Okay, this one is a LONG one. Sorry, but I just love this run. It’s easily my favorite Punisher series.
<b>Chapter 5: The Punisher is reborn: Marvel Knights</b>
By the beginning of the 21st century, the Punisher had been more or less forgotten. He had fallen so far that nothing short of a total lunatic with a hatred for superheroes and years of creating disturbing crap could bring him back. Fortunately, someone like that DID come along: Garth Ennis, creator or DC classics like, um, Hitman and Preacher.
Previously, Ennis had worked on a rag called “The Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe,” which was published as a special issue of Marvel’s “What If?” anthology series. In this universe, the Punisher was actually a cop, whose family was killed during a battle between superheroes and villains. When the heroes treat his loss as an “unavoidable casualty,” Castle responds by violently gunning down three of them. He’s sentenced to life, but is bailed out by an organization composed of victims of superhero battles. They want Castle to become the Punisher, to kill both superheroes and supervillains alike in revenge.
The rest of the issue deals with the Punisher hunting down various heroes and villains, killing them in typical gory fashion. He tazers Spider-Man and Venom before blowing their brains out with a shotgun, attaches a tracer to the Hulk so he can kill him as Bruce Banner, and blows away the Kingpin (which requires an entire belt of M15 ammo). After this, he procures weapons from the Kingpin’s armory, heads to Latavia, and kills Doctor Doom by damaging his mask with a mine before smashing his skull in with a sledgehammer. Now armed with Doom’s personal weaponry, he tricks the X-Men and Brotherhood into a final battle on a moon base, before killing both sides with a nuclear bomb. He impales Wolverine into a generator, shoots Captain America in the back of the head, and (off screen) kills the Avengers by sabotaging their teleporter, while also killing the Fantastic Four somehow. In the end, the only ones left are Daredevil and the Punisher. After a climatic showdown, the Punisher kills Daredevil, but also removes his mask, revealing Matt Murdock, his lawyer and friend. Finally realizing the heroes and villains he had killed were human beings, the Punisher commits suicide.
All told, this was a fairly unspectacular comic, and was rightfully ignored when it was released. (It became a cult favorite only after Ennis took on the Punisher full-time.) However, the comic did bring some new things to the table. First, the series was one of the first to address the impact of titanic battles on regular citizens, predating The Incredibles by nearly ten years. In fact, the crux of the story was that the heroes had no apologies for putting regular citizens in danger just so they could beat back some alien threat or whatnot. The Punisher was also made into a more human character; he knows what he’s doing is wrong the whole time (confessing such to Murdock shortly before their final battle), but feels helpless to stop it. When the same group that saved him tries to rope him into hunting forever (since mutants and superhumans will always be born), he guns down their leader without a second thought, tells everyone to leave him alone, and hints that Microchip (in this universe, he’s confined to a wheelchair after Doctor Octopus tore his legs off) should just “get a life.”
Now, prepare to ignore all of this, as Ennis decided to take the series in a very different direction.
The new Punisher miniseries (now often referred to as “Welcome Back, Frank”) premiered in 2000, and was the second Punisher series with the “Marvel Knights” tagline. (The first was the aforementioned “Purgatory.”) The series begins with the Punisher hunting down the three sons of Ma Gnucci, his latest target in his war on crime. From there, he fought against Ma and her hired guns several times, tricked Ma into a polar bear bit (where her limbs were torn off), fought the nearly indestructible Russian, and finally killed Ma Gnucci with some gasoline and hand grenades.
Meanwhile, the series also introduced several new supporting characters. The most immediate were the Punisher’s neighbors: “Spacker” Dave (a dweeb with almost his entire face pierced), Mr. Bumpo (a comically obese man that couldn’t even squeeze out of his apartment), and Joan the Mouse (an incredibly anxious and shy woman who often “baked too many cookies”). Also joining the cast was Detective Soap, the police department’s biggest loser and the one unfortunate enough to be saddled with the Punisher Task Force. He also had a partner, but I’ve forgotten her name at the moment, and she wasn’t really that important, so let’s go on.
The other important characters were three copycat vigilantes. The Holy was a fanatically homicidal Catholic priest (because if it’s Garth Ennis, all religion is evil and meant only to bring about people’s deaths) that killed whoever came in for confession. The Elite was a fascist white supremacist who wanted to keep his neighborhood “clean” of everyone that he thought might bring them down (including hot dog vendors and car thieves). And finally, Mr. Payback was a thug that targeted the heads of banks and corporations, claiming that they were responsible for the deaths of regular people thanks to their penny-pinching and outsourcing. All three band together over the stretch of the series, and plan on bringing the Punisher in as their leader. In the end, however, it turns out the Punisher DOESN’T want a bunch of amateurs and biased psychopaths copying him, and he very promptly kills them all.
The miniseries was a huge success, and a few months later, Marvel rolled out a new series, again under the Marvel Knights brand. A few months after killing Ma Gnucci, chopping the Russians’ head off, and killing the three vigilantes, the Punisher is still operating in New York. Meanwhile, Soap, having briefly blackmailed his way to the top, has been kicked back down to Detective, and as further humiliation, is placed back on the Punisher Task Force. Before he can kill himself, however, the Punisher convinces him to act as an “inside man,” giving him information about criminals and other potential targets. Meanwhile, the Russian returns, this time as an android (with a woman’s body…ugh), and nearly kills the Punisher before being pushed off the Empire State Building (with the unwilling assistance of Spider-Man). This leads to the Punisher infiltrating an island of mercenaries, led by General Kriegoff, who plans to drop a nuke on France. The Punisher eventually blows onto the plane with the nuke while it’s taking off, chains the bomb to a resurrected Russian, and then pushed both of them off, setting the nuke off on the island and killing all 2,000 people. THEN he goes to the person who hired Kriegoff to begin with, and gives him a warning to stay out of his way. (It’s never stated, but it’s heavily implied that the mysterious benefactor was George W. Bush.)
Obviously, with an opening like THAT, you know the action’s going to be nonstop. In fact, the series is more or less treated like a number of smaller storylines combined in a singular framework. Several storylines, such as Soap’s relationship with a hooker (which he destroys by sleeping with her daughter), a mob war the Punisher started, and Castle’s growing animosity with the superhero community, spread out across the whole series, while also clearly intertwining with what’s going on in the current issue. In fact, the tight editing of the series proved to be one of the most endearing elements, at least for me, and has made it infinitely re-readable.
In fact, I consider the main Marvel Knights run to be my favorite version of the Punisher. It’s not as full-blown disgusting and ridiculous as the MAX series, but takes the subject matter far more seriously than the original runs. Ennis may have a disgusting streak, but he is still a talented writer when he wants to be, as evidenced in “Do Not Fall in New York City,” my absolute favorite issue of the Punisher. In this case, a war buddy of Castle’s has a breakdown and murders his family right after a messy divorce, coupled with his business failing and his life generally collapsing. He drifts across New York City, killing a waitress for asking him to leave a diner, and nearly killing a family that was visiting the Statue of Liberty. Meanwhile, the Punisher manages to find him, and guns him down.
However, the Punisher’s motivation is far different than usual. He sees himself as <I>saving</I> his old friend; by killing him, he just becomes a victim of the Punisher’s homicidal rampage. If he was actually arrested, there would be book deals, televised court hearings, 24-hour news coverage, etc. As the Punisher puts it, “A man, his guts lay bare for the world to see.” Furthermore, throughout the issue, the Punisher monologues that the “New New York” is a front, that the old, uncaring, hateful New York City is still there, and that no one will catch you if you fall. And yet, the last splash panel has the Punisher holding his latest victim, muttering the words “I caught you.” It’s a surprisingly moving moment, one of the few times Ennis allows any sort of human element in the Punisher, and one that carries on in my memory when I think of the series.
One other notable trick of Ennis’ run was putting more emphasis on the supporting characters. In Ennis’ eyes, the Punisher was more or less a one-dimensional character; hence, instead of making the Punisher more developed, it’s better to flesh out the people he comes in contact with. In the three-part “Brotherhood” story, the Punisher is targeting a drug ring with connections to the police. However, rather than focus on the Punisher’s hunt, the issues focus on two cops that get involved in the scheme. One has actually started working for the dealers to pay off gambling debts, and the other is a wife-beater and alcoholic. In the end, both cops end up killing the top dealers and their main connection, but die themselves in the attempt. Despite being criminals themselves, they are buried as heroes. All the while, the Punisher watches the scene, unable to act because he’s not used to going against cops.
Although a modest success, the series had to end at some point. The last five issues dealt with the Punisher’s actions against the superhero community; in particular, against Daredevil, Spider-Man and Wolverine. He had previously placed Daredevil in a scenario where he would HAVE to kill the Punisher to stop him (Daredevil did try to shoot at him, but the gun had no firing pin, and Castle got his man anyway). Spider-Man had been used as a human shield during the Punisher’s fight with the reborn Russian. Wolverine had temporarily teamed up to deal with an army of midget gangsters (I am not making this up), but the Punisher ran him over with a streamroller immediately after. The three team up to bring down the Punisher.
Meanwhile, the Punisher learns about an underground auction, where an ultimate weapon is set to be sold. While trying to find the auction, one of his informants rats him out to the heroes. The Punisher escapes (thanks to some well-timed taunting and a cheeseburger), kills everyone at the auction, and steals the merchandise…an amnesiac Bruce Banner. After feeding Banner strange stew for several days, and barely surviving another run-in with the heroes, the Punisher’s plans come to fruition; he tricks the heroes into a warehouse, right after he beat Banner to the point of absolute rage. The Hulk soon smashes his way inside, sending Wolverine flying all the way to Philadelphia with one punch and smashing Daredevil into the sewers. Over the course of the final battle, Spider-Man is nearly beaten, Spacker Dave stupidly wanders in and is crushed by the Hulk, and the Punisher gets to talk down to Daredevil for once:
“You want to stop me from killing by sending me to prison. That’s stupid. Send me to jail and I’ll kill everyone I meet. There’s only one way you’ll ever stop me. If you can’t do it, then don’t waste my time.”
And so, the series ends. Soap tries and fails to capture the Punisher one last time before becoming a porn star, the heroes disband and go their separate ways, Dave is quadriplegic for life, and the Punisher ends the series by musing about how 9/11 destroyed everyone’s sense of innocence before doing what he does best: throwing his backstabbing informant off of the Empire State Building.
The Marvel Knights run managed to hit just the right balance for a Punisher series. Some things weren’t handled perfectly (I’d love to see the Punisher grow as a character, rather than be stuck forever as just another killer), but for the most part, everything worked out for the best. And with that, I have to end my positives, because I’m going to deal with the two current series.
One is a vastly overrated, incredibly graphic series not sold in stores.
The other is written by Matt Fraction…which is surprisingly a negative in this case.
but I will admit I’m surprised he allowed the Demon Hunter stuff to remain in continuity (of course it may not have been his decision.) Not only it feels odd for the character, but it retcons Puny’s origin so that his family’s death was the result of a war between Angels and Demons, not just criminals. Huh? That’s not something you can just ignore afterwards! But you probably know more about that than I do, so I await your description of it. 