Mike Baron, the series' editor and one of the writers, expressed in a 1988 interview that the character's popularity came at a time when American citizens were especially angry with society's failure to punish evil.

and "Last Entry" which were confined within the series itself and other arcs such as "Acts of Vengeance", "Dead Man's Hand" and "Suicide Run" which were part of larger Marvel events.

They visited numerous comic book stores in California and Hawaii and interacted with the fans there.

[12] The series featured the first meeting of Wolverine and the Punisher in issue 6, named "On the Track of Unknown Animals", which was described by Blair Marnell of Comingsoon.net as a memorable meeting,[13] and was voted as the 75th greatest issue of any Marvel series ever in 2001.

Greg Burgas of Comic Book Resources praised Lee's artwork.