This month we get to the first of many comics from this period we’ll see with a 9/11 memorial box on the cover. For a company and really an industry almost exclusively based in New York, 9/11 hit comics very hard. But that’s a topic for another post roughly 2 blocks in the future. USM is now almost a year ahead of the mainline books here on the blog, so we’ll be rewinding back to the post-9/11 stuff there, too. For now, it’s the big finish for this Punisher/Daredevil story, now featuring Spider-Man. We rewind to the events of last issue’s final page, now with narration from DD about how he hates guns, how his dad was shot to death, how he’s always thought about what it must have been like for him.
Frank starts shooting and DD flips over the edge of the building, pointing out to us in his narration that he can’t dodge bullets, which means Frank was just trying to scare him off. Realizing Frank’s run for it and the cops are arriving, Matt can only hope to rush back to his office before they get there, and then hides under his desk to begin acting scared and confused when they rush in. Then Jillette, the main bad cop from last issue, rushes in, making a feeble excuse about being in the neighborhood, and wearing the fancy gun belt buckle from Frank’s flashback, just in case that was obvious enough. He’s pretty freaked out, and all the other cops know why, but no one says anything. Matt thinks this is perfect, because now he has Frank’s only remaining target right where he wants him.
Jillette continues being Parent of the Year until Frank shows up, saying this won’t happen in front of the kids, and talking Jillette up onto the roof.
DD starts trying to talk Frank down, tell him to let Jillette spend his life in prison… but we’re running out of comic book, so…
Spidey leaves Frank in a web bundle with a note saying to check the gun. Then we find Frank back in solitary, with his doctor checking in again. She tells him he’s inspired legislation about vigilantes, “The Frank Castle Bill,” and has become “a real cause du jour.” She says a certain lawyer really hammered them about Frank’s civil rights, and now he’s going back into gen pop. She pleads with him not to get into any more trouble.
And that’s that. Not the most substantial role for Spider-Man, but that’s that. I seem to recall people were unhappy with this story for its darkness and for the lack of Spider-Man, but I think it holds up pretty well. Spidey seems pretty superfluous, but I guess that was the game. Regular MTU paused to let other characters take center stage sometimes, coulda done so here, but I guess not. Well, as that teaser says, next issue, the Ultimate Universe’s Fantastic Four problem really cranks into high gear… though no one involved knows it yet.