Posts Tagged ‘ Punisher ’

You know how I know they’re stupid?

They don’t stick to their own internal sense of logic. Take the Punisher. Put aside the angel Punisher and FrankenCastle and all that nonsense, and at his core the Punisher is pretty simple: a big guy taking revenge on all criminals for the death of his family. Pretty simple, eh?

Because it’s comics, he needs a costume, and the skull motif is pretty cool. It also serves as a distraction for criminals, giving them something to shoot at (I swear I read this in one of the Punisher’s many, many appearances but damned if I know where).

Okay, now we know that Frank’s a pretty simple guy. Sure, he has tactical knowledge coming out the wazoo and all, but at his core he’s a soldier. Not the kind of guy to pretty things up, to have flying discs in the shape of skulls, or to do something that’s tactically unsound like, I don’t know…paint a hang glider with his skull symbol.

Tell me, no explain to me, what earthly purpose this serves?

To give anyone above him in a helicopter a better target than, say, a black hang glider against the night sky? To scare the people below him who can’t see it anyway (unless of course Frank took the time to paint the underside too)?

Honestly, I know this is comics but there are days that I think I think too much about this.

Also, this just makes me further convinced that there is zero need for any Punisher stories now that Garth Ennis’s amazing run on his Max series is done.

I mean, Booster Gold‘s chalkboards?

Pfft.

Like Marvel would lift something like that wholesale and plunk it into their books…

…oh.

According to CBR the above page is from Avengers #5, so it looks like I’m wrong…

Anyway, let’s have a little breakdown shall we?

Going from left to right along the timeline…

• Siege

– Well, we know what that is, I guess. It seems to be quite a way before the next events, at least one of which takes place prior to it. Probably an aspect of time being broken in the arc the panel appears in. Or an editorial slip.

• Captain America Reborn – Again, aside from placement no surprise here. There’s a little side note asking ‘What did Cap see???’ referring to his vision at the end of the series, which bore some resemblance to the War of the Worlds-esque (or Tripods-esque, depending on your frame of reference) alien invasion from Killraven‘s alternate future.

• Nine Worlds in Disarray -this presumably links into Matt Fraction’s upcoming Thor run, which will apparently deal with the nine worlds of Norse mythology, of which Asgard is only one. Again, the timeline appears slightly skew-wiff as this presumably takes place before the next notation…EDIT: Apparently Avengers Prime concerns the Nine Worlds being in disarray – thanks, Kunstgriff!

• The Heroic Age Begins! – I guess there’s not much mystery there.

• Three! – a reference to the upcoming Fantastic Four arc which apparently promises the death of one of the core characters (because that’s never happened before).

• Hope Returns!? – presumably referring to the recent Second Coming in the X-Men books featuring the return of Hope from the future.

• There’s a dotted line leading down to the next comment that I can’t quite make out “Spider on the …” Horizon? Horror? Whatever it is, it seems to begin with HO and end with ON. Horton? I’m guessing this is Spider-Man related…

• Man Without Fear – no real secret here, either, as Black Panther is becoming the new Man without Fear and taking over Daredevil’s book.

• Throwbacks! - Okay. I have no idea what this refers to. Any ideas?

• Chaos! – The upcoming Chaos War event, of course.

Next slide, please…

• EDIT: There’s a bunch of equations including the words ‘Similar Form‘ and ending in ‘Paired‘. Not sure what this could refer to but open to suggestions!

• Five Lights – A not-so subtle reference to the current Five Lights arc in Uncanny X-Men leading to Generation Hope.

• Who is Worthy? – 9,9,9, – these linked comments outside of the timeline presumably refer again to Thor‘s nine worlds and perhaps an indication that someone else is going to try hefting mjolonir for a while – or that Thor himself may not be worthy? We’ll see.

• EDIT: Crossed out below this is something else I can’t make out: What Wouldn’t Do ?????? Any suggestions?
  Back on the timeline…
  • What is Where Asgard Should Be? – Thor again. A valid question; if Asgard’s in Oklahoma, what’s occupying it’s old position at the end of the rainbow bridge?
  • Master of Kung Fu – Shang-Chi’s making a comeback in Shadowland, and there’s a new Heroes for Hire series on the horizon – so maybe he’ll have a part in that? Or will there be a new Master of Kung-Fu? Replacement heroes are all the rage, you know.
  • Nova Antiquus – perhaps an earlier bearer of the Novaforce will be making an appearance wherever Nova himself ends up?
  • Academy Traitor! – I’m guessing there’s a traitor in Avengers Academy?
  • Return of the King – There’s a few people this could refer to; Magneto has been referred to as a king a few times in the past; the Black Panther’s in exile of some sort from his own country; the Kingpin perhaps? Or it could (hopefully) be the return of Black Bolt who died at the end of War of Kings. In any case there appears to be a King. And he appears to be returning.

  Off to the side of the timeline -

  • EDIT: The one I couldn’t quite make out earlier is The Drumm of Revenge – presumably pointing towards a Dr Voodoo (Jericho Drumm) story – or perhaps his dead brother? Either war I’d put money on this happening in New Avengers.

  And back on the timeline again –

  • Night Falls – Well that’s not ominous at all. A sign that something bad is coming? Perhaps it’s horror-related somehow? Who knows.
  • Iron Lad Returns – Looks like everyone’s favorite young Kang/Young Avenger is on his way back through the timestream somehow, presumably in the the Children’s Crusade mini.
  • All Hope Lies in Doom! – Well, when doesn’t it? Sounds like Doctor Doom is going to be getting some pagetime, maybe in the Fantastic Four, maybe in an Avengers book – but somewhere.
  • Schizm! – Sounds like there’s going to be a split somewhere along the line. Could be in a team, could be in reality, hell, could be anywhere. Or it could be some new character causing trouble – but my money’s on the first option. I think there’s going to be a falling out between characters somewhere again.
  • Stark Resilient – I’m guessing that’s a reference to the current Invincible Iron Man arc of the same name, in which case that book is ahead of the curve.
  • Where is Wanda? – Probably the end of the current Avengers: The Children’s Crusade mini series starring the Young Avengers that’s running right now.
  • Galactus Seed – That just sounds…wrong. More likely to be another arc in Hickman’s Fantastic Four than about Galacta, which is a shame.
  • ST….365NRATS – I have no clue. As long as it’s not Marvel’s answer to Lab Rats.
  • Fear without Man – I suspect that this will be an arc either following Daredevil Reborn (or perhaps that series itself) or simply an arc in the Black Panther’s run.
  • What’s in the Rings?!?! – Despite the earlier Return of the King reference, I guess this isn’t about bringing Gandalf and co to the MU. Instead, I think we’ll see the Mandarin’s rings being explored somewhat – mainly because I can’t think of any other rings of note in the MU.
  • Steve’s Vision! – Sounds like that vision we were talking about earlier is going to come to pass relatively soon.
  • Ultron War – Is Hank Pym’s greatest mistake coming back? Again? Honestly in light of the Ultron Imperative and Annihilation Conquest, any more Ultron stories seem redundant.
  • Yesterday’s X-Men – Possibly referring to that teaser of dead X-Men that popped up recently? Or something else? It’s off to the side of the main timeline so it may not take place around this time.
  • Born To Burn – Given that I think Johnny Storm will be the missing FF member at the end of ‘Three’, I would guess that this would be his return to the fold.
  • We Are Here – The point at which Avengers #5 takes place.
  • Kang’s Forces – I think this refers to a big ol’ timewar that’s going on in the Avengers book, which I’m getting in trades, and probably not the big Kang War we had at the end of Kurt Busiek’s run. Or, sadly, The Crossing (which I’m expecting to get the big Omnibus treatment any day now…).
  • Scorched Earth? – Sometimes the only way to win is to destroy what you’re fighting for. Whether a reference to the Kang thing, the Killraven thing, or something else I don’t know. EDIT: Apparently Jeff Parker’s first storyline in (Red) Hulk, starting with this week’s #25 is called – wait for it – ‘Scorched Earth’, named for the Intelligencia’s plan. Safe bet that this refers to that.
  • 3PION - Well, not a ‘P’ but a Punisher skull symbol. Probably not the return of Lynn Varley and the other Punisher stand-ins, sadly. EDIT: I’ve read that this could be deciphered as 3SkullION or Triskelion – which would be the Ultimate Avenger’s HQ over in the Ultimate Marvel U. Is there a crossover in the offing?
  • INFINITE FUTURES!! Again, I suspect this has to do with the future being hazy after the Kang thing wraps up. Or that Marvel hasn’t had it’s 2012 editorial retreats yet.

  Lots to clear up here, and lots of hints.

  But Booster Gold still did it first!

  Continue Reading »

I had a revelation yesterday. A revelation.

There I was, mocking Frankencastle mercilessly when it suddenly occurred to me: what an opportunity Marvel has missed now that he’s apparently being turned back into plain ol’ Frank Castle. I mean, think about it:

You have FrankenCastle.

You have vampire Wolverine.

So why not let Steve Rogers have a remission and have him revert back to CapWolf?

You know what you’ve got right there? The Marvel Universe’s version of the holy trinity of Universal Horror monsters.

If you want to get really creative, throw in a Marvel Zombies refugee, wrap someone up as a Mummy, and turn a hero into a Creature from the Black Lagoon-style, er, creature and, hell, just have Sue Storm be stuck in invisibility mode and you’ve got your Horror Avengers right there.

Instant win!

I’m never entirely comfortable when the Punisher operates in the Marvel U proper; I think he’s usually diminished somewhat. After all, he can’t really kill too many well known characters and he’s completely outclassed when he goes after the real villains of the MU.

Rick Remender’s current series kind of underlined that, and had Frank tooling up against the Hood and his back-from-the-dead minions using a bunch of leftover Marvel weaponry. Fortunately, for the Dark Reign: The List: Punisher one-shot, most of the outlandish weaponry is ditched and it’s just Frank against Daken.

And, well, it’s brutal – and when you’ve got John Romita Jr on his game, it’s really brutal.

Once Daken cuts Frank’s throat, you know he’s in trouble – but (if you haven’t been paying attention to solicits) just how bad that trouble is may come as a shock to you.

Damn. And that was his gun hand too.

Thing is, and this is Frank to a tee, that just means he’s going to use a knife with his other hand.

Although that may not turn out too well.

Crap. Two arms gone. Could things get worse for Frank?

Well…yes.

There’s a bit more, as Daken kicks what’s left of Frank off the roof into the alley below, and all his body parts pile in a heap, just in case you want to get a bit of closure.

The Punisher is a marquee character for Marvel. A name that a lot of non-comics people know – and they just had the lookalike of another big Marvel name cut him, literally, to pieces. I know this is comics, I know that Frank’s coming back as a Frankenstein-style character (and god knows why they think this is a good move for him), but still…

It doesn’t get much more brutal than this in a mainstream Marvel U comic.

Posted via web from Comic By Comic’s Wonderous Posterous!

…because he continues to be a great artist (not darkly realistic, but with a great comic style) but he continues to be dragged into Jeph Loeb-penned messes like Hulk.

Why, Ed, why?

(Although the more I look at that cover the more I think it looks like Paul Pelletier, but my point still stands…)

I know that I put up the pull list weekly, but I thought I’d just mention things that I follow/followed in trades as well…

Preacher – Yes, I know it’s done, and I finished it up pretty much at the time the last trade first hit, but it was a great series. Sure, there are moments where it’s bugfuck-crazy over the top (see: Arseface, Herr Starr’s continual degradation), but there’s a lot of good story there.

And personally I’m rooting for a Spike/Cassidy throwdown.

Punisher MAX – The Punisher doesn’t always work for me in the mainstream MU, but Ennis’ take on him off in his own separate continuity blows me away. From the Born mini that told of Frank’s time in Vietnam through the final story, Valley Forge, Valley Forge which revisited it, it’s about five years of the best hard-bitten crime and punishment stories you can hope for. It’s also the only real time I’ve seen Frank get any character development.

In fact it’s so good, I don’t think I’ll read it now Ennis is gone – I don’t think there’s anything left to do with the character.

Fables – I resisted Fables for the longest time for no good reason – and damn, I’m sorry I did. A great (and simple) premise with exiled fairytale characters living in New York becomes so much more as the reasons for their exile become clear, and war looms. On the down side, I missed out on years of this. On the plus side, I don’t have to wait between trades!

There are a few slow trades in the group, but none that make me regret buying them.

Starman – I missed the first few years of Starman back when it first came out, and then somehow, I missed the last six months. Sure, it’d be cheaper to go back and find the single issues, but I love these hardcover collections. There’ll be six in all, and they’ll look good on the shelf.

And the sheer depth of storytelling here will have me revisiting them time and again. Great stuff.

The Walking Dead – I love zombie movies. Love them. And this book just keeps on getting better and better. There really aren’t any more words to express how good this book is. Yes, it’s gory, bloody and full of strong language…

…but it’s fantastic.

Invincible – And at the other end of Kirkman’s spectrum is Invincible. Straight forward superheroics, the book is probably the heir to early Spider-Man in terms of balancing super-heroics and soap opera antics.

I’m a few books behind, but there’s plenty to catch up on.

I pick up other stuff too – I especially love the small format Boom! trades (check out 10, Talent, Hero Squared and Tag) and the Marvel Digest sized trades – but they’re the main ones I get the trades for regularly (or semi-regularly). I’ve also fairly recently got the first trades for Swamp Thing, Ex Machina (good) and House of Mystery (also good), so I expect I’ll be following along with them soon enough…

I’ve always wanted to get into Hellblazer, but I have no idea where to start. Any suggestions?

In the same spirit as yesterday’s Gotham MiniDude post…

little love for Marvel by ~duss005 on deviantART
I think Dustin Nguyen may have just jumped up my favorite artist list!

Via

See, this is what happens when you get thrown through a plate glass window!

The more I see of Punisher War Zone, the more I think that this is going to hark back to the Dolph Lundgren one rather than the maligned Thomas Jane one. It looks like a mindless, violent 80s film – and I mean that as someone who loved Maniac Cop and the like.

I’m just not convinced that there’s a market for movies like this in theatres anymore. On DVD, certainly – but I’ll be surprised if this makes so much as a ripple in the box office come December.

There’s a TV spot here and then there’s this…

I have to say though, I think it’s an odd choice to have the Marvel Knights logo on this rather than the regular one. Don’t you think the R rating says enough?

IGN is reporting that the current Punisher War Journal series is going to be replaced post-Secret Invasion by a new Punisher series by Rick Remender and Jerome Opena, who worked together on Remender’s Fear Agent.

It looks from the cover above as though Frank will be getting back to hunting characters he can’t possibly kill – although in the case of the Sentry, I’m completely willing to suspend my disbelief and hope he wastes him. In fact I have a list of characters that should be taken out back and shot, should anyone need ideas.

For those counting, if this new series is simply called Punisher and not Punisher War Journal, War Zone, War Nursery or something like that, I calculate it will actually be the eighth volume, including the current Max one. Whew. You wouldn’t want to renumber that, would you?

Released at the con, the new Punisher War Zone trailer is definitely a hard ‘R’ and is pretty damn bloody.

No, very damn bloody. Headshots, neck snaps, faces caving in…it’s almost over the top. There’s also a few glimpses of Jigsaw in there.

I’m still not entirely sold on it, and I hate the fake ‘old film stock’ effect of some shots (hope that’s just for this) but at least it looks like it could be interesting.

…because, honestly, if his name had been something like ‘Barry’ or ‘Earl’ he’d have had a damn hard time being taken seriously. ‘Frank’ just sounds kind of tough.

Like ‘Clint’.

You may have seen the page-by-page panel-by-panel commentary I did on Civil War #7 yesterday – or not – but its easy to think that was the only book around yesterday (well, that and Amazing Spider-Man) so here’s what might end up being a weekly thing, even if I haven’t read everything yet (Wonder Woman, Superman and a few others are still on the ‘to read’ pile).

Top 10: Things that happened yesterday (including Civil War)

(And yes, there will be spoilers for this week’s books here)

10. Best Wake Ever – Punisher War Journal #4 had the best wake ever. Seeing this bunch of B-, C- and D-listers mourn the passing of Stiltman was hilarious and poignant, a sad swansong to a better time. And having Spider-Man confirm it was a nice touch too. And what are the odds they’re all really dead? Zip. If Fraction keeps this up I may have to stick around in spite of myself.

9. Tony Stark becoming Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. in a move that absolutely everyone saw coming. He’s still the smuggest character in comics though, but now potentially one of the most interesting.

8. Barbara Gordon going all last-season of A-Team on us unexpectedly. And you just know that Spy-Smasher’s going to get hers at some point down the line. I pity the fool!

7. Cap hanging up his flag for the cause. Okay, I was kind of rooting for him buying the farm symbolically but I can live with this. I suspect hell be out of prison pretty soon, though. And I do still wonder who’s going to die that leads to Fallen Son…

6. Renee Montoya finally working out what we all did about 42 weeks ago – she’s the new Question.

5. The End is coming. Or near. Or perhaps beginning, I can’t remember which. Lots of DC books this week carried the double paged spread of the image that was revealed a while ago.The build up to Countdown starts here…

4. The Monsters of the MU returned in the hit-and-miss Legion of Monsters: Werewolf by Night, and while Mike Carey and Greg Land’s title feature felt a little been-there, done-that (even if it looked great), Skottie Young’s take on Monster of Frankenstein was – quite honestly – fantastic. I know he has his detractors, but he knocked this out of the park with a slightly different style than usual.

3. Ralph Dibny beats the Devil. Damn…just…damn. I have to go re-read his storyline from the start. Although…hasn’t Faust already shown up in the new JLA. Guess either that binding spell didn’t stick or this isn’t as final as it looks.

2. Hal Jordan shows Bruce Wayne how to win big at blackjack – play without fear! And Bruce’s reaction is priceless too; “I wish Barry had lived to see you with money.” An otherwise very old-school, slightly dull The Brave and the Bold #1 was completely redeemed by that one scene.
1. Hercules – against all odds – comes off as one of the best characters on the planet, so I guess Civil War did change something (and I liked the guy to begin with!)