To say Punisher is a controversial character would be a bit of an understatement. Born out of the popularity of movies like Dirty Harry and Death Wish and The Executioner series of novels, Punisher bursted onto the scene in 1974’s Amazing Spider-Man #129 by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru as an antagonist for Spider-Man to fight. This antagonist was a vigilante much like many of the costumed figures inhabiting New York in the comics of that time. The key differences were Punisher had no superpowers, and he aimed to kill criminals instead of merely subduing them to be arrested later. Punisher (real name Frank Castle) was a former U.S. Marine and Vietnam War veteran whose family was killed in the crossfire of a mob war. Disillusioned by the American justice system, Punisher declares a one man war against crime as he hunts down and murders hundreds (if not thousands) of criminals from his debut in 1974 to modern day.
The character exploded in popularity in the ‘80s and ‘90s as he became more akin to a blockbuster action hero like Schwarzenegger or Stallone than the street level vigilante he started out as.
As a kid growing up reading Marvel Comics in the ‘90s, you’d think I would have been a pretty big Punisher fan. Lethal antiheroes were all the rage at the time, and I was definitely a fan of characters like Venom, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, and Cable. Punisher, though? He never really appealed to me. I only ever read him when he popped up as a guest character in someone else’s comic, and I typically rooted for him to get his ass kicked by the character whose book I was reading. That all changed when Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon were given a twelve-issue limited series in 2000 simply titled The Punisher. It’s more commonly known today as the “Welcome Back, Frank” story. Ennis and Dillon decided The Punisher worked better as a darkly comedic comic than one that took itself too seriously. The series played with the idea of Frank living in a world inhabited by superheroes and finding them irritating and obnoxious instead of respected peers. It also dialed up the violence to be on par with slasher flicks with a silent and stone-faced Punisher killing idiot mobsters in creative and over-the-top ways. The comic was a huge success, and Ennis and Dillon were rewarded with a monthly ongoing series once it wrapped.
Eventually Ennis tired of writing within the interconnected world of Marvel superheroes, and he began writing stories under Marvel’s MAX imprint where he could tell self-contained stories with Punisher in a more realistic world devoid of superheroes (and with no censorship when it came to violence, language, and nudity). While Ennis worked in this little bubble, various other writers and artists took their crack at the character within the larger Marvel Universe. None of them landed for me. I ultimately came to realize I was less a fan of Punisher than I was a fan of Ennis writing the character. I eventually stopped reading comics featuring the character altogether unless Ennis was penning them. Something else also contributed to my souring on the character: real world people who idolized him.
If you weren’t familiar with the character before reading this piece, you were almost certainly familiar with his logo. It’s just a white skull on his chest, and the teeth are extra long because they become part of his belt. It’s very simple and very distinct. It’s also extremely popular among right-wing extremists in the United States. Living in Ohio I see that logo on a lot of vehicles while driving pretty much anywhere in the state, and it’s usually accompanied by a Gadsden flag, thin blue line flag, or some other right-wing propaganda bumper sticker. It also frequently adorns equipment and vehicles belonging to active duty police officers. Punisher is a fictional character who murders criminals without any sort of due process. Do you see how that might be an issue if real life police officers idolize the guy and adorn themselves in his logo? This is further compounded by Disney (Marvel’s parent company) not addressing this problem in any way. Disney is a notoriously litigious company that strongly enforces its copyright claims. That Disney seems totally fine with merchandise using one of its copyrighted images going to violent and reactionary groups and individuals is worrisome to say the least. This finally brings us to the subject teased in the headline of today’s essay: the latest Punisher series by Jason Aaron, Jesus Saiz, and Paul Azaceta.
When this new Punisher series was announced I didn’t think much of it. The character has had at least fifteen different series since 2010 whether they be ongoings or minis, main continuity or MAX. They come and go frequently, and none of them really seem to stick. Then I read the synopsis for the series. Punisher was going to join The Hand, a mystical group of ninja assassins who have served as villains for multiple Marvel characters dating back to the ‘80s. I immediately wondered what the hell was happening here. Frank Castle, the man who has dedicated his life to killing criminals, was going to join a criminal organization? This made zero sense to me. Then I saw the other part of the synopsis: as a member of The Hand, Punisher was going to adopt a new logo. There it is. I decided that this was just a way for Marvel (and Disney) to abandon the classic skull logo and let the right-wingers keep it for themselves. It was an act of surrender. I wasn’t the only one thinking this. Numerous fans and creators took to social media to voice the same opinions. I dismissed the entire series out of hand and pledged not to read it.
When I walked into my local comic shop the second week of March this year to pick up the books on my pull list, I noticed Punisher #1 on the shelves. I decided to go ahead and grab a copy on a whim to see if it had any redeeming values. Much to my surprise, I really enjoyed it. It was really well written and jumped back and forth between the past and the present (with two different artists to make it easily identifiable which time period we were in) to illustrate what drives Frank and why he might have made such a drastic change to his life. There is a last page cliffhanger that successfully captured my attention and made me want to pick up the next issue to see where it went.
When the second issue was released in April, I snagged it and found myself enjoying it even more than the first issue. Jason Aaron was crafting a story that weaved together Frank’s childhood with what he has become today. Jesus Saiz handles the artwork for the modern story while Paul Azaceta illustrates the sequences set in the past. Jason Aaron is telling a story about a broken person desperately seeking some semblance of happiness, but he has been broken for far longer than we previously realized and might be beyond repair. In the meantime, we get some extreme violence for a typical Marvel comic.
The third issue was released this past Wednesday, and once again it was even better than the previous issue. We get an even deeper look at Frank’s childhood and the realization that he’s been Punisher much longer than anyone knew. It also becomes clear that The Hand has been trying to recruit him for quite some time. It’s a twist on the character’s origin that feels appropriate and earned. We also get to see present day Punisher kill a whole bunch of Nazis and brutally torture one to death. You love to see it. Technically they are all Hydra (Marvel tends to dance around their ideology sometimes), but Punisher specifically calls them Nazis. He doesn’t mince words.
I’ve been coy about Punisher’s reason for joining The Hand, but it definitely jives with the character. I don’t want to spoil this comic because it is one that deserves to be read without too much knowledge about what to expect. While it can’t be ruled out that Marvel editorial approached this creative team with the intention of coming up with a reason to change Punisher’s logo, what matters more to me as a reader is that Jason Aaron clearly had a story he was passionate about and wanted to tell while the art team is crafting one of the best looking books on the shelves right now. Despite all of my misgivings, this is easily the best Punisher series set within the main continuity since Ennis and Dillon first began their run over two decades ago. It’s been a great series, and I’m glad I put my early prejudices aside and gave it a chance. If you’re looking for a comic with more mature themes and content with a great story and beautiful artwork, then you should give it a chance too.
I have been fairly vocal about my disdain for Punisher, and how I truly only enjoy his appearance when he's pitted against my favourite demonic Daredevil.
But this has piqued my interest. I want to see what Aaron, Saiz and Azaceta have cooking. Because so far...
It smells good.