Beyond Metal: Punisher

 

 

SWITCH TO POLISH

We're starting a week without Metal (oh no!). This week, I'll be rambling about different things than usual! I see you're all very happy! Me too :)

Comics, like any other art form, often draw inspiration from more of the contemporary trends. Sometimes it's Westerns, other times Romance, Karate, and othertime, movies featuring so-called vigilantes - or, as the saying goes, self-appointed law enforcement. The legendary "Death Wish," starring an unidentified Slav named Charles Buczyński, aka Charles Bronson, immediately comes to mind.

From today's perspective, when Marvel is associated with overly colorful nightmare, and DC is more faithful to hardcore Noir / old Sci-Fi, there was a time long ago when it was the other way around, with Marvel presenting a more realistic, street-level stories, while DC being more cartoonish. We're talking about the 1970s, when the aforementioned films about taking a revenge on criminals, bypassing the law, were quite popular. This shouldn't be surprising, as back then, the crime wave in the US was truly horrifying, including serial killers. The Punisher's progenitor and direct inspiration is considered to be the Pulp / Noir hero The Executioner.

The Punisher (Frank Castle), conceived by writer G. Conway (not really a fan of him) and prominent comic book artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru, who was initially created as a one-time adversary for Spider-Man. Like Rambo much later, he was intended as a commentary on soldiers returning from the Vietnam War and their trauma. This Punisher was a complete lunatic who was shooting people for littering. However, both the character, and his design, quickly became a hit, and in his next appearance, he was more of a merc (like Deadpool). Ultimately, he evolved into the character we recognize today: a vigilante, gunning down the mob that was responsible for the death of his family.

Let me say right off the bat, that I can't stand Garth (p)Ennis (because he's exhaustingly edgy and boring), and I feel that his large following, willingly or not, harbored all of the attention, which has led the other, superior writers to be overlooked. So, this post won't be about his run, instead, I'll focus on the real classics, because I sometimes get the impression that people think The Punisher's popularity begins and ends with this one writer.

My favorite Punisher writers are:

Steven Grant: The guy responsible for the first mini-series, the one that really launched Frank's rise to fame. Frank is in prison, and therefore goes with the "trapped among criminals" trope. Classic.

Mike Baron: took over from Grant and wrote Frank's first major series. His life's work lies in his independent comic Nexus (brilliant Sci-Fi), which is also worth checking out for conoisseurs. Baron's style is characterized by a high level of humanism and philosophical disputes. It could be said that he was the only one to write the Punisher as a character with a heart and soul, through caption boxes, a technique that doesn't always work in comics. Definitely my favorite and a must-read.

Chuck Dixon: one of the few conservative writers. He produced a lot of stories and is among the leaders in regards to quantity. I especially appreciate his first term on Punisher War Zone (issues #1-11), where Frank, operating undercover, infiltrates the mafia and seduces a gangster's daughter.

Howard Mackie: He only did few one-shots, but what a great shot they were! Ghost Rider / Punisher /Wolverine vs. Mephisto's son Crossover and its sequel. It was published in Poland, so maybe that's why I remember it so fondly.

Dan Abnett / Andy Lanning: A duo later known for their more cosmic-themed Marvel series (like Guardians of the Galaxy), these British writers penned the "Eurohit" story where, true to its name, Frank travels around the Europe and cleans up the scum.

Rick Remender: one of the few writers who managed to write good stories after the golden age of the '90s. Responsible for Franken-Castle. Frank is killed by Wolverine's son, Daken, and reanimated as a Frankenstein, where he leads a group of famous monsters like vampires, werewolves, mummies, and so on. Despite the idiotic premise, this series is truly fantastic, and Rick's portrayal of Frank is spot-on and perfectly captures this character.

Greg Rucka: the second successful post-90s writer, despite some of my minor reservations. He had a short tenure and, of course, he had to introduce a female Punisher, but you have to give him a credit for being a good detective / action writer.

Among the best artists who worked on various series were Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio (both later known for their work on the X-Men), the atmospheric Mark Texeira (also did phenomenal Ghost Rider), John Buscema (old school guy, his preferable style was Conan etc.), and Gary Kwapisz (a Slavic name?), who unfortunately wasn't properly recognized by the comic book industry, and whose gritty, street style best suited the series. They're not the only good ones, but they're the ones I associate Mr. Skullhead the most. I'm not necessarily a fan of John Romita JR (not to be confused with his father) - his style is, well, let's call it, "special."

One might wonder how much the Punisher would gain if he faced Marvel supervillains more often, although it would probably be difficult to avoid the typical bloodbath that would end with the death of either Frank or such villains as Bullseye, Electro, Magneto, etc.

Of the film adaptations, I'll be honest, I only adore the first version, with Dolph Lundgren. Sure, the iconic skull on his shirt was missing, and his origin story was slightly modified, but the rest was a standard comic book story as it should be. It's worth posting the iconic quote from that film, also used as the intro in Biohazard's song "Punishment":

Every subsequent version of the Punisher lacked this kind of atmosphere and a B-list flavor. They were either overly polished, or the character simply lacked the more cowboy-like archetype attitude. I suspect the reasons for some of these changes lie in some "political" matters, which I'll only outline briefly. Specifically, that some of the police officers in the United States wore Punisher insignia, coupled with their unfortunate brutal actions, which sparked considerable controversy, and provoked numerous protests.

Yanks in general suffer from various mental health issues, but for Marvel, this character had become a hot potato. They've tried to reinvent him numerous times, with varying degrees of success (I did like Space Punisher). I don't particularly want to delve into the details, especially that for me, the best runs of this character has long been a history and this style is unlikely to return. And on that optimistic note, I'll end my post.