Eh, not necessarily.

I started reading Ultimatum, for example, and couldn't finish it. I simply couldn't. AWFUL book. I don't think I even saved the issues.

I did, however, keep tabs on the outcome of the story via Wikipedia and the like.

Eh, there are certain things in HeroClix that piss me off royally (Chases, ICWf'nO, wildcard abuse, to name a few), but I still love the game.

While I don't agree with your conclusion about him necessarily staying dead, I do agree that he is an awkward fit into the mainstream Marvel universe.

The problem I've had for years with the Punisher is that if you take him realistically in the Marvel universe, he would obviously be going after a lot of the same villains that the superheroes go after - The Kingpin, the Red Skull, Hammerhead, etc., etc., and he wouldn't stop until one or the other of them are dead.

The problem with that is that this is a collaborative superhero universe built on the types of stories in which good villains always find a way to return. Punisher stories are basically the antithesis of that notion. While both kinds of stories have their charms, they do not coexist together very well.

Marvel's solution to this was to have the Punisher exist in an isolated corner of the universe in which his interactions with the rest of the Marvel Universe are minimized and the targets he generally goes after are ones that don't really impact the rest of their titles. In the stories where he did encounter important villains Marvel wouldn't want dead, there would inevitably be some kind of compromise in Castle's usual code that let the two square off and then back away leaving all important parties still alive and ready for the next story.

As more and more people wanted to see greater interaction from the Punisher, a number of lesser-known villains were sacrificed on the altar of Punisher's style of comics. They were taken out of the superhero genre for which they were made and offered for death in the crime-killer genre they didn't really belong in. This was all done in the interests of trying to squeeze a cube into a round hole, to make the Punisher fit more into the Marvel universe. Or, more aptly, to make the Marvel Universe fit into Punisher comics.

This is one of the reasons I love the Franken-Castle storyline. The trend is reveresed. Instead of the Marvel Universe being forced to fit into a Punisher-style story, the Punisher is being forced to fit into a Marvel Universe-style story. In order to maintain the drive and violence necessary to keep it somewhat in line with the Punisher's personality, though, they had the good sense to see that he would fit best into a tribute to Marvel's old horror comics.

It was certainly an unpredictable combination of elements, but I would much rather read this kind of Punisher story than any of the ones in which he kills off supervillains that were meant to fight Spider-Man and Daredevil. This is also why I love that they feature Frank in his own Max line of comics. The contradictions of him fully functioning as he should in the Marvel universe are eliminated. In the Max line, the Punisher can truly be the Punisher. Any version that exists in the Marvel U, if it wants to maintain the basic fabric of the Marvel U, has to be watered-down.

Not to mention that with all the people Castle kills, he verges (if he hasn't already passed the line) on being as bad as some of the people he goes after. You'd think that sooner or later, one or more Marvel Heroes would get around to considering Punisher a villain.

Though from what I've heard, that's kind of what's taking place in the Ultimate U, which has me waiting eagerly for the Ultimate Avenger TPBs.

Then there was that time Frank was made into a supernatural being.

Three words pretty much cover every avenue:

Comic. Book. Physics.


If that doesn't work, there's mystical items. Bio-chemical regeneration. Cloning. Super-formulas. Potions.

Any of them would be just dandy (but in the story itself, it looks like they're using the mystic item route).

Spot on, especially about how Frank is truly a product of the 70s.

I was a huge fan of the Punisher back in the early 90's. I always wanted
to see Castle tee off on a heavyweight criminal. I always thought Frank Castle was the anti-Batman. What Bruce Wayne would have been like if Wayne had been born poor. I understand now that I'm older, that the Punisher comics are limited by the ability to kill off major marketable villains. It's unfortunate that they can't build up some villains for the Punisher to knock off.

Punisher kills the widely-accepted conventions of comic-book heroism. Simple as that.

While I'm not on board with FrankenCastle, I LOVED his fight with Daken. 'Cause, y'know, that's EXACTLY what'd happen were the Punisher to go up against a highly-trained killing machine such as Daken.

Only because Daken has claws tipped with magic.

Does Daken have Adamantium bones? If not it would equally believable for Frank to put a well placed bullit right between the eyes putting an end to Daken's lameness. Unless they decided to do FrankenDaken.

Daken's powers seem to change with alarming frequency, so I'm honestly not sure. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daken#Powers_and_abilities

But as far as I know, Daken's still on the lamb, and I'm very excited to see FrankenCastle and the Legion of Monsters square off once and for all against Wolverine Junior.

Some sort of iron, plus some of the magic sword on his claws, tho I think he's lost that stuff now.

They should just have him square off against that X-23 so they end up killing each other.

I don't know much about Daken but what I do know is, I want him DEAD.

And I want Frank to do it.

BTW, I read Punisher MAX and love it. Highly recommended.

Oh yes, I lack so much imagination yet I play a game with fictional superheroes who use supernatural powers.

Forgive me if I witness a character getting his body diced up into tiny pieces and think he can't recover from it. At least not without cybernetic, prosthetic, or sewn-up parts.

Well, Frank did once have his face fixed through surgery, which also made him African-American.