Frankencastle: Will The Punisher be a cyborg?

[Captain Comics]

A series of press releases from Marvel indicate big changes for The Punisher, changes that don't lend themselves to being undone. See if that's how you interpret these:

July 21, July 28 and Aug. 5, 2009

Punisher: Rest In Pieces
Dark Reign: The List brings the most dramatic changes ever to Punisher! Dark Wolverine faces off against Frank Castle and the Punisher’s (after)life is altered forever! Beginning with Punisher #8, don’t miss four special Rest In Pieces Variants, all clues to the startling changes ahead for the Punisher!

PUNISHER #8 (JUN090558)

PUNISHER #8 70TH FRAME VARIANT (JUN090559)

PUNISHER #8 REST IN PIECES VARIANT (JUN098029)

Written by RICK REMENDER

Penciled by TAN ENG HUAT

Cover by MIKE MCKONE

70th Frame Variant by STEVE DILLON

Rest In Pieces Variant by TOM RANEY

Parental Advisory …$2.99

FOC—7/28/09, On-Sale—8/19/09



PUNISHER #9 (JUL090548)

PUNISHER #9 REST IN PIECES VARIANT (JUN098030)

Written by RICK REMENDER

Penciled by TAN ENG HUAT

Cover by MIKE MCKONE

Rest In Pieces Variant by TOM RANEY

Parental Advisory …$2.99

FOC—8/27/09, On-Sale—9/16/09

Aug. 4, 2009

Frankencastle

It’s Punisher Like You’ve Never Seen Him Before.

November 2009.

Captain Comics here again, and it looks to me that Frank Castle is heading for cyborg land. Is that how everyone else interprets this? And if so, will something vital be lost in that The Punisher will become a superhuman? Let's hear what you think, Legionnaires!

[Alan M.]

Could be worse; they could be turning him into some kind of supernatural avenging angel or something...

[Captain Comics]

HA! Yeah, that would be silly, wouldn't it?

[Figserello]

Frank Castle is one of Marvel's most potent creations. He's the distillation of the revenge drive and the death drive in society at large and people individually. He is death incarnate. His origin and MO is so simple too.

Marvel mess with this at their peril.

So he's killed and brought to life as some kind of half-machine cyborg? Nothing a little reboot and a dash of mopee can't fix.

Ennis got rid of the whole 'angel of death' thing in half a sentence in his first issue.

[Mr. Satanism]

It always infuruates me when people talk about the Punisher as a Marvel creation (no offense to you, Fig). He's such a blatant steal of an 1970's pulp character (The Executioner, I think?) - right down to the costume - that I can't believe Marvel was never sued. Making him into an android, a ghost, or a little girl with pigtails is all fine by me. At least then he'll actually BE an original character.

[Figserello]

Point taken.

Created in 1969 too. Doesn't mention anything about the death's head on the shirt, though.

The names make one the offshoot of the other.

Still where would comicbooks be without these steals?

Batman is a much better character than 'The Bat' or some scribblings by Da Vinci. Superman has long since moved beyond his Gladiator roots.

I'm relaxed about it personally, but maybe I'd feel otherwise if I was the writer of those demented Executioner books.

[Captain Comics]

Marvel and Pendleton seemed to have some sort of arrangement. He was interviewed in one of their B&W magazines, Bizarre Adventures or something, where The Punisher was given an Executioner-like origin. I'll have to dig out that issue and see if he mentions any kind of deal in the interview. But clearly he and Marvel were on good terms.

[Cavaliere (moderator emeritus)]

If anything, Castle will be more believable to me within the context of the Marvel Universe by being a cyborg. That he hasn't be so terribly wounded or even killed by now is beyond my willing suspension of disbelief. Bringing him to a superhuman level will allow me to accept (a bit, anyway) that he can survive given what he does.

[Figserello]

He's the avatar of DEATH in the MU!

Of course the grim reaper has been giving him a free pass up to now. I can live with that.

[Lumbering Jack (M'odd-R8-Tr)]

Maybe Frank is building himself a Frankenstein monster. Or maybe he found the M.U.'s Frankenstein's monster and souped him up.
I do think that the Punisher needs to be a normal human.

[Figserello]

Also, some runty little nobody that only just crept out of the woodpile isn't gonna do fer our Frank!

THAT's stretching credibility!