ARSENE JOURDAN III

Real Name: Arsene Jourdan III

Identity/Class: Human, citizen of France

Occupation: Professional thief

Group Membership: His gang ("Godsend," "Stoneriver," "Wisteria")

Affiliations: None

Enemies: Interpol, the police of twenty different countries, Punisher (Frank Castle)

Known Relatives: Arsene Jourdan (grandfather), Arsene Jourdan II (father) (see comments)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Presumably France but active internationally

First Appearance: Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988)

Powers/Abilities: Arsene is a skilled burglar and safecracker.

Height: Unrevealed; presumably average to a little above average height, say 5'10" to 6'
Weight: Unrevealed; based on build slim to average for his height, say 150 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black

History:
(Punisher: Assassin's Guild (fb) - BTS) - A French third generation jewel thief and cat burglar, Arsene Jourdan III had attained almost legendary status among both the underworld and the law enforcement establishment when he was still a teenager. His reputation continued to grow over time until he and his three confederates were wanted not only by Interpol but also by the individual police forces of over twenty countries on four separate continents. However, no one was ever able to touch them.

(Punisher: Assassin's Guild) - In the middle of the night Jourdan and his allies broke into a high end office where Jourdan began cracking the safe. Working by flashlight as he listened to the tumblers, Jourdan was interrupted by a guard stumbling across their heist, but didn't even glance over towards the intruder as his allies eliminated the threat. Seconds later Jourdan had the safe open and the group looted the cash and jewels held within, then hurriedly exited the building. However, as they raced down the alley next to the building they were confronted by the Punisher who mercilessly gunned Jourdan and the others down, apparently killing them. The vigilante paused only long enough to scoop up their loot for himself, then departed, leaving the gang's corpses lying amidst the detritus littering the alley.

Comments: Created by Jo Duffy and Jorge Zaffino, inspired by characters created by Monkey Punch (Kazuhiko Katō), himself inspired by a character created by Maurice Leblanc.

   Jourdan is based on the Manga / Anime character Lupin III. Created by Monkey Punch, the character debuted in Weekly Manga Action#1 (August 10th 1967), with multiple anime series following starting from 1972. In turn Lupin III was inspired by the French character Arsène Lupin, a creation of writer Maurice Leblanc, who first appeared the magazine Je sais tout#6 (July 15th 1905) in the story The Arrest of Arsène Lupin. Per Monkey Punch, Lupin III is the grandson of Leblanc's character. Lupin III's first anime had aired in the States in the 1970s under the new title of The Viper, and a Lupin III movie, the Castle of Cagliostro had been aired at a Boston Worldcon in 1980 and had a limited U.S. theatrical release, so one of these was likely how Jo Duffy knew of the character.

   Jourdan and his crew seem to be far more murderous than either Lupin or Lupin III, neither of whom would kill a security guard so callously as Jourdan's associates do. Presumably this aspect was added to justify the Punisher killing them.

   It's not confirmed where they were when Punisher shot them, but New York City seems probable, given that's Punisher's most common haunt. However Frank has been known to travel worldwide, and notes that Jourdan did too, so it's feasible Punisher went on an overseas trip especially to eliminate them. The next scene in the story is in NYC, but it's also four days later, more than enough time to have traveled back from anywhere in the world.

   Though naming the eldest child after his father used to be fairly common in France (and indeed several other European countries), it's not the norm in France to add Junior or numbering to children who share names with their forebears. Presumably Monkey Punch didn't realize this when he named Lupin III, and even if Jo Duffy did know this detail, she had to retain the III to maintain the parallels. Jourdan is noted to be a third generation thief, but it's not outright stated that these were his father and grandfather, so theoretically the thieves in his family might have been women, but given his numbering and who he's based on, it's safe to bet that wasn't the intent.

   Despite being gunned down and Punisher believing the four thieves to be dead it's not impossible one or more might have survived. Heck, if we assume they are true parallels to their anime counterparts then the guard they seemed to slay would only have been stunned and Jourdan and his comrades would probably have anticipated Punisher's ambush and prepared a way to fool the vigilante, faking their own deaths to get him off their trail.

   Since only Jourdan was named in the story I've provided the other three gang members with placeholder names; as always these are not official, and designated as such by being put in quotes.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Arsene Jourdan III has no known connections to:

"Godsend"

"Godsend" was a gunman and member of Arsene Jourdan III's gang of thieves. During the office robbery he held a flashlight up to illuminate the safe while Jourdan cracked the combination. After the safe was opened and looted he carried the bag holding their purloined goods. When Punisher confronted the gang an alley "Godsend" went for his gun but was gunned down before he could draw it.

Comments: "Godsend" is based on Lupin III's ally Daisuke Jigen. Like Jigen, "Godsend" is a gunman who dresses like a Chicago mobster, with a fedora pulled down low enough to keep his eyes in shadow. However Jigen is a quick draw master, and would probably have been able to get his gun out before Punisher opened fire, so they differed in that respect. The name Daisuke translates to something like "Big help," hence my naming his counterpart "Godsend," a rough synonym that sounds a bit more like an alias a native English speaker might choose. In case anyone is wondering, Jigen translates as "Dimensions."

--Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988)

"Stoneriver"

"Stoneriver" was a swordsman and member of Arsene Jourdan III's gang of thieves. He accompanied his compatriots to burgle an office containing a safe holding a large amount of cash and jewels. When a guard interrupted them "Stoneriver" began to draw his katana but before he could do so "Wisteria" shot the custodian in the back. After looting the safe the gang exited the building and fled down the adjoining alley, but were confronted by the Punisher. "Stoneriver" again began to unsheathe his weapon, but was shot down by the Punisher and left bleeding and apparently slain in the alley.

Comments: "Stoneriver" is based on Lupin III's samurai ally Goemon Ishikawa XIII, purportedly the descendant of Goemon Ishikawa, a real life legendary renegade samurai who turned bandit and attained the status of a Japanese Robin Hood. Ishikawa translates to "Stone River," prompting my choice for his placeholder codename.

--Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988)

"Wisteria"

"Wisteria" was a member of Arsene Joudan III's gang of thieves. When her compatriots broke into an office to loot the safe within, she remained outside the room, presumably on watch, and when a guard spotted the illumination from their flashlight and confronted the burglars with his gun drawn "Wisteria" shot the man in the back, apparently killing him. Once the safe's contents were purloined she joined the rest of the gang in exiting the building and fleeing down the adjoining alley, but the group was confronted by the Punisher; the vigilante shot down her allies "Godsend" and "Stoneriver" first as they tried to draw their weapons, then turned his fire on Jourdan and "Wisteria," leaving both of them bleeding out, dead or dying in the alley.

Comments: "Wisteria" is based on Lupin III's love interest, sometimes ally and oft-times rival Fujiko Mine. Though her name was initially inspired by Mount Fuji and derived from a slightly altered kanji spelling of the phrase "Sacred Mount Fuji," Fujiko (with that added "ko") translates into English as Wisteria, hence my choice of placeholder name for this counterpart.

--Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988)

images: (without ads)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p3, pan6 (main image)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p2, pan6 (Arsene (and Godsend) faces)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p4, pan5 (Arsene, dead)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p4, pan1 (Godsend)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p4, pan2 (Godsend being shot dead)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p2, pan1 (Stoneriver)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p4, pan2 (Stoneriver being shot dead)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p2, pan4 (Wisteria)
Punisher: Assassin's Guild, p4, pan5 (Wisteria, dead)
n.b. - the pages of Assassin's Guild are numbered, but include the two interior credit pages; the numbering above only counts story pages, and so is two below the page numbers

Appearances:
Punisher: Assassin's Guild (1988) - Jo Duffy (writer), Jorge Zaffino (art), Carl Potts (editor)

First Posted: 05/04/2025
Last updated: 05/04/2025

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™ and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters