Archie Meets the Punisher or The Punisher Meets Archie is a one-shot comic book and intercompany crossover written by Batton Lash with art by Stan Goldberg, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer. It was published jointly by Archie Comics and Marvel Comics in June 1994. In the story, the murderous vigilante Punisher mistakes all-American teenager Archie Andrews for a criminal that he is hunting. When he realizes his error, he works with Archie to rescue Archie's girlfriend Veronica Lodge, who has been kidnapped by the criminal. Despite being a humorous intercompany crossover, the comic was said to take place in the mainstream Marvel Universe by The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe.
Lash developed the plot based on a suggestion from Archie editor Victor Gorelick. The script was written with the intention of remaining true to the spirit of both characters rather than focus only on Archie's humor or the Punisher's action. Gorelick submitted the proposal to Marvel editors for review, and they agreed to move forward with the project. To help preserve the different tones, Archie artist Goldberg and Marvel artist Buscema worked together on the pencil artwork with each only drawing characters and settings for their respective company. Palmer provided inks for both artists to help smooth the differences between their styles. The comic book was kept secret inside both companies until it was announced at a press function shortly before its publication. Two versions were printed, one by each company. The versions had different cover art and the publishing company put the name of their character first in the title.
Although news outlets and critics initially believed the announcement was a joke, Archie Meets the Punisher received mostly positive responses. Many critics praised the odd pairing as an interesting narrative hook. Because of its success, Marvel participated in more crossovers with other publishing companies and Archie began a tradition of meeting unexpected guest stars such as Kiss, Sharknado, and the Predator.
Publication history
Background
All-American teenager Archie Andrews first appeared in a backup feature in the adventure comic Pep Comics #22, published by MLJ Magazines in December 1941. This started a trend of teen humor comic books and the publisher renamed itself after the character in 1947. In 1987, Marvel gave him an ongoing series, The Punisher, which became one of Marvel's biggest successes of the decade. By the mid-1990s, Punisher had become one of Marvel's most popular characters and was appearing in three concurrent monthly comic titles.
Development
right|thumb|175px|Writer [[Batton Lash in 2007]]
During the 1990s, intercompany crossovers were a popular trend in the American comic book industry and management at Archie Comics wanted to participate to raise its visibility in specialty comic shops and boost sales. Comic Book Resources calls this a legend and claims a meeting between Archie and Punisher was a long-running joke between Gorelick and his friend Tom DeFalco, Marvel's editor-in-chief. In his introduction to the comic book, Gorelick claims to have pitched a different version of the story to Archie publishers Richard Goldwater and Michael Skilberkleit prior to mentioning the idea to Lash. It was Marvel's first intercompany crossover in years.