A
graphic novel punlished by
Marvel in 1995 and reissued in 2000. It was written by
Garth Ennis and drawn by
Dougie Braithwaite. In it,
Frank Castle's family is killed in the crossfire of a battle between
superheroes and
supervillains. This, and a group of wealthy superhero victims who bail him out after he kills a few superheroes convince him to hunt down and kill every last hero. My favorite sequence is when he lures the
X-Men and the
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (God, I hoped I'd never have to type that name out) into a battle on the moon, and then launches a
nuclear missile at it.
It's significant in that it constitutes a viscious slap in the face to Marvel and yet was published by Marvel. And it was published only because Marvel was desparate to get Garth Ennis to do a Marvel book. It wasn't even Ennis' best writing. And yet they not only published it, they re-issued it to make more money off the fact that Ennis would be writing The Punisher regularly. It demonstrates conclusively that Marvel's commitment lies in self-serving marketing ploys and not in any way in the betterment of the comics industry.
Also, I was told that I should provide publication information. I already provided the publisher name, title, author, and year of publication, but apparently something more is required. Well, here's everything I could find:
Title: Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe
Writer: Garth Ennis
Artist: Dougie Braithwaite
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Publication Date: 4/95