THE PUNISHER: War, Crime, and Collapse as Results of Capitalism

(Note: This episode was originally released under the old podcast title "This is the End: Pop Culture & Collapse." As of July 2025 the show is now titled, "Strange Days, Here We Come: Pop Culture, Dystopia & Collapse.")

 

This is a longer version of a talk I recently gave at San Diego Comic Con 2022 as part of a panel on Marvel's street-level characters (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, etc.) moderated by Dr. Scott Jordan as part of the Comics Arts Conference. Thank you to Dr. Jordan for inviting me onto the panel and to Dr. Shelly Clevenger, my guest from the last episode, who was the speaker originally slated to talk about the Punisher on the panel but was not able to attend. Also a warm thank you to Dr. Michael Kersulov whose encouraging words after the panel resulted in adapting my talk into a podcast episode.       NOTE: This episode contains quotations from fictional works that contain some NSFW language—specifically two instances of the F word. 

 Works discussed in this episode:

• Born #1-4 (2003) by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
• The Punisher MAX #1-60 (2004) by Garth Ennis and various artists
• The Punisher: The End #1 (2004) by Garth Ennis and Richard Corben  

All of the above works are available in these collected volumes:

• The Punisher Max: Complete Collection Vol. 1 https://amzn.to/3zgINsP
• The Punisher Max: Complete Collection Vol. 2 https://amzn.to/3ScJHz2
• The Punisher Max: Complete Collection Vol. 3 https://amzn.to/3OH2yiT
• The Punisher Max: Complete Collection Vol. 4 https://amzn.to/3vnIdbo