THe Great Vigilantre Reread - Viglante 2005

After finishing the 50 issues of the 1980's Vigilante I decided hey there's not that much more Vigilante stuff so why not just go the whole hog - dividing it up an entry or so for each new person behind the Vigilante's mask (with a couple of exceptions)

But first the Punisher/Vigilante near connection.  IN Vigilante #39 (Mar 87) The VIgilante is driving around in an Ace Plumbing van.  I say that seems familiar and grab out Punisher Essentials Vol 1 and in the story Death Sentence from Marvel Preview #2 (THe Punisher's first solo story) he is driving around in an Ace TV repairs van.  So a little disappointing that it wasn't the same company.

So when we left Vigilante, all three bearers of the Vigilante name are dead and the supporting cast moved over to Checkmate.

Marv Wolfman was getting another Teen TItans spinoff off the ground Deathstroke the Terminator.  In issue 9, we are introduced to Patricia Trayce, a Gotham city cop who found Chase's Equipment.  Trayce became Vigilante and a supporting character in Deathstroke, then appearing in the all new Hawk and Dove miniseries and then a few random appearances arround the DCU.  (She also appeared in  a couple of issues in the Nu52 Deathstroke Title)  But she never got her own series.

Also for a very short run in Deathstroke, Slade's wife Ademine briefly donned the costume.)

Then in 2005 it was announced that Micah Ian Wright was going to write a new Vigilante under the Wildstorm Banner with Carlos D'Anda on art,  We got this piece of promo art.

Then Wright got outed as lying about his military service and the whole thing was called off and a new 6 issue miniseries appeared The Vigilante by Bruce Jones (writer) and Ben Oliver (art).

This was a completely different story that what we had been teased from Wright and D'Anda.

The series sets up a mystery with Vigilante killing criminals who escaped the law and three suspects as to who might be behind the mask.  The story was set in Metropolis but Superman doesn't appear even when the Mayor is murdered.

And colour me surprised the Daily Planet has more employees than Perry, Clark, Lois and Jimmy who knew.

The twist as to who The Vigilante is surprising,  I did a review on the old blog which pointed out that the origin of this Vigilante missed an opportunity to reference Adrian Chase.

THis Vigilante appeared in Infinite Crisis #7 in a crowd scene and never again.