Well, it looks like Charles Soule must be that go to guy to take over series as not only will he be taking over “Swamp Thing” next month, CBR has reported that he will be taking over “Thunderbolts” from Daniel Way with issue 12. Way will be leaving at the conclusion of the current arc, which pits the ‘Bolts against the Leader, to take on another project he has lined up.
Soule’s first issue is set to zero in on the Punisher and then subsequent issues will focus on other members like Mercy. And it seems like Frank will already be going up against some interesting opponents.
My issues will delve a little deeper into individual members of the team, and the first one’s focused on Punisher. I love Frank. I think he’s one of the most deeply developed characters in the Marvel U, especially after what Garth Ennis and Jason Aaron have done with him. First of all, he’s old. He’s not one of these young characters still getting used to having their powers. Whether your personal version of Frank Castle is a Vietnam veteran or not, he’s clearly meant to have been on his crusade against crime for a long time — decades. Doing something for that long, especially vigilante murder (not to put too fine a point on it) means your initial reason for starting along that path has become almost irrelevant. Frank doesn’t kill criminals for revenge — he does it because he has to. He’s got what I see as a classic case of OCD, except, instead of washing his hands over and over again, he has to find bad guys to murder.
I wanted to play with that a little bit. His target in the story is someone with a lot of finesse and subterfuge, and seeing that type of approach go up against the brute force that is the Punisher seemed like it would be neat to see.
It’s interesting to me that Soule mentioned to runs on “Punisher” that are definitely seen as existing on their own, separate from the Marvel U and how that could relate to the “Thunderbolts” in their own little playground.
Series editor Jordan White also confirmed that Steve Dillon, who has his own history with Frank, will be drawing issue 12. For more information on Way’s last arc and Soule’s upcoming issues, check out their interview with CBR.
