Is The Punisher The Best Comic Character For People Who Don’t Read Comics?
Thoughts on a passing comment someone wrote on the Interwebs.
Over at WhatCulture.com (10 Marvel Graphic Novels You Must Read Before You Die » Page 2 of 11) the following statement was made: “The Punisher is often cited as the comic book of choice for people who don’t normally read comics.”
Reading the phrase more carefully than I initially did, it’s a little harder to refute. The author did not write, “The Punisher is the comic book of choice for people who don’t normally read comics.” He/she wrote, “The Punisher is often cited as the comic book of choice for people who don’t normally read comics.” (Emphasis added. Without that phrase, “often cited,” I would have been inclined to go into a mega-nerdy rantwhine about… well, that’s what the person wrote, so never mind.) The author does not provide any citations for their statement, but this isn’t a particularly serious issue we’re dealing with, so I’m inclined to say, “Sure, why not.”
That said, why would The Punisher be “often cited as the comic book of choice for people who don’t normally read comics”? Or even actually be the character that someone not predisposed to reading comic books might get into regardless of their resistance to the medium? Here’s a list.
- He’s not a superhero.
The Punisher is not a superhero. He’s a vigilante. Technically almost all comic book superheroes are vigilantes, but none of them kill the criminals they chase. (More on this later.)
Spider-Man is a superhero. This is a character who spends all of his free time catching thieves (just like flies!) because he feels guilty for letting one thief go when he first got his powers. Granted, that one thief killed his surrogate father Uncle Ben. But the poor guy never gives himself a break, always staying on the straight, narrow, responsible path, even when his life sucks, which it frequently does.
Batman is similarly motivated. His parents were killed in front of him and he vowed to eliminate all crime in Gotham City. (I’m simplifying. Batman has probably said something like that a few hundred times. Interestingly, on the Fox series “Gotham”, young Bruce doesn’t say anything of the kind, although he talks about “conquering fear” is searching for his parents’ killer.) Bruce Wayne doesn’t have the problems that Peter Parker has; being a billionaire has beaucoup benefits.
Superman is, well, Superman. His Clark Kent identity is an convenient inconvenience that allows him to live among us Earthers. Being a reporter for The Daily Planet lets him find out about bad stuff happening and rush off there at super speed.
All of these guys keep their real identities hidden in order to protect their families and friends. It doesn’t always work particularly well, especially for poor Peter Parker, but that’s the general idea. They are “masked men” for a reason. (And women; I’m writing about these particular heroes because they happened to pop into my head, are well-known, and have issues that relate to what I want to say about The Punisher.)
The point: If someone is averse to superhero comics, or even comic books in general because they associates the medium with superheroes, The Punisher could be a nice alternative because he is not a superhero. He’s more like Charles Bronson. You know, a guy who’s fed up and has decided to kick ass and take names. He has no superpowers. He doesn’t wear a silly-looking costume. And… - He doesn’t wear a mask.
The Punisher doesn’t hide his face. He wants you to know it was him. The whole reason he became The Punisher in the first place is because his family was killed, so he doesn’t have anyone to worry about bad guys finding out who he is and going after his loved ones because they’re already, y’know, dead. (He does sometimes have quasi-sidekicks, though. Things rarely go well for them.) The Punisher is Frank Castle, Frank Castle is The Punisher. Take your pick. (Generally The Punisher is considered the “real” identity, although most characters call him “Frank”. Except for the time he was killed by Wolverine’s son Daken and came back as… Frankencastle. No, I’m not kidding. You can do stuff like that in comic books.)
Not only does The Punisher/Frank not have a secret identity, he has no double life at all. That last part is more relevant than it might appear. Lots of superheroes in the Marvel Universes (yes, there are more than one, including one made up entirely of apes and another in which all of the characters are zombies) have identities that are known to the general public. (I believe at this moment in the main Marvel U, aka the 616, everyone knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man. This is definitely true in the Ultimate Marvel Universe, although that particular version of Tony Stark/Iron Man might be dead now. I’m a little behind on my reading.) (NOTE: I am picking this article up after starting it a couple of years ago. Since then, the comic book Marvel Universe may not have alternate dimensions. Not relevant but I like to be accurate.)
But even superheroes that don’t have secret identities typically have a dual life. For example, during Ed Brubaker’s extremely awesome and highly recommended “Winter Soldier” run on Captain America (upon which some of the film “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” was based), there were many scenes of Steve Rogers, the man behind the mask; his personal life and relationships with non-superhero folks factored heavily into the story in a variety of ways. X-Men Wolverine and Nightcrawler, aka Logan/James Howlett and Kurt Wagner, hang out and drink beer together. (Those characters don’t have secret identities either, but it isn’t relevant to their particular sets of circumstances.)
Frank Castle, The Punisher, does not wear a mask and has no personal life. He exists solely to kill criminals. (He also drinks beer.) Which brings us to a very important point… - The Punisher kills people.
In general, as a rule, superheroes don’t kill, at least not on purpose. This rule sometimes gets modified/ignored, especially recently. (Most egregiously in the “Man of Steel” movie, which otherwise was pretty good. And, although he’s not a superhero, Archie Andrews is about to get shot, which is a little weird, although not as weird as the fact that Archie and The Punisher once met in a comic book.) [ANOTHER NOTE: This article was started before “Batman V Superman” came out.]
Bottom line: superheroes generally follow what I call the “GI Joe Rule” — nameless henchfolks (they’re usually men but let’s try to be gender neutral) don’t get mowed down by machine gun fire or dropped from buildings. They get to escape, they get webbed up by Spider-Man, they get knocked out by Batman. But they don’t get killed. (Explanation of “The GI Joe Rule”: on the old GI Joe cartoon, no one ever died. The producers of the TV show made it very clear that even the villains didn’t die. We saw plenty of Cobra troops parachuting out of exploding planes, but that’s it. The animators could’ve left it ambiguous, but they chose to show the parachute. Constantly. Slate has an article about this, which proves that I’m not the only one who noticed. I’ve tried to find a video example but haven’t had any success so far.)
(Another aside: as comic books have become darker and more violent, there are more instances in which the good guys do indeed kill people. Wolverine was always written as a character who is willing to kill. But in general the “superheroes don’t kill” rule still applies, and if it doesn’t, it should.) - That skull logo.
If you’re not a comics fan, I can totally see how the gigantic white skull on The Punisher’s outfit would catch your attention anyway. It’s… well, it’s a huge white skull. It takes up his entire shirt. It’s more than a logo, like Superman’s “S”, Batman’s bat-symbol, or Spider-Man’s spider. The Punisher’s skull signifies danger. It signifies death. Bad things are going to happen to you if the person wearing that shirt is coming towards you with a gun.
For what it’s worth, I think the notion of The Punisher being a character that even non-comic book fans are likely to enjoy is, in part, proven by the fact that Netflix decided to do a solo “Punisher” TV series after his appearance in “Daredevil” Season 2. Personally I think a lot of the credit belongs to Jon Bernthal’s outstanding performance as Frank Castle. But I think it’s also because the character has mass appeal.
Now that we’ve established some possible reasons for why a person who doesn’t like reading comic books might gravitate towards material featuring The Punisher, I feel the need to ask a question: why would someone who doesn’t like comic books want to read any comic books at all? But I’ll save that for another time.
