I’ve gotten to do some seri­ously awe­some stuff since I embarked on this little adven­ture of full-time writing. For example: Last night, at the 2012 Nebula Awards, I got to stand on a stage and present the Ray Brad­bury Award for Best Dra­matic Pre­sen­ta­tion to Neil Gaiman in front of a ban­quet hall packed with science-fiction and fantasy’s lit­erary lumi­naries. If I never do any­thing else of note in my life, I did that.

But I just got per­mis­sion to squee about some­thing that’s on the same level.

Most of you know that I’m for­tu­nate enough to have the amazing Michael Komarck han­dling the covers of my SHADOW OPS series in the US (Larry Ros­tant has the gig in the UK). Komarck recently con­tacted me and asked for some help. He had been com­mis­sioned by Marvel Comics to do a cover fea­turing a fight between two of my favorite super­heroes: The Pun­isher and The Hulk.

Now, Komarck knew that the Pun­isher was a hard-bitten lead-slinger with an unlim­ited arsenal. He also knew that the Hulk was a ver­i­tably bullet-proof inde­struc­tible tower of rage.

So, Komarck’s ques­tion to me: If I were the Pun­isher, kit­ting out to go take on Dr. Banner’s dark side, what sort of heat would I pack? (Restric­tion: One short gun, one long).

Well, Mr. Komarck, you asked the right guy:

You see, the Pun­isher is gun-savvy enough not to even con­sider going up against the Hulk with any­thing less than high-powered .50 cal­iber ammu­ni­tion. If you think of the Hulk as the equiv­a­lent of a bull elk or some­thing even more sizeable/thick (like an ele­phant), then your most pow­erful handgun option is the Smith & Wesson 500 (.50 cal). It’s a handgun so big that you can use it to hunt big game (like elk). I doubt it would do a whole lot against the Hulk, but if you want to at least remind the big guy that you’re in the neigh­bor­hood, this is the short weapon to do it.

Now, the stan­dard long gun for the Pun­isher is an SOPMOD M4. That’s your stan­dard infantry weapon (albeit tricked out), but it’s only firing a 5.56mm round, which isn’t going to bother the Hulk all that much. The gold stan­dard for high-powered rifles is the .50 cal BMG. The M82 variant is intended as a sniper rifle (single shots taken from a REALLY long way off), but it’s an INCREDIBLY pow­erful weapon, and if any­thing is going to have a chance in making a dent in the Hulk, it’ll be this.

So, those were my calls, and you can see the results below:

Komarck’s Pun­isher vs. Hulk Cover. I got to pick the guns!

I’ve been reading comic books since I was a kid, and this is the first time I ever had any influ­ence over how they turned out. So cool to see the Pun­isher going into battle against the Hulk with an arsenal of my choosing.

Good luck, Mr. Castle! Hope the kit serves you well. The Hulk is one tough cus­tomer, and I’d want more than con­ven­tional arms on my side. But if bul­lets are all you’ve got to rely on, this will give you the best chance.