Frank Castle, more popularly known as the ‘The Punisher’, is a fictional character for Marvel comics created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita and Ross Andru in 1974. The Punisher is a type of anti-hero (meaning that methods he uses to stop crime are not those that a conventional super hero would use) who was first seen in the issue #129 of The Amazing Spider man. Before being ‘The Punisher’ Frank was a regular Joe like anyone of us, who had recently retired from the US marines after serving in the Vietnam and was now living a normal life with his wife and children, until one day Frank and his family were spending a nice afternoon in the New York Central park when they witnessed a Mafia gangland execution. On the lookout for any witnesses the Mafia executioners found Frank and his family and murdered them on the spot. However, miraculously Frank survived the shooting. On recovering Frank went to the police with for justice but all his efforts were in vain as the police was also involved with the mafia. After being denied justice, Castle vowed to punish all who were responsible for his family’s death and at the same time rid the city of all evil. This was when The Punisher was born.
The Thorns in the Punishers side
Most of the villains who face The Punisher rarely ever get another chance to face him again. However over the years there have been a few villains who have managed to escape the wrath of the punisher on more than one occasion. Out of all the biggest thorn in his side has been Billy Russo aka The Jigsaw, who is a professional assassin for the mafia. When Frank first met Billy he smashed his head in a glass wall, which amazingly dint kill him but left him scars resembling a jigsaw puzzle. Other than him other popular villains faced by Castle are The King Pin, Barracuda, Bushwacker, Hitman, The Russian, Rev and Ma Gnucci.
A tribute to the Punisher
The Punisher for more than 30 years has been entertaining us with is witty one liner, awesome and death defying moves. Even though these days our favorite superheroes can entertain us through a number of media outlets like movies and TV shows but to get the true essence of the character and its evolution with time one must go to its roots which I believe are the comics itself and nothing can replace that especially for a true fan