The Punisher and The Phoenix #2

The cover of the second issue of ‘The Punisher and The Phoenix,’ showing Frank Castle, the Punisher (“played” here by an action figure of Jon Bernthal) and Rachel Summers, the Phoenix, running from a burning city while pursued by a gigantic mutant-hunting Sentinel. The text, “A toy comic by Phil Wrede,” is visible in the bottom-left corner of the image.

A page recapping the events of the previous issue. The text reads: “Previously, in the Phil Wrede Marvel Action Figure Comic Universe… Sentinels stomp through New York City! Crossbones and the officers of Mutant Citizenship Enforcement occupy NYC. Any mutant they see, they can arrest and detain, with the mayor’s consent. They sought to capture Rachel Summers, the future Phoenix. They didn’t count on either the Punisher… or Colossus! A collar suppresses Rachel’s powers. None of them know how to remove it.”

On the debris-laden street, before a fallen Sentinel, the Punisher, Rachel, and Colossus discuss their next steps. In the previous issue, they had talked about getting her to the X-Force compound in New Mexico, so Hank McCoy, the Beast, could use his scientific knowledge to disassemble the mutant control collar. Rachel hears the noise of a siren approaching, and…

…we see police cars rushing down the street. Colossus offers to distract them, until they’re approached by a senior citizen (“played” here by an action figure of legendary comics creator Jack Kirby, based on his appearances in the TMNT comics). He offers to lead our heroes to a hiding place.

Inside a nearby building, Rachel and Colossus discuss how he knows Rachel’s mother, Jean Grey.

A flashback sequence to the disappearance of the Baxter Building, the headquarters of the Fantastic Four, shows Jean being angrily confronted by the Mayor of New York City (“played” by an action figure of Peter Capaldi from Doctor Who). His rage so concerns Jean that she contacts Colossus, asking him to help Rachel escape NYC.

Back in the present, Rachel asks the Punisher why he’s helping her and Colossus. “I hate #&%/ing Sentinels,” is his reply.

As Colossus thanks the senior citizen who helped them escape, their conversation is interrupted as a Sentinel rips the building apart before them!

Colossus battles the giant robot single-handedly, imploring the Punisher and Rachel to run!

Frank and Rachel don’t need to be told twice, and they bolt off into the darkness. Colossus furiously stares up at the Sentinel, preparing himself for more battle.

As they run through alleyways, and arrive at the fire escapes lining the side of one particular building, Frank explains to Rachel that he stashed one of the Avengers’ skycycles on its roof, and that he plans for them to use it to escape.

While they climb, Frank asks Rachel if she’s really from the future. She explains that she thinks it’s about thirty years from this present moment, but she’s not exactly sure.

Frank ask her what her dystopian future is like, and Rachel sadly admits that Frank’s present is well on its way to becoming her Apocalypse-dominated future.

Frank doesn’t like Rachel’s answer to his question, but their discussion is interrupted as they reach the roof, and they see two MCE officers milling around their skycycle.

The Punisher retrieves a shotgun he’d hidden in the shadows, and hands it to Rachel. The MCE officers spot them, and rush forward as Rachel and Frank level their weapons.

Both Frank and Rachel’s shots miss their targets, and as the MCE officers close on them, they engage in hand-to-hand combat.

Frank shoots his pistol near the ear of his attacker, temporarily deafening the MCE agent. Rachel’s opponent yanks the shotgun out of her hands, and as he wraps his hand around the grip, he calls to Frank, and orders both heroes to freeze.

Frank slowly moves his hand around to his back, and he and the armed MCE officer talk.

The Punisher pulls a knife from a sheath on his back, and throws it right into the neck of the armed MCE officer. As the man falls back, the shotgun flies from his grip. Frank catches it, and shoots the other officer in the chest.

As Frank handcuffs the living MCE officer, Rachel gives him grief for not acting much like the Punisher she’s heard about. Frank takes out his cell phone, and calls Captain America (“played” here by an action figure of Chris Evans from Avengers: Infinity War), sharing the location of the captive on the roof.

Frank and Rachel climb onto the skycycle.

As they race into the night sky, Frank wonders how Colossus is doing with the Sentinel. Rachel says she isn’t worried, that she bets Colossus is having the time of his life, and on the last panel of this issue, we see the steel-skinned Russian mutant hurl his robot oppressor into the street, knocking up a huge cloud of debris and sparks.

The credits for the comic, citing the Unsplash users whose photographs were the background art, the use of fonts by Blambot, acknowledging the human creators of the characters of Marvel Comics, the ownership of Marvel by Disney, the use of stock visual effects by Action VFX, and that the figure (and certain background) photography/script/lettering were by me, Phil Wrede.

Welcome back to the Phil Wrede Marvel Action Figure Comic Universe (PWMAFCU) again (following a much shorter break than last time)! After my rather exhaustive detailing of my relationship with the Punisher in the post for the first issue of The Punisher and The Phoenix, I figured Rachel Summers deserved the same thoughtful treatment. So… away we go!

Rachel Summers is another character that I’ve always been aware of, I think. I have a vague memory of checking out a collection of X-Men comics from the public library one summer, that had the Days of Future Past issues wrapped up in it. Like many people who read that story at a formative time, I also became obsessed with it (and still am).

I have a subsequent, yet-more-vague memory of seeing the cover of Excalibur #1 and being absolutely fascinated by the mysterious burning woman in red at the center. There was a little cards and comics shop near my parents’ house for a few years, when I was growing up; I’m pretty sure I saw it there, because the guys who worked there were generally pretty nice, and would’ve taken the time to explain to me that the Rachel Summers in Excalibur was supposed to be the same Rachel from Days of Future Past. Learning that blew my mind in the same way that Jonathan Frakes’ guest appearance on that episode of Wings did. What do you mean, actors can be on more than one thing, and that characters can change over time (AND that we can see them at different points in time, across the past, present, and future)?

Hey, as long as I’m on the subject of Star Trek: The Next Generation, it was pretty great to see Rachel show up in the second season of X-Men ’97 (okay, the end of the first season, too), and having her voiced by Gates McFadden made her appearance even better!

Rachel Summers hasn’t been all over media in the same way the Punisher has, so I haven’t had the opportunity to develop as many… specific opinions about varying takes on her, unfortunately. Maybe the MCU will eventually embrace the beautiful, messy X-Men continuity, and Rachel’ll get the live-action adventure she deserves!

So, anyway, about this second issue of The Punisher and The Phoenix.

I’ve had a little Days of Future Past-y story knocking around in my head since I started making comics in the PWMAFCU, and I’ve clearly never found a natural way to tell it. Maybe Rachel’s the magic ingredient I needed to finally make it happen! At least, I finally got to use the Apocalypse figure I bought years ago…

I was glad to get to give young Ben Reiley’s grandfather another appearance this month. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out just the right “civilian” to come along and sneak our heroes off the street, and I think I made the right call!

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading this month’s comic. Next month, we’re back to Stargate: Insurrection again (and I hope you come back to read it, too)!

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