Punisher is daddy just look like the
work of a dead man
this one-man army is a criminals worst
nightmare welcome to watchmojo.com ik
book page to explore a character’s
origins their creation and their place
in comic book history before we begin we
publish new videos every day so be sure
to subscribe for more great content in
this installment we will be exploring
the secret origins of the vigilante
known as The Punisher
[Music]
it was the early 1970s Vietnam War was
coming to a close the video game pong
had become a massive success and
spider-man’s popularity was in full
swing by 1972 the webhead who hadn’t
been introduced a decade earlier in 1962
had not one but two ongoing series to
his name for Gerry Conway writer of the
amazing spider-man that meant a constant
string of villains for Peter Parker to
overcome wanting to introduce a
character with more of a twist
Conway conceived of this unmasked man
who despite initially coming across as a
villain with later be revealed to have
good intentions albeit with a wildly
different ethical code from Spidey
Conway provided a rough sketch which
included a small skull insignia to art
director John Romita senior who
finalized the Punishers look enlarging
the now iconic skull to cover most of
the heroes torso as then editor-in-chief
Stan Lee tells it the initial working
name for this edgy addition to Spidey’s
world was the assassin but he knew that
such an explicitly violent name would
never fly with the censors according to
Lee he was actually the one who came up
with the name The Punisher as an
alternative recycling the moniker of the
throwaway robotic henchmen of Galactus
from a 1966 issue of Fantastic Four
debuting in the amazing spider-man
number 129 in 1974 the Punisher proved a
surprise hit with readers even Conway
admitted to be a bit taken aback by the
response the character received he’d
been crafted as a B or a c-list
character the Punishers gray area
position within the black and white
moral dichotomy of hero versus villain
that defined comic-book storytelling at
the time made him a refreshingly nuanced
figure by crafting unethically complex
and psychologically ambitious vigilante
Conway had created a character that
readers wanted to see more up he soon
earned his own main story in Marvel
preview and Marvel action and appeared
in a number of other popular series in
the coming years however all the way
back in his spider-man appearance the
Punishers dark past was hinted at but it
wasn’t really fleshed out until the
Punisher was given center stage in
Marvel preview number two laid out
before us was the truly tragic tale of
Frank Castle born Francis castellone a
military and family man whose entire
world was turned upside down in a single
day
castle was a highly decorated and
skilled soldier who served his country
for years first as a Marine and then as
a member of Special Ops back at home he
had a wife Maria with whom he was
happily married and had two kids on a
sunny day in Central Park he and his
family were witness to a murder and the
mobsters responsible fearing witnesses
attempted to kill the Casta Lyonnaise in
cold blood
they succeeded but with one exception
the deadliest member of the family
survived when the legal system failed to
bring those criminals to justice Frank
would eventually channel his depression
and loss into a quest for revenge
the Punisher was born back in the real
world Conway had underestimated his own
creation and unfortunately despite the
Punishers success guest appearances
that’s a mistake Marvel continued to
make for a year he was a killer being
cast as the hero and that was enough for
the editors to avoid giving him the
spotlight for years
Stephen grant had been pushing for The
Punisher to get his own series in one
form or another when the Punisher
miniseries was finally greenlit in 1984
it was still allegedly only achieved
with great resistance from management in
1986 when the five-issue miniseries ran
it did so with very little promotion but
despite the odds it became a huge
success the Punishers time had finally
come it was the 1980s and crime was up
crack cocaine use had reached epidemic
proportions and particularly in major
cities like New York people felt
generally unsafe America was getting
tough on crime and the Punishers brand
of justice you know with a gun suddenly
seemed significantly less hard to
swallow in the year after his miniseries
The Punisher was given his first ongoing
title by the early 1990s he had three of
them going and had become a flagship
character it was the dark and gritty era
of comic books and Frank Castle was both
a pioneer and modeled to be imitated
unfortunately by 1995 the onslaught of
growling gun-toting anti-heroes had
saturated the market turning what it
once made the Punisher so unique into
kind of a cliche that year yet all three
of history’s unceremoniously canceled
amidst dwindling sales Marvel attempted
to freshen up the character in the
second half of the decade but seeing the
Punisher join the Mafia or come back
from the dead as an angelic spirit to
fight supernatural beings didn’t
really resonate with readers for well
for obvious reasons right the punisher
would spend five years searching for a
new identity before his own guardian
angel would be back to resurrect him
properly as it turns out the punisher
didn’t really need a reboot he just
needed to push further into the same
direction which made him stand out in
the year 2000 Garth Ennis alongside
artist Steve Dillon returned The
Punisher to his roots with a 12 issue
miniseries much like the miniseries that
kicked off this comic book characters
initial popularity this one earned
Castle an ongoing series which in
various iterations would span a decade
what Ennis and Dylan did with the
Punisher was embrace him for what he was
a killer who had not only witnessed
horror at the hands of criminals but one
who committed horrific acts himself in
his quest for justice under the Marvel
nights and later max imprints this
creative team finally unleashed the real
Punisher upon the world they ignored
questions of censorship younger readers
and ahem good taste instead giving their
public an honest look at what sort of
man Frank Castle was when he’s not held
back by prudent editorial mandates he’s
not really a hero at all he’s
psychologically damaged and ruthless but
that kind of makes him one hell of a
captivating protagonist yes Frank would
go on to have another brush with the
supernatural but thankfully his stint as
Franken Castle was always intended as a
short-lived Ted gentle adventure over
the course of his decades-long history
Frank Castle aka The Punisher has had
his ups and downs but he’s endured
because there’s no other character quite
like him every crime fighter has a
backstory often a tragic one I mean come
on always a tragic one but few have
allowed their personal tragedy to lead
them into such dark places a character
study of obsession and the single-minded
pursuit of an ideal the Punisher is more
than an antihero he’s a dark portrait of
what loss can do to a person and later
by extension other people was a limit to
revenge it’s taken a long time for
filmmakers to figure out what Garth and
his did for the Punisher to be a success
he needs to be unleashed after a couple
of cinematic missteps it seems that
Netflix has finally done for The
Punisher on screen what the max line did
for him in the comics allow him to shine
in all his damaged glory
[Music]
do you agree with our picks check out
these other great clips from watch mojo
and subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
work of a dead man
this one-man army is a criminals worst
nightmare welcome to watchmojo.com ik
book page to explore a character’s
origins their creation and their place
in comic book history before we begin we
publish new videos every day so be sure
to subscribe for more great content in
this installment we will be exploring
the secret origins of the vigilante
known as The Punisher
[Music]
it was the early 1970s Vietnam War was
coming to a close the video game pong
had become a massive success and
spider-man’s popularity was in full
swing by 1972 the webhead who hadn’t
been introduced a decade earlier in 1962
had not one but two ongoing series to
his name for Gerry Conway writer of the
amazing spider-man that meant a constant
string of villains for Peter Parker to
overcome wanting to introduce a
character with more of a twist
Conway conceived of this unmasked man
who despite initially coming across as a
villain with later be revealed to have
good intentions albeit with a wildly
different ethical code from Spidey
Conway provided a rough sketch which
included a small skull insignia to art
director John Romita senior who
finalized the Punishers look enlarging
the now iconic skull to cover most of
the heroes torso as then editor-in-chief
Stan Lee tells it the initial working
name for this edgy addition to Spidey’s
world was the assassin but he knew that
such an explicitly violent name would
never fly with the censors according to
Lee he was actually the one who came up
with the name The Punisher as an
alternative recycling the moniker of the
throwaway robotic henchmen of Galactus
from a 1966 issue of Fantastic Four
debuting in the amazing spider-man
number 129 in 1974 the Punisher proved a
surprise hit with readers even Conway
admitted to be a bit taken aback by the
response the character received he’d
been crafted as a B or a c-list
character the Punishers gray area
position within the black and white
moral dichotomy of hero versus villain
that defined comic-book storytelling at
the time made him a refreshingly nuanced
figure by crafting unethically complex
and psychologically ambitious vigilante
Conway had created a character that
readers wanted to see more up he soon
earned his own main story in Marvel
preview and Marvel action and appeared
in a number of other popular series in
the coming years however all the way
back in his spider-man appearance the
Punishers dark past was hinted at but it
wasn’t really fleshed out until the
Punisher was given center stage in
Marvel preview number two laid out
before us was the truly tragic tale of
Frank Castle born Francis castellone a
military and family man whose entire
world was turned upside down in a single
day
castle was a highly decorated and
skilled soldier who served his country
for years first as a Marine and then as
a member of Special Ops back at home he
had a wife Maria with whom he was
happily married and had two kids on a
sunny day in Central Park he and his
family were witness to a murder and the
mobsters responsible fearing witnesses
attempted to kill the Casta Lyonnaise in
cold blood
they succeeded but with one exception
the deadliest member of the family
survived when the legal system failed to
bring those criminals to justice Frank
would eventually channel his depression
and loss into a quest for revenge
the Punisher was born back in the real
world Conway had underestimated his own
creation and unfortunately despite the
Punishers success guest appearances
that’s a mistake Marvel continued to
make for a year he was a killer being
cast as the hero and that was enough for
the editors to avoid giving him the
spotlight for years
Stephen grant had been pushing for The
Punisher to get his own series in one
form or another when the Punisher
miniseries was finally greenlit in 1984
it was still allegedly only achieved
with great resistance from management in
1986 when the five-issue miniseries ran
it did so with very little promotion but
despite the odds it became a huge
success the Punishers time had finally
come it was the 1980s and crime was up
crack cocaine use had reached epidemic
proportions and particularly in major
cities like New York people felt
generally unsafe America was getting
tough on crime and the Punishers brand
of justice you know with a gun suddenly
seemed significantly less hard to
swallow in the year after his miniseries
The Punisher was given his first ongoing
title by the early 1990s he had three of
them going and had become a flagship
character it was the dark and gritty era
of comic books and Frank Castle was both
a pioneer and modeled to be imitated
unfortunately by 1995 the onslaught of
growling gun-toting anti-heroes had
saturated the market turning what it
once made the Punisher so unique into
kind of a cliche that year yet all three
of history’s unceremoniously canceled
amidst dwindling sales Marvel attempted
to freshen up the character in the
second half of the decade but seeing the
Punisher join the Mafia or come back
from the dead as an angelic spirit to
fight supernatural beings didn’t
really resonate with readers for well
for obvious reasons right the punisher
would spend five years searching for a
new identity before his own guardian
angel would be back to resurrect him
properly as it turns out the punisher
didn’t really need a reboot he just
needed to push further into the same
direction which made him stand out in
the year 2000 Garth Ennis alongside
artist Steve Dillon returned The
Punisher to his roots with a 12 issue
miniseries much like the miniseries that
kicked off this comic book characters
initial popularity this one earned
Castle an ongoing series which in
various iterations would span a decade
what Ennis and Dylan did with the
Punisher was embrace him for what he was
a killer who had not only witnessed
horror at the hands of criminals but one
who committed horrific acts himself in
his quest for justice under the Marvel
nights and later max imprints this
creative team finally unleashed the real
Punisher upon the world they ignored
questions of censorship younger readers
and ahem good taste instead giving their
public an honest look at what sort of
man Frank Castle was when he’s not held
back by prudent editorial mandates he’s
not really a hero at all he’s
psychologically damaged and ruthless but
that kind of makes him one hell of a
captivating protagonist yes Frank would
go on to have another brush with the
supernatural but thankfully his stint as
Franken Castle was always intended as a
short-lived Ted gentle adventure over
the course of his decades-long history
Frank Castle aka The Punisher has had
his ups and downs but he’s endured
because there’s no other character quite
like him every crime fighter has a
backstory often a tragic one I mean come
on always a tragic one but few have
allowed their personal tragedy to lead
them into such dark places a character
study of obsession and the single-minded
pursuit of an ideal the Punisher is more
than an antihero he’s a dark portrait of
what loss can do to a person and later
by extension other people was a limit to
revenge it’s taken a long time for
filmmakers to figure out what Garth and
his did for the Punisher to be a success
he needs to be unleashed after a couple
of cinematic missteps it seems that
Netflix has finally done for The
Punisher on screen what the max line did
for him in the comics allow him to shine
in all his damaged glory
[Music]
do you agree with our picks check out
these other great clips from watch mojo
and subscribe for new videos every day
[Music]
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