This summer, Tom Holland and Jon Bernthal will reunite in both The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. In the latter, they'll give us the first big-screen meeting between Peter Parker and The Punisher, a dream come true for many comic book fans.
Marvel Comics plans to capitalise on that by taking a walk down memory "pain" with Spidey and Frank Castle in the pages of Punisher vs. Spider-Man, an all-new five-issue limited series detailing some of the duo's earliest encounters in the Marvel Universe.
Taking place shortly after Punisher's debut dust-up with Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #129, writer Dan Abnett (Imperial Guardians) and artist Matteo Della Fonte (Nova: Centurian) force Peter and Frank to set aside their differences for the greater good...until they inevitably turn on one another once again.
Here's the official description for Punisher vs. Spider-Man #1:
THE PUNISHER AND SPIDER-MAN, two of the most notorious names in New York City with very different approaches to making the Big Apple safer (or not, depending on who you ask!). Brought together by happenstance and forced to stay that way by an ally from Frank Castle’s past in need, will the web-slinger and the gunslinger be able to begrudgingly set aside their differences before they find themselves at one another’s throats?!
"I'm very happy to be writing these two characters in a head-to-head together, and to be revisiting the Punisher, a character I haven’t written since Year One in the nineties," Abnett said today. "The series is a whole lot of fun and full of big action, and some genuine surprises as they learn stuff about each other for the first time."
"That’s the real joy of going back to this pivotal early point in continuity: there’s a freshness in their encounters and interactions that I think readers are really going to get a kick out of," the writer added.
It's also been revealed that for more Spider-Man vs. Punisher action, fans should keep an eye out for the Amazing Spider-Man #129 Facsimile Edition, which arrives in comic book stores in July.
Back to Punisher vs. Spider-Man #1, and below, you can check out the main cover by Jonas Scharf and a variant by Netho Diaz, plus interior pages by Matteo Della Fonte.
PUNISHER VS. SPIDER-MAN #1 (OF 5)
Written by DAN ABNETT
Art by MATTEO DELLA FONTE
Cover by JONAS SCHARF
Variant Cover by NETHO DIAZ
On Sale 7/15