The Punisher

In June 2016, Rodrigo Duterte won the Philippine presidential election by a landslide. Infamous for his bombastic temper and un-PC wisecracks, he is waging a brutal drug war that has killed more than 12,000 people so far. Over the last nine years, British writer Tom Sykes has travelled extensively in the Philippines in order to understand the Duterte phenomenon, interviewing friends and enemies of 'The Punisher' - as he is known - in politics, the media, the arts and civil society. Sykes witnesses anti-government demonstrations in the capital Manila and visits the provincial city of Davao, where Duterte began his crusade against crime using police and vigilante death squads. By delving into Duterte's troubled childhood of violent rebellion, Sykes discovers what motivates the man today in his pursuit of a merciless 'war on the poor' - as Amnesty has described it - that has no end in sight. The Realm of the Punisher also examines oppressed and marginalized groups in the modern Philippines through encounters with a transgender rights campaigner, an 86-year-old former sex slave to the Japanese in the Second World War, a public artist who must work while under attack from Maoist rebels, and slum-dwellers resisting violent eviction by a real estate company. The past is never far away from these present-day problems and Sykes' travels to festivals, cemeteries, war memorials and a tomb housing an embalmed corpse reveal the ways in which key figures in Philippine history - from José Rizal to Ferdinand Marcos - have influenced current affairs. Funny, tragic, enlightening and uncompromising - and infused with the author's strong sense of social justice - The Realm of the Punisher is the first major travel book by a Westerner to explore Duterte's Philippines.

MAKE THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE CRIME. FBI agent Frank Castle’s final case ends with a literal bang, when a wannabe weapons smuggler is gunned down during a sting operation. But the dead man isn’t just any punk. He’s the son of Howard Saint, the powerful Florida tycoon whose hot-spot nightclub has made him famous, and whose multimillion-dollar money-laundering business has made him as rich—and as ruthless—as any of his gangster clients. Saint wants payback—with interest—for his boy’s death. And he gets it, by orchestrating a massacre that claims the lives of Frank Castle’s beloved wife and son—and almost kills Castle. But almost doesn’t count. Now Frank Castle—ex–FBI agent, ex–Special Forces commando, ex-husband and father—is canceling his retirement and starting a new career. One that begins with teaching Howard Saint the ultimate lesson: No evil deed goes unpunished. The novelization of the major motion picture.

Nick Fury has a dangerous mission for the Punisher: break into a Siberian nuclear missile silo and steal a lethal retrovirus. But Castle's mission soon sets off a chain reaction that will bring him into conflict with a ruthless Russian General - and take the world to the brink of war. Then, mobster Nicky Cavella returns to plague the Punisher, but when his scheme unleashes a wave of violence that rocks New York to its core, other predators start to emerge from the darkness. COLLECTING: PUNISHER (2004) #13-30.

Using evidence and arguments from neuroscience and evolutionary psychology, Morris B. Hoffman describes how the judge and jury system evolved.

The Punisher (2014) 7-8, Black Widow (2014) 9, The Punisher 9-12

Punisher War Journal (1988) #6-7, Wolverine/Punisher: Damaging Evidence #1-3, Punisher War Zone (1992) 19, Wolverine/Punisher: Revelation 1-4, Punisher (2001) 16-17, Wolverine (1988) 186, Wolverine/Punisher (2004) #1-5, Astonishing Tales: Wolverine/Punisher #1-6

Collects The Punisher #1-6.