The Punisher

Each DVD at launch will include a 28 page mini-comic inside the amray case.

The comic is the first ever prequel comic to a movie. It is an alternate origin story to the Punisher and ends with the opening dock scene of the movie. It is written by Garth Ennis, premiere writer of Punisher comics, and the cover is illustrated by Tim Bradstreet. The comic is being written exclusively for this promotion, and will not be anywhere else in the marketplace for 6 months. The comic is full color and has a retail value of $2.25.

10,000 comics out of the total run will have a unique cover and be positioned as a limited edition. They will be randomly inserted into the DVDs and randomly distributed to retail.

The impressively muscular chest of Tom Jane is the focal point of The Punisher, a movie based on a Marvel Comics superhero. Frank Castle (Jane, Deep Blue Sea) retires from the FBI, which means--as any moviegoer expects--that his family is toast. Howard Saint (John Travolta, Face/Off), a shady Florida businessman whose son was killed in Castle's last mission, orders a hit not only on Castle's wife and child, but also on his parents and a whole bunch of aunts, uncles, cousins, and so forth. The killers shoot Castle himself in the chest, but he inexplicably survives and--as any moviegoer expects--sets out to even the score. Implausibly, given his sometimes curious and roundabout methods, he succeeds. Also featuring Will Patton (Armageddon) as an oily thug, Laura Harring (Mulholland Drive) as Saint's fleshpot wife, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos (X-Men) as a waitress with bad taste in men. --Bret Fetzer