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Too Many Comics! – The Punisher

By | September 22nd, 2010
Posted in Columns | % Comments


I know what you’re thinking. “Matt, why haven’t you done Deadpool yet? What about Wolverine?” Because that’s so damn easy. Yes, those characters have too many comics, but here’s what I’ve noticed as I’ve gone through to do these lists – there are characters who have it worse. And, believe it or not, the Punisher is one of them.

The Punisher has had an odd few years recently. Fraction came in with Punisher: War Journal, his first major ongoing for Marvel, and this book was followed up by Rick Remender’s Punisher. The Punisher was then killed during Dark Reign, and then quickly stitched together to become Frankencastle. Now, the Punisher is quickly being put into multiple books to fill out multiple roles as it seems Marvel wants to make him more popular.

So is it working? I’ve got 7 books on shelves for the Punisher at the moment – what are you buying? Let’s take a look behind the cut to see what’s going on in the world of Marvel’s #1 murderous “super hero.”

Punisher/Franken-Castle
This represents the spot of the “main book.” See, for the Punisher nowadays, it’s kind of hard to really… take him seriously. Franken-Castle is one of the most ridiculous concepts I’ve ever heard of, and I was honestly surprised that it actually happened. I also dropped the book. No offense to Rick Remender, but it’s a bit too hokey for me. It also feels like the least Punisher-type book you could actually read. Needs more gangsters and guns, if you ask me. But nevertheless, Franken-Castle is the main book and we all have to deal with it – except that issue #21 (that comes out a week after this article does) is the last issue.

It all boils down to,

Should We Get It?: It is the “essential” book for the Punisher’s ongoing, and you can go back issue diving… but I wouldn’t really recommend it.

Punisher: In The Blood
Now, here is where I may start changing my tune. I like Rick Remender, and Franken-Castle is ending. There’s no way the Punisher will stay a giant stitched up monster forever, and In The Blood is supposed to be where he returns to his normal self. How? I don’t really know, but he’s all nice in Shadowland, isn’t he? So in between Franken-Castle (which is about to end) and Shadowland (which, also, will end soon), In The Blood happens.

Now – when Remender’s Punisher first started? It was awesome. The first arc was highly entertaining. It is highly possible that Punisher’s return from the Frankenform can be Punisher’s return to glory. Hopefully.

Should We Get It?: This is Punisher essential, sure. I also have my fingers crossed for it being good, but we still have

PunisherMAX
Garth Ennis wrote the Punisher for 8 years and defined everything of what that character should be for everyone. He, along with his Preacher buddy Steve Dillon, gave a legendary run on the book (which was then collected in a very spiffy omnibus, I might add). Then along came Jason Aaron, who decided that it was time to bring that back. PunisherMAX has been the Punisher book, with guns, guts, and so much depravity, it’s steadily growing up to be the new defining Punisher book – even more so than the character’s main title! Jason Aaron truly gets the sick, dirty world that Punisher thrives in, and Steve Dillon is the perfect artist on the book. Look no further than the last arc starring Bullseye – you won’t regret it.

Should We Get It?: Yes, most certainly. This is the best Punisher book I’ve read in a while that truly boils down the character to his violent essence. It is 100% essential for Punisher fans, both new and old.

Continued below

Punisher Max One-Shots
Every so often, Marvel releases a one-shot Punisher story by various writers and artists. They’re all self contained stories that are supposed to elaborate on the Punisher’s world. He is rather ripe for additional stories, in all honesty. So this is why you get things like Hot Rods Of Death by Charlie Huston, Happy Ending by Peter Milligan, and Tiny Ugly World by David Lapham. All of them one-shots, all of them part of Marvel’s MAX imprint, and all of them nice and bloody. Of course, it’s on a case by case basis as to if you want these books or not, because it all comes down the writers .

Should We Get It?: None of it is canon, and they all come out randomly. There’s been a pretty good monthly schedule lately, but keep this in mind – they’re $4.99. In a world where people constantly complain about raising prices, and with these one-shots being very non-essential, I’m going to have to give this a no to the “should we get it” pile.

Shadowland
Shadowland is the street-level Daredevil-centric event currently coming out by Andy Diggle and Billy Tan. The Punisher only showed up last issue, blowing up the wall to Daredevil’s evil New York dojo/tower. Now he’s suggesting that Daredevil be killed.

To cut a long story short, despite his involvement being played off as something much bigger – including a scene where he’s supposed to shoot Spider-Man – this book really has the Punisher as an ancillary character, if that. Call it poor cast management, or call it “non-Daredevil friends get pushed to the side,” but the last time the Punisher had a “notable” role in an event like this was with Civil War, where he actually saved Spider-Man and crossed paths with Captain America. At least we’re getting some non-Franken-Castle Punisher in a major Marvel story, right?

Should We Get It?: Completely non-essential Punisher. I may be enjoying the event myself, and would recommend it regardless, it’s not the place to go for a Punisher story.

Heroes For Hire
Shadowland isn’t over yet, but one of the things that will come from it’s aftermath is this book – and holy bajeesus, what a team! Ghost Rider? Elektra? Punisher? What, are all the team players really that busy? But there he is, right on the cover – Frank Castle himself. DnA, the writing team of the book, did briefly talk about the series over at Marvel.com and elaborated on the Punisher’s role by saying “Punisher won’t play anyone’s game, so he’s going to be a bit of an ‘in case of emergency, unleash Frank’ option.” What this means for him – I’m not entirely sure. However, In The Blood will be going on while this book is happening, so I’d say you have a toss-up for Punisher stories.

Should We Get It?: I can’t decide if this is essential because it comes out in December, but I’ll note this: Punisher on a team? Kinda odd. I mean, he is one of the few people in the Marvel U who hasn’t ever been an Avenger. So it’ll be interesting to see what his role in the book will be. This is popping directly out of Shadowland as well, so it’s possible that the Punisher won’t be getting another ongoing anytime soon. When In The Blood ends, that might be the last solo title for the Punisher’s storyline for a while, so Heroes For Hire may just be where you have to go for your Punisher fix.

Marvel Universe vs the Punisher
I’m cheating a little bit with this one – the book just ended. It was a four issue Marvel Knights mini written by Jonathan Mayberry, and despite initial reservations it was a lot of fun. It was basically the Punisher being placed into 28 Days Later instead of Cillian Murphy’s character, and instead of trying to survive with people he kills everyone. It was a lot of fun, and though the Punisher fighting off the entire Marvel Universe has actually happened before, this did it with a nice fresh angle that wrapped up very short and very sweet. It makes for a nice fun read on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Continued below

Should We Get It?: It’s not Punisher essential, but you can find every issue in stores now, and like I said – it’s a very fun read.

——————-

So there you have it! Those lists aren’t as intensive as the previous two I’ve done, but you’d be surprised how often I come across a Punisher book these days. I think Marvel is trying to give him a push, but they’re attempting to do it as subtle as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few months down the road you see a lot more Frank Castle. It really wasn’t that long ago that he was appearing all over the place, and hey – you can always find him in the recently finished Ultimate Comics Avengers 2 as well, in the exact same costume Matt Fraction and Ariel Olivetti put him in Punisher: War Journal!


//TAGS | Too Many Comics

Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

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