Punisher Vol 7 60

Punisher (Vol. 7) #60
Previous Issue	Punisher (Vol. 7) #59
Next Issue	Punisher (Vol. 7) #61
Cover Date	October, 2008
Issue Details
Editor-in-Chief	Joe Quesada

1. "Valley Forge, Valley Forge: Conclusion"
Appearances · Synopsis
Writer(s)	Garth Ennis
Penciler(s)	Goran Parlov
Inker(s)	Goran Parlov
Letterer(s)	Cory Petit
Editor(s)	Axel Alonso

 I don't do redemption. 

—Punisher (Frank Castle)

Appearing in "Valley Forge, Valley Forge: Conclusion"

Featured Characters:

• Punisher (Frank Castle)

Supporting Characters:

• Delta Force
  • Col. George Howe
• Lieutenant Geller
• S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Col. Nick Fury

Antagonists:

• The Generals
  • Kurt Perino (Death)
  • Jake Farmington (Death)
  • Bobby van Abst (Death)
  • John Archer (Death)
  • Paul Vertraeus (Death)
  • Joe Vraciu (Death)
  • Bradley Landers (Death)
  • Don Kent (Death)

Other Characters:

• Delta Force Team
  • Lieutenant Wood
  • Lieutenant Stanaway
  • Sergeant Melinger
  • Sergeant Giroux
  • Sergeant Winburn
  • Sergeant McGee
  • Sergeant Rents
  • Corporal McDonough
• Jesus (Invoked)
• William Rawlins (Mentioned)

Valley Forge, Valley Forge Book Excerpts

• Michael Goodwin (Referenced)
• Stevie Goodwin (Referenced)
• People's Army of Vietnam (Referenced)
• United States Marine Corps (Referenced)
• John Chadwick (Referenced)
• Evelyn Morris (Referenced)
• Lyndon B. Johnson (Referenced)
• Robert McNamara (Referenced)
• John F. Kennedy (Referenced)
• Robert Hanyok (Referenced)
• Richard Nixon (Referenced)

Races and Species:

• Humans

Locations:

• Earth-200111
  • United States of America
    • New York
      • New York City
        • Brooklyn
  • Vietnam (Mentioned)
  • Laos (Mentioned)
  • Cambodia (Mentioned)

Items:

• Punisher's Suit
• Valley Forge, Valley Forge book

Synopsis for "Valley Forge, Valley Forge: Conclusion"

A stoic Colonel Howe converses with Frank Castle and learns from him that he intends to kill all eight of the generals for their insidious crimes. After hearing that Frank will never stop his vigilantism, Howe only replies "thank you."

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Geller re-read Frank's file and learns that "Marine Recon" is equivalent to Special Forces and appears distressed.

Back to Howe and Frank. Howe tells Castle that he would never opt to kill him, but treat him fairly as a criminal with due process. But ever since seeing the Rawlins Tape, he admits that Castle taught him everything about necessity before standing up and carries Frank's handgun.

Later, the generals had arrived at Howe's location and find the Colonel already leaving the building. Perino angrily demands Howe what he had done with Geller and about the tape. Howe answers that the tape is upstairs and that he is through with working for Perino and his cabal and promptly leaves.

On the plane, Geller privately tries to contact Perino on his cell phone but can only leave a message. Geller reveals that after checking on Castle's files, he suspects something bad for them about Howe: during Howe's imprisonment in Vietnam, the Special Forces group that rescued him was none other led by Frank Castle. This lead to a strong suspicion that Howe, who is in gratitude for Castle, intended to spare The Punisher way prior to Geller's meeting with Howe. Combine with watching the Rawlins Tape, Geller lamentably states that there's no telling what Howe will do.

Valley Forge, Valley Forge

Michael Goodwin tells the irony of what killed his brother: An N.V.A. bayonet driven through his body; something which Michael find it oddly merciful compared to the other kinds of deaths inflicted during the war. Though there were factors at Firebase Valley Forge that led to Stevie's demise which to led to some credence that Captain Frank Castle's aggressive approach actually provoked the Vietnamese assault. But, Michael tells that these were merely contributing factors that didn't place the soldiers at Valley Forge to their deaths. In which he raised as to why his brother and so many of his countrymen died in Vietnam - the real reason why Goodwin wrote the book.

Goodwin answer his question through the details of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident which led to America's closer involvement in the war, in turn for the public to later learn in the years that follow that there was never a Vietnamese attack on American battleships and that the war was not worth fighting for. Meaning that American soldiers, in Goodwin's words, had been "dying for a lie." Goodwin concludes his final thoughts of his brother that the war robbed him from his family and believed that the men who died in Vietnam "had taught us never to be fooled again in such a base and wretched manner." However, Goodwin admits that whenever he picks up a newspaper or turn on the T.V., it despairs him to see that "our fallen are to be robbed even of their legacy."

Epilogue

Nick Fury finishes reading Valley Forge, Valley Forge which ends with a poem as Fury watches the news focusing on the American war effort in the Middle East. After closing the book, Fury asks for another drink.

The issue ends with the dead and shocked face bodies of the generals killed by The Punisher (Howe penultimately decided to let Frank go) as the pages are juxtaposed by a short epilogue statement from Valley Forge, Valley Forge, and a picture of the author and his brother Steve as children.

Notes

• This story is reprinted in comics and books, see references for more info.

See Also

• 2 image(s) from Punisher Vol 7 60
• 1 reprint(s) of Punisher Vol 7 60