The Punisher #2 for Sale - First Appearance of Martin Soap - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: The Punisher (Marvel, 2000 series)
Issue: #2
Publication date: May 2000
Key date: 2000-05-00
On-sale date: 2000-03-15
Indicia publisher: Marvel Comics
Price: $2.99; 4.50 CAD
Pages: 36
Barcode: 75960604828100211

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of Martin Soap - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Ma Gnucci - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of The Holy - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	-	cover	1	pencils: Tim Bradstreet; inks: Tim Bradstreet	Frank Castle, Punisher
1	Badaboom, Badabing	comic story	22	script: Garth Ennis; pencils: Steve Dillon; inks: Jimmy Palmiotti; colors: Chris Sotomayor; letters: Richard Starkings, Comicraft's Wes Abbott	Mr. Bumpo, Frank Castle, Ma Gnucci First, The Holy First, Joan the Mouse, Punisher, Martin Soap First, Spacker Dave
2	Fast Lane, Part 4 of 4: Back on Target	comic story	8	script: Glenn Herdling; pencils: Gregg Schigiel; inks: Richard Case; colors: Paul Mounts; letters: Chris Dickey; editing: Mike Stewart, Steve Behling	Captain America, Ben Grimm, Human Torch, Invisible Woman, Iron Man, Logan, Mister Fantastic, Ororo Munroe, Mysterio, Thor Odinson, May Parker, Peter Parker, Reed Richards, Steve Rogers
3	-	in-house column	0.8	script: Stan Lee
4	Bullpen Bits #44	comic story	0.2	script: Chris Giarrusso; pencils: Chris Giarrusso; inks: Chris Giarrusso; letters: Chris Giarrusso	Logan, Wolverine
5	-	letters page	1	script: ? (letter responses); letters: typeset

Printings and variants

Edition	How to tell
Cover B - Steve Dillon	barcode 75960604828100221

Where to read it

Collection	Year
Welcome Back Frank ISBN 0-7851-0783-5	2001	On eBay ›
Punisher by Garth Ennis Omnibus #[nn] ISBN 978-0-7851-3383-4	2008	On eBay ›
Marvel Knights Punisher by Garth Ennis: The Complete Collection #1 ISBN 978-1-302-91408-0	2018	On eBay ›
Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank #[nn] ISBN 978-1-302-92857-5	2021	On eBay ›
Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank #[nn] ISBN 978-0-7851-5716-8	2011	On eBay ›
Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank [Marvel Premier Collection] #[nn] ISBN 978-1-302-96932-5	2025	On eBay ›

Reading the story costs a fraction of owning the issue. Both routes are on every file.

Before you buy

Confirm which printing is being sold; later printings usually carry changed cover marks or indicia lines.
For variant covers, match the listing photo against the variant list on this page before paying a ratio-variant price.
Pressable defects (spine stress, corner blunting) matter to graders; ask for photos at an angle.

Series context

‹ #12 of 12#3 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com