CBR: Remender Builds A Better Punisher

[CBR News]

CBR speaks with "Punisher" writer Rick Remender about his plans for the Marvel Universe's favorite anti-hero after recent events in the Marvel Universe have changed Frank Castle's life drastically. Plus: "FrankenCastle."


Full article here.

[CyberHubbs]

Remender's got my attention.

[mushroom2703]

Wow. I don't know about anyone else, but I think this looks fantastic idea, and while its a big departure from the past, it could be a great new beginning for the punisher. Obviously, the trouble with the punisher as a character in the core MU, is the power mismatch with almost every other character and how to fit him in there realistical. They tried stuff in the past like hey, lets make him an angel. Unfortunately imo, that failed because being an angel doesn't resonate withany of frank's themes. Thats a ghost rider twist right there. Where as Frankencastle works thematically of frank's conflict with eradicating monsters against becoming one himself. In fact, it almost sounds like what the orignal punisher pitch could have been. Mans family died, man exacts likewise revenge, however, sacrifices his humanity in the process, go. Its the same idea as he already was, but levels the playfield and makes him so much easier to use in main MU stories.

Plus Tony Moore. Damn.

Anyway, I can see people resisting, but as long as this is seperate from punisher max, I can't see a negative.

EDIT: One thing thoug,h I do hope he gets the memories of his family back at the end of the arc though, because i think thats what makes the heart and will make the heart of this monster so compelling.

[Sighphi]

Punisher is dressing up as Frankenstein's Monster for Halloween?

[graffiX]

I am not a fan of Punisher, nor have I collected any of his books since the early '90s but this looks really awesome. I am heading to by LCS to pick up issue #10 and the List. And I'll probably stick with the rest of the arc to see how it turns out.

I love it when writers have the balls to totally reinvent an existing character and turn his/her world upside down. Gotta respect that.

[Westgarth J]

This looks almost as good as when the Punisher was an angel!

[chrisgiff]

This looks almost as good as when the Punisher was an angel!

agreed. i'm scared to death.

[Bevbos]

As Remender points out, there's a "normal" Punisher book on the stands, being written by a very capable writer, so I'm not that worried about it.

I'm more concerned with: the Dark Avengers just "tagged and bagged" the Man-Thing. So how is he now running free, living in the sewers with the Morlocks and what not?

[Superbeast]

I am not a fan of Punisher, nor have I collected any of his books since the early '90s but this looks really awesome. I am heading to by LCS to pick up issue #10 and the List. And I'll probably stick with the rest of the arc to see how it turns out.

I love it when writers have the balls to totally reinvent an existing character and turn his/her world upside down. Gotta respect that.

But it's not necessary. I mean, look at Superman Red/Blue. There is no need to alter a character than can be successful when marketed to the right people with a good creative team behind it. There's a reason Punisher was off the boards for a few years, because it's clear few can write him well. It's only because of the success of the MAX title Punisher was reintroduced back into the regular MU and now rather than building on that success sensibly, they make him a zombie. Right. Because that's what brought him back to the dance, that people wanted a zombie Punisher, not a bad ass killer who does whatever it takes like in the MAX series. No, Punisher fans are clearly right in there with the zombie fans in Remender's mind. This story could easily have been done using Dethlok instead, as has already been stated, and it wouldn't have really made much difference for Dethlok. But doing this to the Punisher is just asinine, particularly given the fact the last time they did something this dumb they had to wait 2 years for the dust to settle before Ennis would even approach the property.

[Dr-Strange]

Punisher should have had a better part in Dark Reign not this abortion of a story.

[Vidocq]

Whatever happened to Remender's book? I remember it was going strong, then a Joke promo about Frank becoming Frankenstein appeared and it disapiered from the face of the Earth. It simply stopped existing. Weird.

Anyway, MAX Punisher is still on the stands, So atleast we have one Punisher ongoing on the stands.

[Donald]

I'm more concerned with: the Dark Avengers just "tagged and bagged" the Man-Thing. So how is he now running free, living in the sewers with the Morlocks and what not?

And the Legion of Monsters was working for gov't in the last Marvel Zombies arc. I guess Morbius made a deal with Mephesito....

[mushroom2703]

@ superbeast:

All of which is a valid point of view. However, a few things jump to mind off your post.

I see the point, but superman isn't a great example to use, yknow? Superman sold a ton. It still did when they f'cked with him. Plus the actual change didn't bring anything new to the table. The problem with punisher has always been making him fit so he can be used, so its hard to then compare those too. I think with punisher you have three options. Use him in an unrealistic way. Use him and he dies. Don't use him in the main MU at all. Maybe you want the third? If you do, just read the max title I guess. I assume if you want him in the MU but don't want the first two, then you can only go so far before you repeat yourself, or a change is necessary. And since there IS a title that is doing tradition frank, why not change it up?

Secondly, during your thing where you keep repeating zombie over and over, you mention badass killer...like in the max titles. You can't do that in the regular books. You can't have him kill people in cold blood constantly, and you can't realistically put him against superpowered people for lnog before you have to face the fact its becoming unrealistic. Also, zombie, kinda different with frankenstien since it has specific thematic stuff i think specifical works here, but thats just me bieng pedantic. I'm sure when you say zombie you mean frankenstein, or w/e.

Lastly, sure. You could do it with Deathlok. Or a brand new character. But he came up with this while on punisher, whilst trying to find a way to make punisher work on some level in the MU. Thats why do it with punisher and not deathlok. Because the aim her eis specific to do something new with frank, not make a new character.

You're totally entitled to your opinion, and i get it, but i think when there is max stuff thats keeping the frank you want, and (imo) when you look at it levelheadedly you jsut cant have that frank in the regular mu, hence why use and sales has always been dodgy, its a fair shot. You nkow if it doesn't work they'll change it.

[Thor-El]

I think this story sounds interesting, but I'm really concened about certain (and I'm going to use the bad word here) continuity aspects of this Legion of Monsters thing. Like Bevbos stated above, Man-Thing was just captured by Osborn, and most of the other Legionnaires were members of the Howling Commandos recently. And isn't Morbius leading a new Midnight Sons chasing Marvel Zombies around?

If there's a work-out for all this, great. But if all that history is being brushed under the carpet in favor of telling this story, then that's unacceptable.

Fortunately, it's not my own money that gets spent on this series. A friend buys it, and I just read it.

[Will44]

I can't see this working and resonating with fans other than Marvel Zombies (not the comics but the fans that buy anything Marvel puts out).

Turning Frank Castle into an undead monster just utterly fails to fit with the character's purpose and fan base. People who buy Punisher aren't looking for a book about horror and zombies.

Honestly, this is almost like someone said "okay, we need to sell more punisher comics. What's hot right now?"

"Vampires?"

"Nah, there's too much vampire stuff out right now, vampire frank would get lost in the shuffle."

"Zombies?"

"Hmm... almost... Zombieland is pretty hot."

"Ghosts or Aliens? Paranormal Activity, District 9 and The Fourth Kind are all getting good reviews."

"Hmm... Hey, all these ideas are horror oriented and Halloween is right around the corner. Let's use Frankenstein! No one's using that property!"