Why So Blu?

The Punisher a.k.a. FrankenCastle

The creative team (consisting of writer Rick Remender and comic book artist Tony Moore) that brought us the very cool Fear Agent from Dark Horse Comics is back, and this time they’ve taken Frank Castle, The Punisher, in a direction you’d never thought you’d see.  In fact, here’s the conversation I imagine Rick Remender had with his editor.

Remender: Hey, do you mind if I do a story with all the Universal Horror monsters that Marvel seems to own?  I’m a super big fan of those flicks, and I want to tell some stories teaming up a vampire (I’ll use Morbius, The Living Vampire, because Paul Cornell already used Dracula really well in Captain Britain), a mummy, a werewolf, and a gill creature.

Editor: That sounds all well and good there, Rick, but I can’t really give you the go-ahead, because books like that don’t sell well at all.

Remender: Well, what if I had Norman Osborne sic Daken (Wolverine’s son) on The Punisher, and when all is said and done, The Punisher is in a ton of little pieces, and all those monsters Six Million Dollar Man him back together?

Editor: You don’t think all of those fans of the Punisher won’t get upset that you kill him off?

Remender:  Howsabout we get John Romita Jr. to draw the “death” issue?  All the fanboys will pick it up, and once they read that then they’ll have to pick up the next issue to see how we bring him back.

Editor: What do we call this whole thing?

Remender:  That’s easy.  FrankenCastle!

And that’s some of the stuff you’ll see in Punisher #11.

I don’t know about you, but when I heard about this whole idea, I thought it was one of the dumber things Marvel has done.  It doesn’t reek of desperation, because who in their right mind would think this would be a cool story?  But at the end of the day, whether it’s because Remender has made me care about the monsters, or because Tony Moore draws one of the coolest-looking Man-Things out there, this is a good book.  Remender has an obvious love for these “forgotten” characters, and seeing Frank Castle interact with them, while being a bit odd, is also, undeniably, cool.

I understand that this isn’t for everybody, but if you also enjoy the Universal Horror Monsters, think Man-Thing is more than just a joke, or just want to see how a concept this insane was pulled off, then this is the book for you.