To The Guilty... Punishment. To The Punisher... A Weird History.

I've had today's blog entry penciled in LONG before my subject listings underwent about a bajillion and one reorganizations.  (To give you readers a peek at my unusual planning, I think that for a blog that's lasted close to three months, I must've revised my "long term" plans at LEAST four times within the span of two months.  This is sounding like a MENSA exam...)  And aside from my gushing all over "Guardians of the Galaxy"... and wanting blood to gush from OBNOXIOUS theater goers... I felt that I needed to swing back towards the positive of the Marvel Universe.  So why not talk about a character that is a bizarre universal anomaly.  Sure, he's a MEMBER of the Marvel Universe, but it rarely feels like he's "part" of it.  And he's also a character that seems to come and go in popularity waves, having a lengthy legacy... I reckon the character is easily 40 years old in "real time existence"... but never being able to last any longer than 100-some issues of a book he sustains.  But regardless of however long his tenure lasts, the forces of crime and corruption soil their pants whenever he shows up with his arsenal.

"Amazing Spider-Man #129", in 1974, introduced the world to Frank Castle.  He began his life as a former Marine serviceman, although depending on his publishing time, it varies what conflict he was involved in.  For MY money, I still reckon Frank as a timeless Vietnam War veteran.  And upon returning home, he began a blissful life as a family man, and loving husband, until that fateful picnic in a park.  The Castle family witnessed a Mafia execution, and for their troubles, every Castle family member was gunned down on the spot.  The fatal flaw was that Frank Castle survived, and feeling the loss of everything "good" in his life, he became a stone-cold vigilante known as the Punisher, and dedicated his life to a one-man-war against all forces of crime.  The one MAJOR difference between him and other vigilantes of this time period was that his crusade was a fatalistic one: if you were deemed to be a target by the Punisher, the only thing you could expect was a bullet straight in your dome.  But the interesting thing about this VERY FIRST appearance is that while we're given hints of the Punisher's edgy legacy, he is NOT VERY lethal, using a good amount of submissive weaponry in his misguided hunt on Spider-Man.  (Instigated by then-Spidey foe, the Jackal, who convinces Frank of Spidey's threat to society.  I may eventually touch on the Jackal, and his legacy of UTTER GARBAGE in the comic medium.  Ugh... Not to bury the lead before time is due, but I hate, Hate, HATE the Jackal!)

After this initial crossing of paths, the Punisher made spotty appearances in crossovers with Spider-Man, Captain America, and most notably Daredevil, where I feel the character REALLY found his "voice" under the guidance of Frank Miller.  The Punisher also had a backstory-filling tale spun in one of Marvel's old black-and-white magazines.  (Don't quote me on this, but I BELIEVE it was "Savage Tales".  I do know the same magazine that featured the solo Punisher strips also occasionally featured solo Wolverine stories, before they became a "in vogue" thing.)  It was a crossover with Spider-Man and Daredevil that involved the Punisher going on trial... for going NUTZOID and killing a jaywalker... and being sent to Ryker's Island Penitentiary.  It's at that locale that we begin Frank Castle's next chapter of creative life.

"The Punisher" mini-series reintroduced the character of Frank Castle... and also re-established his mission, with his mind in a much "clearer" state of perspective.  In this story, we encounter a foe that the Punisher has crossed paths with in the past, Jigsaw, see his escape from prison, and witness how the Punisher is courted by a nation-wide organization that seeks to dispense vigilante justice... but NOWHERE near as focused as how the Punisher would like it.  This series was emblematic of the post-Frank Miller "Daredevil" period of how "grim and gritty" heroes should be written.  Frank wasn't overtly verbose, and within the Comics Code Authority rules, he was allowed to be FAR more vicious and brutal to criminals than normal "cape and cowl" crusaders would consider themselves to be.  (There's even a bit during the Ryker's Island opening that weirdly mirrors Alan Moore's "Watchmen", and the portion where Rorschach is imprisoned.)  This mini-series proved to be such a massive success, a year after it's conclusion, the Punisher saw life given to his FIRST regular series!

I should also mention that during this general timeline of the initial Punisher popularity wave... give or take 1989 to 1990, the Punisher also expanded into the realms of movies... with the PERSONALLY underrated Dolph Lundgren feature... and video games, with the VASTLY repetitive Nintendo and Game Boy releases.  But during the course of the Punisher's regular series, we experienced a realization.  Sure, the initial glow of the appeal of a vigilante character is awfully nice, and we DID get a lot of quality stories out of the run, along with some surprising creative names.  (For example, before he worked on "Amazing Spider-Man", Erik Larsen had a run with "The Punisher".)  But over time, we began to see that the Punisher wasn't exactly an unlimited resource of a character.  There will ALWAYS be "bad guys" for the Punisher to chase, but his lifestyle became very wash-rinse-repeat for reading... even MORE so than I would consider regular Superhero titles to be.  But I want to drop some particular highlights from this given series for you to check out:

• The Punisher has two 2-part face-offs against some GENUINELY surprising Marvel Universe threats: the X-Men cyborg foes, the Reavers... and that Latverian Monarch SUPREME, Doctor Doom.
• "The Return of Jigsaw": a 6-issue biweekly summer event where, after being thought dead for some time, Jigsaw is resurrected by the demonic sorcerer Belasco, and this involves a really brutal sequence of battles against Frank Castle. 
• "Frank Castle: Fugitive": Not long after the return of Jigsaw, the Punisher returns to the U.S., and a far more focused assault on him by organized crime that forces him to go underground, and undergo surgery to become an African-American man!
• "Eurohunt": Another biweekly event story that featured the Punisher pursuing assassins through many European nations.  I feel this story gets MAJOR bonus points from me, due to the involvement of Tarantula, BATROC ZEE LEAPAIR!!!, and the excellent writing of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning with art by Doug Braithwaite.

Within two years of "The Punisher" being published, we saw another questionable development for the character: oversaturation.  Sure, it would involve the artwork of budding superstar, Jim Lee, but there CAN be such a thing as "too much" for such a freshly established character.  But regardless, we then saw the launch of "Punisher War Journal" in 1988.

I'd say that there were more than a few highlights for the "War Journal" title, but for the Jim Lee period of the title, the ONE major marker that people seem to remember is the two-part crossover involving the first meeting between the Punisher and Wolverine.  (It involved an investigation of a dinosaur poaching expedition to Africa.  ... Yeah...  But it sure had PURDY ART!)  I also know that, late in the title's life... when it began crossing over more with "The Punisher"... we were introduced to a task force that was assigned to hunt down the Punisher, specifically.  That was, at least, a fresh breath of air to the usual "kill lots of bad guys" formula of each issue, because while law enforcement officials and Frank were FAR from being friends, Frank Castle carried a personal code to never kill a law officer.  ... That will come up later, after we talk about yet ANOTHER Punisher book that was introduced in 1992.  (But lest I forget, there was a "Punisher Magazine" published in 1989 that offered magazine-sized black and white reprints of earlier Punisher issues and appearances.  And I feel that format benefited the character VASTLY.)

"Punisher War Zone" is REALLY only notable for the first 11 issues of the title, when it was regularly being written by Chuck Dixon, with artwork by John Romita Jr.  It involved Frank Castle perpetrating an infiltration into a Mafia family, and the consequences that follow when he's "ratted out".  The story also deals with the Punisher having to reconcile the growing sensation of "family" he feels with his Mafia attachments.  And this is actually a two-part arc, with the first six issues dealing with the initial infiltration and fallout.  The latter five issues involve the female head of the family... a woman's wrath is INDEED not to be trifled with... hiring a "Magnificent Seven" team to eliminate the Punisher.  After this run, I'll be fully honest: this book was probably the MOST "stale" Punisher title on the market.

VERY late in the three Punisher titles' runs, there was a 10-issue crossover called "Suicide Run" that involved the Punisher assaulting a crime family gathering, and seemingly suicide-bombing the group... leading to the rise of Punisher clones, before the "real one" re-establishes his "living status".  (Hmm... Didn't the Superman titles do something AWFULLY similar previous to this particular Punisher event?)

In 1995, Marvel realized that the Punisher books were about as fresh as a month-old not-restocked fish market.  So the "Countdown" event was launched, which featured a crazed Punisher on the run, being manipulated into thinking he killed an innocent family in another park.  IRONY!  This resulted in the cancellation of all Punisher titles, and lead directly into a "Marvel Knights" crossover event that featured the Punisher being a fugitive from Nick Fury and the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D.  Spoiler alert... The end of the event finds Nick Fury "killed" by the hands of the Punisher, and a new title under the Marvel Edge banner, written by John Ostrander.  What's old is NEW again, because after being thought executed by electric chair, a Mafia family injects Frank Castle with a revival fluid, and placing a criminal Frank Castle under their thumb for services.   A VERY interesting twist to the regular Punisher formula, but what ultimately caused this series to be short-lived was how ULTIMATELY attached it was to the Marvel Universe.  In the previous Punisher series, we would occasionally see characters that the Punisher interacted with making repeat appearances, such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and Wolverine.  But this relaunch title saw the Punisher meeting the LAME X-Men villain, X-Cutioner, and was even featured as a crossover title to the "Onslaught" event... which meant the Punisher encountered the Sentinels.  Er... WHA?!?  But if you thought THAT was bizarre, wait until you see what comes next...

I only ever read the first issue of this "Marvel Knights" relaunch, and that was ALL I needed.  I will say the Berni Wrightson artwork was a major highlight, but sometimes trying something TOO different for the Punisher can blow up in your face.  Such as this book, which featured a deceased Punisher brought back to life by the forces of Heaven, to serve as a supernatural vigilante against organized crime AND demonic influences.  And it gave the Punisher "spirit guns" as part of his arsenal.  Say it with me: WET FART NOISE.  But in 1999, fresh air blew away the funk of the Punisher stigma, and brought him WELL back to basics, under the hand of a talented writer.

Former super team of the Vertigo hit title, "Preacher", brought their talents over to Marvel with a 12-issue "Punisher" series, written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Steve Dillon.  No more angels, no more Mafia family ties, no more insane rivalries with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D.  We DID still receive the traditional Ennis insanity... but that stroke of black humor and ultra-violence was JUST what Frank Castle needed for a brand new approach.  This particular mini-series exploded with popularity... along with the Russian... and it gave birth to a new era for Frank: life as a MATURE READERS TITLE.

Before the regular "Punisher MAX" series, Garth Ennis did write 37 issues of a new regular "Punisher" series for Marvel, but the "MAX" run allowed for Garth Ennis to REALLY dive into his bag of tricks that made him such a hit in "Preacher".  The one nice element of the MAX run is that while the violence was ramped up, along with the language and adult elements, this was done COMPLETELY isolating the Punisher from the proper Marvel universe.  In a way, this series was much more close to the characters' genesis roots.  (Let's just say that Don Pendelton's "The Executioner" novel series had MORE than a slight hand in the development of the Punisher.)  Plus, this series... and the other MAX spin-offs... made the Punisher more of a global force, with his involvement in various international "hot spot" conflicts.  Pitch black, and bloody red with acts of violence, this series proved that the Punisher did NOT have to resign himself to restrained Marvel Universe standards.

But like any person that was once defined by their "cool loner" mentality, eventually they have to be reabsorbed into general functioning "reality", to benefit a team effort.  In the wake of "Civil War", the Punisher returned to the Marvel Universe proper with a new "Punisher War Journal" title.  And we begin the dance of VERY spotty titles being launched and re-launched from the early 2000's to today.  From the initial Marvel Universe INTENSIVE "War Journal", to a new Ennis mini-series "Punisher War Zone", to a new self-titled series... that I REALLY didn't feel much at all... by Greg Rucka, and even to the extremes where, due to being sliced apart by Wolverine's son... Daken... in the "Dark Reign" event, Frank Castle was brought back to life by the Legion of Monsters as "Franken-Castle".  (As silly as that sounds, that particular run of the Punisher was FAR more fun and entertaining than it should have been.)

In conclusion, there's no denying the hard line of justice that the Punisher can deliver holds appeal 40 years after his initial creation.  But the ability for the character to sustain his own creative life?  That... still holds much debate fodder.  Bear in mind the ONLY title to run over 100 issues was the original "Punisher" regular series, and that only reached a maximum of 104 issues.  Not much of a milestone.  But there STILL is much to say about a character that has... through many series' fits and falters... still remains a popular icon of the Marvel Universe.  And who also, after his 1999 rebooting by Garth Ennis, received two additional feature films and a REALLY entertaining video game for the PlayStation 2 and X-Box.  Sometimes Frank Castle's title runs are more "final" than originally theorized, but the mission of the Punisher will continue on for as long as readers wish to see his terminal solution to crime.