Licht & Schatten #12
Licht & Schatten #12 holds the distinction of being the final issue of Bastei Verlag's twelve-volume licensed Marvel reprint series, closing out one of the more ambitious oversize-album experiments in the West German comics market of the late 1980s and early '90s. By packaging the Punisher's Acts of Vengeance crossover material — in which Kingpin enlists Doctor Doom to eliminate Frank Castle, a premise that collided street-level crime fiction with high-Marvel superpowered spectacle — into a German-language album, Bastei brought one of the most tonally peculiar match-ups of Mike Baron's celebrated Punisher run to an audience that would otherwise have had no licensed access to it. The issue thus serves as both a capstone to the Bastei series and as a document of how Marvel's late-1980s crossover era reached European readers through regional licensing deals rather than direct distribution.
In "O kleines Städtchen Bethlehem," Cloak and Dagger follow a trail of drugs tied to a weapons trade that leads them to the quiet town of Bethlehem. As Bill Clayton’s hidden role unravels, his desperate attempt to make amends ends in tragedy when he takes a bullet meant for Dagger. Written by Bill Mantlo and illustrated by June Brigman, with inks by Terry Austin and colors by Glynis Oliver, this 1991 issue delivers a poignant, character-driven moment in the duo’s journey, with a cover by June Brigman and Terry Austin.
Find on ebay
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
Bastei Verlag, based in Bergisch Gladbach, produced Licht & Schatten as a licensed German-language Marvel reprint series from 1989 to 1991, publishing exactly twelve oversize softcover albums (approximately 29×22 cm, roughly 50 full-color pages each) under the Marvel licensor credit. The series took its name from the German translation of the Cloak and Dagger characters — 'Licht' (Light/Dagger) and 'Schatten' (Shadow/Cloak) — and began by reprinting Bill Mantlo's Cloak & Dagger material before expanding its content scope. By the time the series reached its twelfth and final volume, it was drawing on 1989 Punisher material tied to the line-wide Acts of Vengeance crossover event, suggesting Bastei was tracking Marvel's then-current publishing output rather than exclusively reprinting older back-catalog stories.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Licht & Schatten was a licensed Marvel reprint series published by Bastei Verlag (Bergisch Gladbach, Germany), running from 1989 to 1991 for exactly 12 issues.
- Issue #12 is the final issue of the series, making it the concluding volume of Bastei's run.
- Albums were published in an oversize softcover format (approximately 29×22 cm) with approximately 50 full-color pages.
- The indexed characters — Punisher (Frank Castle), Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), and Doctor Doom (Victor von Doom) — match the cast of The Punisher Vol. 2 #28 ('Acts of Vengeance: Change Partners and Dance,' December 1989) and/or #29 ('Acts of Vengeance: Too Many Doom,' January 1990), the US issues most consistent with this character combination.
- The underlying US source material was written by Mike Baron, penciled by Bill Reinhold, and inked by Mark Farmer, under editor Carl Potts and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
- The Acts of Vengeance storyline reprinted here was part of a Marvel-wide 1989–90 crossover event coordinated by Loki, in which villains were shuffled to fight unfamiliar heroes; the Punisher/Dr. Doom pairing was among the event's most tonally unexpected match-ups.
- In the source story, Kingpin — long the primary antagonist of Baron's Punisher run — enlists Doctor Doom after failing to eliminate Frank Castle himself, resulting in the Punisher taking the conflict all the way to Latveria.
- No English-language key-issue database entry (Key Collector, GoCollect) has been found specifically for this German reprint issue; its significance is primarily that of a regional publishing landmark rather than a US-market key.
Cast · 6 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Die Spur der Drogen für den Waffenhandel führt Cloak and Dagger nach Bethlehem, wo Bill Claytons Rolle aufgedeckt wird. Clayton, der es schließlich bereut, das Duo benutzt zu haben, um Geld zu verdienen, wird getötet, als er eine Kugel für Dagger nimmt.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.