NO! (Don't shoot me in the face! The Punisher Topic)

[anarky]

You're probably kidding, but, holy shit, wouldn't that be an awesome actual story? Because the real Frank keeps a low profile, and because the Thunderbolts probably aren't exactly high-profile, either, no one knows that this isn't Frank until Frank gets wind of it... and he turns out to be the fucking Red Skull, fooling everyone and getting close enough to cause some damage.

That could be the fucking coolest thing Marvel's done in a dog's age.

[Tom Foolery]

If Rick Remender hadn't completely cocked-up the Red Skull(like he does with EVERY character he touches) over in Uncanny Uncle Tom Avengers.
I'm not reading it, but I think he had Red Skull desecrate Prof. Xavier's body and remove his brain so he could put in Red Skull's head and use it to mind control people. Or something. Yes. Remender's writing is THAT awful. People keep buying it. People are assholes.

(Also I don't know if Clownshoes ever explained how Red Skull was back after what Brubaker did to him during his Cap run. Either he A. Didn't explain or B. it was a fucktarded explanation. Because Clownshoes is a shitty fucking writer and needs to get advance stage brain cancer immediately.)

[anarky]

So, the Red Skull stole a corpse of a telepath so he could remove the brain and put his own brain into it to control people?

Am I reading and interpreting that right?

Red Skull wants to gain telepathy, a power that derives FROM THE BRAIN by removing THE BRAIN of a telepath?

Didn't we once have a smiley of a guy slamming his head against a brick wall, because that would be hella appropriate right now.



(I borrowed that from another site because nothing else sums up my thoughts unless you want to involve Lady Gaga videos.)

[Tom Foolery]

Like I said, I didn't read it. Diabolical might explain it more clearly. He buys that shit.

[Diabolical]

Rusk stole Xavier's brain and grafted that rotting hunk of meat to his own (with no apparent scars/sutures/wounds/whatever on Rusk's same size lookin' noggin so he could have mental powers.
Or something like that. I kind of zoned out after a few issues and then I lost track of what the fuck was going on.
I'm done with it now.

[Tom Foolery]

Did they explain why Rusk wasn't dead/in an Arnim Zola robot body after Bru's Cap Reborn mini series?
Not that I expect Remender to give a fuck to research and acknowledge other writers' works. Fuckin' hack.

[Diabolical]

Not that I'm aware of or remember.

EDIT: This current Rusk is actually a clone or something.

Via wiki:

Following the Avengers vs. X-Men storyline, Red Skull mysteriously returns and assembles a team called the S-Men. Red Skull's S-Men attack Rogue and Scarlet Witch at the grave of Professor X and steal his body. In his hideout, Red Skull is then seen removing Professor X's brain in a plot to "eradicate the mutant menace".[53] This Red Skull is revealed to be a clone of the original, created by Arnim Zola in 1942 and held in cryogenic stasis in the event that Germany lost the war. Fusing part of Professor X's brain with his own, Red Skull brainwashes Scarlet Witch as part of a plot to wipe out the world's mutant population. Rogue attacks the Scarlet Witch and they fight until they both discover the lobotomized body of Professor X. Red Skull arrives and reveals that he has fused his brain with Professor X's brain.[54] Using Professor X's telepathy, the Red Skull provokes ordinary citizens of New York into a mass assault against even potential mutants, even managing to take control of Thor. However, his telepathy is still erratic with the Red Skull being unable to completely control Captain America and an attack against him by Wolverine cutting off his right hand and disrupting his powers long enough for Rogue and Scarlet Witch to break free.[55] The team ultimately force the Red Skull to retreat after Rogue manages to temporarily disrupt his powers, Havok mockingly comparing the Red Skull to the jock who beats up gay kids to conceal his own homosexuality.[56]

[Tom Foolery]

[Tom Foolery]

New Punisher ongoing!! By Nathan Edmonson(who?) and Mitch Garads(who?). Starts in February (along with like THIRTY other new series from Marvel. Holy Shit!).

Punisher moves to L.A. Eh. He's gone west coast before. That's not a deal breaker. No word if it's the real Frank or the fake Frank (although I'm not convinced Marvel is aware the guy in Tbolts IS an imposter).

[Diabolical]

No word if it's the real Frank or the fake Frank (although I'm not convinced Marvel is aware the guy in Tbolts IS an imposter).

Not yet. Once they spot the theory here it will become reality. Just a waiting game at this point.

[Diabolical]

NYCC: EDMONDSON'S "PUNISHER" BRINGS HIS WAR TO THE CITY OF ANGELS

A few bits from the interview:

CBR News: Were you guys' fans of the character? And if so were there any runs that you especially enjoyed?
Nathan Edmondson: Well, no, I'd never heard of Punisher before, and Mitch isn't into comics, but I think he had some Spider-Man pajamas at one point.

Starting off with a terrible joke isn't helping you, buddy.

I'm thrilled to explore his psyche, but especially fun are his more human moments; his interactions with "normal" people. His breakfast habits and animal friends, for example. We've got a whole issue where he just talks about his favorite moments in "Rizzoli & Isles."

See previous statement.

We're showing a side of Frank that's, dare I say, relatable and human and even a bit likable. Not like he shops at Ikea or anything, but we'll peek into Frank Castle when he's not The Punisher. Witty dialogue, yes. Man of mystery, yep. Kick butt tactical operator, you betcha.

I hope this is another terrible joke.

Finally, you've touched on it briefly, but what can you tell us about your initial "Punisher" story? Is this a shorter story about Frank getting the feel of a new battlefield? Or is this the start of a longer campaign against a particular target?

We're playing a long game here.

So it'll be cancelled in like a year.

[Tom Foolery]

I came here to link that same article and had the exact same thoughts.

"peek at Castle when he's not the Punisher." EXCUSE ME? Castle is NEVER not the Punisher. It's not a 9-5 job where he comes home and takes off the uniform and watches TV.
Frank also doesn't "protect the city". That's not his gig. You're thinking of Spider-Man.
He makes it sound like the Punisher just drives around LA looking for crimes to stop like a neighborhood watch guy.

This now fills me with dread and apprehension.

[anarky]

Indeed. Frank is always the Punisher. It's almost like the Batman thing, where Bruce Wayne is the disguise Batman puts on to function in the world, but Punisher doesn't fuck with the disguise. Frank Castle's his legal name. Frank Castle died in Central Park years ago. I'm not going for a witty comment that's been overused before. That's the way it is. The Punisher is rage, brutality, violence, a ridiculous amount of military training and combat skills, and an insatiable thirst for revenge occupying the body formerly owned by a family man named Frank Castle.

He's not insane. He's tortured, in constant pain; his conscience is warped. In his pain, he's reverted back the machinery of his military training, and he's taken that to another level. I'm thrilled to explore his psyche, but especially fun are his more human moments; his interactions with "normal" people.

He is insane. Period. He is not fully connected to reality--not in the sense that he sees things or hears voices, but in the sense that his every action is socially unacceptable and he doesn't give a fuck. That's insane. "Insane" is not a scientific word, and its only definition is not the legal one. You can argue whether he's insane in the legal sense, whether he recognizes that what he does is morally wrong, but the man is insane in the broader sense.

I really love the response from Damage on the CBR forums to you, Foolery (under an assumed name, obviously), about your qualms of exploring Frank when he's not Punisher:

That kind of approach to the character has been done before, in the late 80s and early 90s, with writers like Mike Baron, Carl Potts or Chuck Dixon, that's nothing new. The super violent emotionless machine Punisher, as it is known now, started with Ennis in the early 2000s.

I see nothing wrong with comming back to that kind of approach, as long as Frank continue dispatching people in a efficient way.

Clearly Damage is a very young kid who got his name from a comic someone once told him was an underrated DC superhero, because he's too young to remember it and his mommy won't drive him to a comic shop with any back issues. Because there's no fucking way he read any of those writers on Punisher if this is the way he remembers their runs. The closest thing to "downtime" the Punisher had was putting on normal clothes and doing things like eating, and going light on a kid who stole a candy bar. Just because he didn't have the skull on and was around civilians doesn't mean he ever stopped being the Punisher.

Punisher is not sad, at least not in the traditional sense. His emotions are dead, except on the rare occasion something reminds him of his family. He would gladly die at any moment. But he keeps on fighting for his own life because he knows every minute he survives means potentially one less criminal on Earth.

[Tom Foolery]

Kudos to whoever edited the Topic's Title.

[vynsane]

^ heh, yeah, i figured we needed a bit more of a descriptive title.