Punisher #24

The conclusion to "Up is Down and Black is White" arrives in this 2005 Marvel MAX issue, with Tim Bradstreet's cover delivering a striking close-up of Frank Castle — face covered in wound-closure strips, eye aligned behind a rifle scope — radiating the kind of battered, cold-focused intensity that defines the character. Garth Ennis and Leandro Fernández bring the six-part arc home, and that cover image alone makes clear the Punisher has been through the wringer to get here. A fittingly grim send-off to one of the MAX run's early story arcs.