I don't have much of an affinity for Frank Castle. I understand the role he plays in comics and the potential for an intriguing character has always been there (starting his life as a derivative Charles Bronson in Death Wish) but he just doesn't fit into a shared universe filled with altruistic heroes who would, at the drop of a shell casing, take him out. I know that writers have pitted him toe to toe with Cap and Spidey and for one reason or another he always remains free to wildly kill thugs and criminals another day.
The best thing for Castle is putting him in a stand-alone setting, ala his Max series unencumbered with other tights and capes, or Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe/ Archie Meets The Punisher which are odd satires of the character. Space Punisher is more of the former with a lot of the latter, an out of continuity tale in which Frank is a spaceman, in the classic sf sense, with a robot sidekick, an array of exotic weapons (lightsabre, anyone) and a skull themed spaceship. It's like a ruthless, semi-psychotic, revenge obsessed Space Ghost, and I kind of love it. It's pretty much exactly what I'd hoped it would be.
Oh its ridiculous, but in the best way possible, full of Marvel U nuggets (alien symbiote/Brood hybrid) that extend the already enjoyable conceit. Plus Mark Texeira is on art... and Texeira art is always a good thing (he's been in the industry over 30 years and his fully painted art here as good as anything he's done).
I was considering picking up the trade before but now it's firmly on the list.
No comments:
Post a Comment