#barton lash

[jhsharman]

The Punisher Meets Archie

Lightly contradictory backstory on the history of the development of The Punisher Meets Archie, which is to be expected from multiple sources with their own narratives. I am amused by the "try to break into the Direct market" angle. Archie never quite squared this circle.

Despite being in range within a period Archie (and everyone else) was tossing out "social relevance" stories, Charles Manson made no appearance in the comics. And then the meeting of artistic and commerce needs for Lash, and the somewhat comical idea of cross-promotion on Marvel and Archie's end:

Possible some will be more interested to know this is the comic book where Millie the Model meets Katy Keene.

[jhsharman]

Punisher Meets Archie

Was this a different day where they replaced a blue head or was there a slow bluing effect at this weird promotional event? Pity the guy tasked with playing Archie, sweating under that head.

I am sure if you look through The Punisher covers you can find the image they slapped next to the Archie cover image dumped in for this dummy cover. The proposed covers for the Marvel Comics version for the comic book are more interesting (though Barton Lash couldn't help himself on the anachronistic Archie outfit) than the final product -- a hole in the cardboard cover that upped the price of the comic book by a buck.