*Vintage Magazine-Sized Comics: Introduced in Amazing Spider-Man #129, the Punisher – Marvel’s answer to the numerous gun-wielding cops & vigilantes who were the hot media genre in the early 70’s – seemed suited to Marvel’s black & white magazine line, in which he could cut a rather bloodier swath than the Comics Code Authority would permit. In the second issue of the try-out mag, Marvel Preview, behind a rather spiffy Gray Morrow cover, Frank Castle’s origin was revealed in detail for the first time in an extra-length adventure. This issue also features the debut of Howard Chaykin’s swashbuckling anti-hero, Dominic Fortune, and a feature on the Executioner – a paperback hero who was largely the ‘inspiration’ (ahem, ahem) for the Punisher. A superior FN/VF copy of a magazine that had no significant distribution in the UK, this key issue is on sale at £65.