Alright, I admit it. I'm a bit of a comic book fan.
However, I'm certainly not a fan of every comic out there, and the Punisher has always been a bit under my radar. I mean, I loved the Punisher MAX series, and I've seen him appear in other books now and then, but that's pretty much it. Still, I know who Frank Castle is, I know what he does, I know why he does it, yadda yadda yadda. I actually liked the character. The reason I never really got into him is that he lives in the Marvel universe. It's just a bit hard to swallow that a guy like Castle lives in the same place as the Fantastic Four, if you catch my drift.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq84/DurrHurr/characters/punisher_11.jpg
"Ha-ha," I thought "Franken-Castle! I get it! Good one, Marvel!"
Then, I found out it wasn't a joke. Apparently, this is canon right now. It has been for some time. From what I understand, Daken (aka "Dark Wolverine", who is pretty much just another bad joke on Marvel's part as far as I care) tore Frank to pieces because Daken works for a very very bad man, and bad men don't like the Punisher. Obviously, good old Frank totally had this coming - again, this is essentially just a guy who shoots bad guys, in a universe full of people who are very much immune to bullets.
So far, so good. But then Morbius (the old Spider-man vampire villain who, for the record, is a lot less lame in the comics than he was in the 90s cartoon) found Frank's remains and made a Frankenstein-like creation out of them, in an attempt to get the Punisher to join his <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_monsters>Universal Monsters-themed band of vampires, werewolves, and other assorted monsters.
I don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand I do like the Punisher, and this looks like an abomination very much like what they did to him in the late 90s when he briefly became a supernatural beyond-the-grave avenger as well, which essentially destroyed the series until it was rebooted by Garth Ennis a few years later. Now, it looks like they've once again destroyed the essence of a good character and turned him into a lame gimmick. On the other hand, a supernatural Frankenstein-like monster does fit the capes-and-tights world of Marvel better than the gun-toting Vietnam-veteran vigilante murderer he used to be, while still preserving his anti-hero status, albeit in a very different form.
At first, I was going to write an <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.189295-Incoming-nerd-rage-Kick-Ass>Incoming Nerd Rage-style rant about this, but I'm too confused to get angry at this. I just... don't have the right words. Is this a good development? Is this a bad joke? Is this a good character getting ruined? I honestly don't know.
However, I'm certainly not a fan of every comic out there, and the Punisher has always been a bit under my radar. I mean, I loved the Punisher MAX series, and I've seen him appear in other books now and then, but that's pretty much it. Still, I know who Frank Castle is, I know what he does, I know why he does it, yadda yadda yadda. I actually liked the character. The reason I never really got into him is that he lives in the Marvel universe. It's just a bit hard to swallow that a guy like Castle lives in the same place as the Fantastic Four, if you catch my drift.
http://i436.photobucket.com/albums/qq84/DurrHurr/characters/punisher_11.jpg
"Ha-ha," I thought "Franken-Castle! I get it! Good one, Marvel!"
Then, I found out it wasn't a joke. Apparently, this is canon right now. It has been for some time. From what I understand, Daken (aka "Dark Wolverine", who is pretty much just another bad joke on Marvel's part as far as I care) tore Frank to pieces because Daken works for a very very bad man, and bad men don't like the Punisher. Obviously, good old Frank totally had this coming - again, this is essentially just a guy who shoots bad guys, in a universe full of people who are very much immune to bullets.
So far, so good. But then Morbius (the old Spider-man vampire villain who, for the record, is a lot less lame in the comics than he was in the 90s cartoon) found Frank's remains and made a Frankenstein-like creation out of them, in an attempt to get the Punisher to join his <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_monsters>Universal Monsters-themed band of vampires, werewolves, and other assorted monsters.
I don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand I do like the Punisher, and this looks like an abomination very much like what they did to him in the late 90s when he briefly became a supernatural beyond-the-grave avenger as well, which essentially destroyed the series until it was rebooted by Garth Ennis a few years later. Now, it looks like they've once again destroyed the essence of a good character and turned him into a lame gimmick. On the other hand, a supernatural Frankenstein-like monster does fit the capes-and-tights world of Marvel better than the gun-toting Vietnam-veteran vigilante murderer he used to be, while still preserving his anti-hero status, albeit in a very different form.
At first, I was going to write an <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.189295-Incoming-nerd-rage-Kick-Ass>Incoming Nerd Rage-style rant about this, but I'm too confused to get angry at this. I just... don't have the right words. Is this a good development? Is this a bad joke? Is this a good character getting ruined? I honestly don't know.
