickboots. The armor covers his exo-muscular undersuit, which is equipped with microwave sensors, a computer trajectory mapping system, and bio-synergetic capacity for programming with various martial arts techniques and fighting styles for hand-to-hand combat.
The Punisher also uses a super-sonic motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...
for transportation, the H.D. Stealth Stinger. This is a unique police motorcycle capable of 800 mi/h speeds, equipped with an air screen, computer probability mapping system, city traffic system override capability, sound bafflers, inertia brakes, various weaponry, a projection holo-beam, and wrap-around projection holo-image system enabling functional invisibility. He has also used the Black Ambulance, which is equipped with security support systems to prevent prisoner escape.
Jake keeps a secret base in the basement of his home. The base contains a complex prison, which he uses to temporarily detain prisoners. The Punisher interrogates
Interrogation
Interrogation is interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the police, military, and Intelligence agencies with the goal of extracting a confession or obtaining information. Subjects of interrogation are often the suspects, victims, or witnesses of a crime...
prisoners and when finished he executes them via an electric chair
Electric chair
Execution by electrocution, usually performed using an electric chair, is an execution method originating in the United States in which the condemned person is strapped to a specially built wooden chair and electrocuted through electrodes placed on the body...
-like molecular disintegrator.
External links
- Punisher 2099 (Jake Gallows) at Marvel.com
- Punisher 2099 sales figures for 1993 and 1994 at the Comics Chronicles