The Punisher

The Punisher is a fictional vigilante and anti-hero in the Marvel Comics Universe. Created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita, Sr. and Ross Andru, he first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb 1974). more...

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Although sometimes considered a hero, the Punisher is a vigilante who uses killing, kidnapping, extortion, coercion, threats of violence and torture as acceptable crime-fighting tactics. Driven by the deaths of his wife and children, who were killed by the mob when they witnessed a Mafia gangland execution in New York City's Central Park, Frank Castle wages a one-man war on the mob by using all manner of weaponry. A war veteran, Castle is a master of martial arts, stealth tactics, hand-to-hand combat, strategic planning and a wide variety of weapons.

The Punisher's brutal nature and willingness to kill made him a novel character in mainstream American comic books in 1974. By the late 1980s, he was part of a wave of psychologically troubled anti-heroes and was featured in several monthly publications, including The Punisher War Journal, The Punisher War Zone and The Punisher Armory; he even starred in a highly daring, critically lauded crossover with Archie Comics' teen-humor star, Archie Andrews. Two movie adaptations have been released, one in 1989 and another in 2004.

Publication history

Introduction

The Punisher was created by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru, who were the regular writer and artist, respectively, for The Amazing Spider-Man, with then-Marvel art director John Romita, Sr. working on the formal design. The Punisher was initially an antagonist of Spider-Man, although only due to being duped by the supervillain known as The Jackal. The character of the Punisher immediately became popular, and made appearances in the various Spider-Man titles and other series throughout the 1970s.

Conway also helped design the character's distinctive costume, stating: "In the '70s, when I was writing comics at DC and Marvel, I made it a practice to sketch my own ideas for the costumes of new characters — heroes and villains — which I offered to the artists as a crude suggestion representing the image I had in mind. I had done that with the Punisher at Marvel".

Initial series

In the early 1980s, artist Mike Zeck and writer Steven Grant proposed creating a Punisher series. The company was initially uncomfortable with the idea of a protagonist who kills in cold blood. However, as crime increased nationally throughout the decade, Marvel responded by testing the market for such a character — publishing though not initially promoting a mini-series whose premiere (Jan. 1986) was bannered on the cover as the first of four. After this first issue immediately sold out, Marvel expanded the miniseries to five issues (as then bannered on the cover of #2) and began active promotion.

Read more at Wikipedia.org