Scans_Daily

Another contrast between the two; no one could mistake Slime Killer for being cool, unlike Alan Moore's longstanding peeve about fan reaction to Rorschach and the whole history of the Punisher. The quiet way in which he's ultimately defeated, the fact that his scuffles with Black Lightning aren't exactly glamorous, even his dumb name, all scream that this dude isn't cool. Who knows whether that was deliberate or just the result of the formal constraints and the narrative style of the time, but the effect actually works quite well to make this story feel small and sad.

It's interesting that the contrast you point out, between completely given up and destructive rage, is the one we see here. Usually these kinds of plots (Daredevil vs Punisher, Batman vs Redhood, etc) contrast the hero with the unhinged villain and rarely get at anything deeper than "killing is bad". This story hints (thought it does only hint) at issues of familial trauma, marginalization, and hopelessness.

There's so much which could be unpacked here, but it just isn't. I mean, it's a 10-pager and who knows how much thought DeMatteis was putting into it, but there's so much more which could be done with this. For example the only white faces we see in the pages you posted are on the cops hauling Mr. Davis away, which feels rife with implication, but isn't exactly unpacked. I'm left genuinely fascinated by this comic, both half wanting to read a more thoughtful version of it and half wanting to see someone smarter than me dig into it critically, and I'm really glad you shared it.