7 Wildly Different Iterations Of The Punisher

6. Purgatory

In the immortal words of the Spice Girls; €˜too much of something is bad enough€™. There was a point in the 90€™s when the Punisher had no less than four monthly comics on the shelves. When his popularity eventually began to wane, editorial decided that something needed to be done in order to boost sales and a radical change was permitted. Frank was made to turn his gun on himself, only to be resurrected as a demon hunting angel. This is not the last time the Punisher is given a supernatural twist, however it€™s widely regarded as a low-point in the characters history and was ignored by the next scribe (the incomparable Garth Ennis) entirely. Yes, Frank is a bogeyman for criminals, but not in the literal sense; his stories (mostly) incorporate a degree of realism, even if he is using a steamroller to turn Wolverine into a hairy, Canadian crepe. Giving him a facial tattoo as embarrassing as Mike Tyson€™s (please don€™t hurt me) and a pair of magical, phallic guns that are less badass and more demon-dong does the character and the reader no favours. The Punisher is the embodiment of vengeance but on a human level. Incorporating a biblical element dissolves the raw, guttural appeal of the character. Frank may be a Catholic, but there is nothing holy about him. He knows that when his futile war inevitably reaches its bloody conclusion, he will not be reunited with his family. He€™ll have to look up to see them from his own solitary circle of hell. Fact. Hits; Not even. Misses; It turns out that Frank Castle€™s guardian angel was chasing skirt on the day Frank€™s family were viciously gunned down. Which makes sense, because heaven would be all about the bumping of uglies. The Punisher would not commit suicide. He€™s not that emotional. Frank would keep chasing down scum until his knees grind to dust and his heart farts out one last, thunderous beat.
In this post: 
The Punisher
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor

When I was a kid, I used to think the moon followed our car everywhere.